By Howard Packowitz

NORMAL – Property owners in Normal will see what the mayor describes as a “very modest” decrease in taxes because there are fewer government employees.

“We eliminated some positions, mostly through attrition,” said Mayor Chris Koos.

“People retired. We didn’t replace them, so we didn’t have those pension costs going forward.”

Koos said the town council would like to find the money to hire a communications director, a job that hasn’t been filled since Dan Irvin departed in June.

Koos said there’s a lot of misinformation going around, especially on social media.

“It’s important that people get accurate information about what’s going on in the Town of Normal,” said Koos.

“There’s every story in the world about what we’re doing, and what we’re not doing. We feel that we need to better communicate what we’re doing as a council,” the mayor said.

Belt-tightening enabled the council to adopt a levy unchanged from this year, in which the town government will collect $12,958,494 in property taxes.

With a projected one percent increase in taxable land values, the owner of a $165,000 home will pay an estimated $7.50 less on next year’s tax bill.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]