The Norris City Village Board met for the final time in 2025 for about an hour, which included an executive session on salaries. Scott Mareing was there and filed this report.
Gene Harrison addressed the board concerning funding of Inseal with TIF money, saying the funding should be discontinued, that it was unfairly imposed on the citizens without their knowledge, and everyone is not paying their fair share. And some are not paying at all within the TIF area. Also. It has not performed up to its expectations or provided any growth to the area. He asked to view the records for the last four years and Mayor Skip Land said that that’s not a problem, as all TIF transactions are available for viewing by the public. No action will be taken by the board until Mr. Harrison has been able to view all the documents.
The tax levy was then discussed. Mayor Land talked with Mike Ray and he noticed that in the outer areas of Norris City there were many businesses that were thriving that are on village utilities, but many that were not thriving. Previous Mayor Roy Kissell tried to annex the reservoir in the 50 acres north of the village Norris City owns, but it didn’t work out. Land thinks it might be a good idea to take another look at the big picture of the city limits and what it would do for the village to look into incorporating some of those places. He says it would be long and drawn out, but he’s asking the board to allow village attorney Nathan Rowland to look at the annexation process and report back, which the board agreed to. He said the tax rate coming in is going to help lower our rate in town and there’s an imbalance in what goes on outside the county. Land wants to make an evaluation of the tax levy.
Mike Ray then spoke and talked about how the equalized assessed value, or EAV factor, of Indian Creek Township has gone up ten percent in each of the last two years because the County Assessor deemed it that this area is under assessed When the EAV is up, taxing bodies should be able to levy a tax that is the same or less than it had been in order to maintain our budget unless for some unusual circumstance. The current tax levy is around three dollars and fourteen cents per thousand, one of the highest municipal rates in the county. Ray is asking the village to consider maintaining the current levy or to lower it if possible, and if not, then “one solution is to have an annexation that would include some of these properties we are serving that are not named.”
The tax levy has not been signed. It was agreed that a finance group be put together to look into it and make a recommendation and possibly hold a special meeting. The deadline to pass the levy is December 30th.
The Talley farm account of 50 acres that was purchased has brought in $7,575 this year.
The board approved two donations: $1,000 to Angel Tree and $750 to Shop with a Cop this Saturday.
Mayor Land presented to the board members documents on Phase IV of the Water Project from Brown & Roberts to show them where the current situation stands.
In the Police report for November, there was one accident reported, one arrest made, two citations issued, six traffic stops, eight verbal warnings and 25 calls for service. There was no Animal Control report.
The board went into executive session for half an hour to discuss salaries. The board unanimously approved a two percent pay raise for all village employees and gave Mayor Skip Land permission to consult with their accountant to amend the budget.
The next meeting of the board will be on Monday, January 5th, 2026 at 7 PM.