Coal City Courant

Coal City awarded $350,000 to help homeowners

Published by admin on Tue, 03/21/2023 - 4:55pm

The village of Coal City’s efforts to seek funding to help homeowners update their property has proven successful, as another round of funding has been acquired.

A program offered by the Illinois Housing Development Authority [IHDA] will provide $350,000 to assist low income homeowners cover the cost of needed repairs based on health, safety, energy, efficiency and accessibility.

Coal City considering 7% water rate increase

Published by admin on Tue, 03/21/2023 - 4:55pm

The village of Coal City is reviewing the costs of water and sewer services and it’s looking like a 7% increase will be passed on to consumers.

The rate is based on cost of operation, maintenance and replacement, plus capital improvement and debt service that is then divided by the total estimated usage in one year.

The village anticipates it will cost around $1.9 million to run the department with $1.3 million of that going to operations—that’s up 3.26% over the prior year.

Coal City conveys support for TIF districts

Published by admin on Tue, 03/14/2023 - 4:42pm

Legislation introduced in the Illinois House and Senate propose significant changes to the Tax Increment Financing [TIF] Act, measures opposed by municipalities from across the state.

The village of Coal City is on record in support of maintaining TIF financing, a program that, according to Village Administrator Matt Fritz, allows towns to provide incentives to spur growth that produces jobs, additional tax revenue and increases a community’s assessed valuation.

Grundy Area FFA takes top honors

Published by admin on Tue, 03/14/2023 - 4:41pm

It’s been a busy start to the month for members of the Grundy Area Vocational Center [GAVC] agriculture program and Grundy Area FFA.

GAVC students were named the top raking team at the regional Envirothon competition and will move on to the state contest in May.

Envirothon is a problem- solving natural resource competition for high school students in grades 9-12 throughout the United States and Canada.

Tentative budget outlines increase in both revenue, expenses

Published by admin on Tue, 03/14/2023 - 4:40pm

As a new budget year approaches for the village of Coal City, town leaders will be spending time over the next three weeks reviewing the details of the 2024 spending plan.

In its tentative form, the budget for the upcoming fiscal year—effective May 1— is $15.4 million, an increase of 16% from the current year.

“Overall expenditures are up, but so are revenues,” Village Administrator Matt Fritz said.

Anticipated revenues for 2024 are tallied at $13.39 million, up $1.3 million from the $12 million budgeted for fiscal year 2023.

Parking lot beautification project forthcoming

Published by admin on Tue, 03/14/2023 - 4:39pm

A small portion of a $1 million grant will be used by the village of Coal City to complete a parking lot project that began with the South Broadway reconstruction.

Last week, the Village Board awarded a bid for parking lot improvements to 4 Seasons Landscaping, Inc. at a cost of $39,850.

Future educators earn top honors

Published by admin on Tue, 03/07/2023 - 4:37pm

On a day when most students were enjoying a school holiday, a group of future teachers spent the day focusing on education.

The 2023 Educators Rising Conference drew over 800 aspiring future educators to Illinois State University on Monday.

The one-day conference included a keynote address from Illinois’ 2022 Teacher of the Year, breakout sessions, networking and competitions—Coal City winning half of the events.

Stafford introduced to Coaler community

Published by admin on Tue, 03/07/2023 - 4:35pm

The cafeteria of Coal City High School was packed with Coalers—students, parents and community members—who came out to celebrate the success of the wrestling and speech teams.

So if there was good time to introduce the community to the incoming high school principal, Wednesday was the night.

Arthur Stafford was hired in February to assume the principal’s post starting with the 2023-2024 school year. He will take over for Jennifer Kenney who is moving into the role of director of curriculum and instruction upon the retirement of Tammy Elledge at the end of June.

A new school year set for Coal City

Published by admin on Tue, 03/07/2023 - 4:34pm

The Unit 1 Board of Education is already preparing for a new school year and has approved the calendar for the 2023-2024. The first day of student attendance will be Wednesday, Aug. 16.

The calendar is based on 176 instructional days with the final day of student attendance scheduled for Wednesday, May 22, 2024 pending the use of emergency days. Should the district need to use emergency days it could push the school year to the end of May.

Another perfect score for Unit 1

Published by admin on Tue, 03/07/2023 - 4:33pm

The Illinois State Board of Education has given the Unit 1 School District another perfect score for its outstanding financial position.

The 2023 School District Financial Profile, based on fiscal year 2022 data, places the district within the financial recognition range for a 20th consecutive year. This is the highest rating a district can receive.

This measure of financial strength goes to school districts that receive an overall score of 3.54 to 4.0 and Unit 1 is at the top of that range.