In accordance with State law, after annexation of property the City of Champaign is required to reimburse the townships and fire districts for the loss of revenue they experience. The City reimburses the townships for 10 years after an annexation, and the fire districts are reimbursed for 5 years with the amount decreasing by 20 percent each year. The Planning Department calculates the total Equalized Assessed Values for all of the annexations that occur in a year, and then uses the tax rates for each taxing district to reimburse the townships and the fire districts as shown below.
State law requires the township payments be made twice a year, once in July and once in December. These payments are made for the previous fiscal year. The payments for the fire districts are made once in December for the previous calendar year. For December the City will pay the following amount to two townships and three fire districts:
Hensley Township – $2,603.30 (December Payment)
Champaign Township – $14,507.51 (December Payment)
Scott Fire District – $78.90 (Annual Payment made in December)
Eastern Prairie Fire District – $215.40 (Annual Payment made in December)
Total December Reimbursement – $17,405.11
Total Annual Reimbursement – $34,325.51
Last year, there were two annexations to the City of Champaign. Both of the annexations were residential properties. One property was in Hensley Township, and the other was in Champaign Township. Of the two properties, only one paid into a fire district, which was Eastern Prairie Fire District.
In recent years, the City of Champaign has worked to annex proposed development prior to construction. This reduces urban sprawl and the inefficient extension of services to new development on the perimeter of the City, and it allows the City to annex the property at an agricultural rate rather than the rate for developed properties, which greatly reduces the amount of money reimbursed over time. The spreadsheet above shows the City reimbursed all of the agencies over $135,000 in 2009; however, in 2012, the amount was $34,000.