PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Follow-through funding for capital projects was top of mind during the annual Peoria City and County Legislative Breakfast held Friday. 

Other issues keen to city and country leaders, such as pension reform for police officers and firefighters and the rise of juvenile crime were also presented to regional lawmakers. The annual event is the way local leaders and policymakers empathize to state lawmakers what they feel are priorities for the coming session.

Because of the winter storm, the event was held virtually. Peoria Mayor Rita Ali, City Manager Patrick Urich and Peoria County Administrator Scott Sorrell served as hosts. Most participants made video calls in indoor locations, though state Rep. Ryan Spain dialed in while standing outside wearing a stocking cap. 

One of the presenters was Monica Henderson, the head of the Peoria City-County Public Health, who said Illinois General Assembly funding is sought for five projects already authorized under the umbrella of Gov. JB Pritzker’s Rebuild Illinois plan. 

“Locally, over $106 million has been authorized, almost 50 projects through Rebuild Illinois,” she said. “But many haven’t actually been appropriated.” 

Those five project are $25 million for Main Street, $15 million for Peoria Riverfront, $6 million for Lake Street/Gale Avenue, $3 million for Pioneer Parkway and $3 million for MacArthur Highway.

There were also joint requests for two other projects: $10 million to support the Laramie Avenue reconstruction to make it serviceable for both residential and commercial redevelopment and $10 million to relocate the State Street Post Office to extend the development of the Warehouse District. 

State Sen. David Koehler said he expects it will be a difficult year for budget requests.

“Let’s see where there are priorities,” the Peoria Democrat said. “I’d like to see if that get some of those funded this year.” 

The city and county are also asking for mechanisms to spur economic development. Designating mega-sites, locations that can be quickly used for manufacturing, industry or distribution centers, is a starting point. 

“Economic development and the mega-site program is really important to me,” said Spain, a Peoria Republican. “I think we’ve seen a lot of big wins throughout the state, but not in Peoria. So I look forward to working with everyone on how we can catch up.” 

The issue of public safety pension reform produced some interesting back-and-forth.

The city must pay up to 90% of its liabilities by 2040, but it wants the amortization date for the two-tiered system pushed back to the end of 2050. It is hoped that would give cities more time to fund the system and not use as much of their available cash each year.

State Rep. Travis Weaver, R-Pekin, wants to find a workable solution, but one that doesn’t extend the date so far down that road. 

“Let’s fix this for the good. Some sort of rolling amortization,” he said. “Instead of just adding 10 years, maybe every two or three years, we add another year” so the goal is reached more quickly. 

State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria and the Speaker Pro Tempore in the state house, brought up several law enforcement issues, including the statewide rise of juvenile crime. But any legislation should be carefully written, she said. 

“We have to be thoughtful when we’re talking about juveniles,” Gordon-Booth said.  

Peoria Police Chief Eric Echavarria was on the call and said the primary concern is habitual offenders. “It’s a list of 40 to 50 juveniles who continue to, quite frankly, terrorize areas of our city,” he said. 

The state legislative session starts Tuesday.