Proposed Property Tax Increases to Trigger Truth in Taxation Hearing in Carmi; Cozart Appointed as Assistant City Attorney Tuesday

City of Carmi attorney Greg Stewart now has some help dealing with city legal matters.  Council unanimously approved the appointment of Allison Cozart as Assistant City Attorney Tuesday night and she subsequently took the oath.  Stewart had this to say in advance of her appointment.

I would say I promised her not to give her any dog cases (laughter) but maybe I overpromised a little something there.  No, I think you’ll be very pleased with Allison.  She’s extremely intelligent, graduated at the top of her class at SIU law, just got sworn in, she’s digging in and taking the reins pretty tight and doing a lot of work for us.  I think it would be a good opportunity for all of you to get to know Allison and for Allison to start doing some of the ordinance violations and other work.  We get a lot of calls from the city and it would be a great service to the city to have a back up.  It would be a great service to me.  So I would appreciate if you would consider passing the resolution and affording me the privilege of swearing Allison in.

Also Tuesday night, Council approved the closure of Cherry, Third, Elm, Main Cross, and Robinson Street for the It’s a White County Christmas parade scheduled for November 30^th.  Megan Newman, Chamber Executive Director, says there are already about 20 entries and she’s welcoming more.

Furthermore, council heard from Keith Davis on behalf of the Carmi Elks Lodge.  He was there to request a special event liquor license for an event to be held February 8^th at the 404 Seed Station in support of We Love White County.  That request was granted with unanimous support.

Council approved the Carmi Public Library budget for next year and also the 2025 Holiday Schedule for the library.

The final approval Tuesday surrounded the tax levy for the City of Carmi.  The city is proposing property tax increases of 12.03% which will trigger a Truth in Taxation Public Hearing in December.  City Clerk Cynthia Atteberry read the notice

Proposed property tax increase for the City of Carmi.  A public hearing will be held on December 17, 2024 at 5:15pm in the Carmi Municipal Building.  Any person desiring to appear at the public hearing and present testimony to the taxing district may contact myself, Cynthia Atteberry at 618-384-2001 or they may come up to the office.  The corporate and special purpose property taxes extended or abated for 2023 were $710,920.  The proposed corporate and special purpose property taxes to be levied for 2024 are $796,458.  This represents a 12.03% increase over the previous year.

City Council adjourned at 5:50pm.  Meeting dates for December are the 3^rd and 17^th.