The Coloma Township Board will vote June 17 on a new budget that will outline how it plans to spend the revenue generated by a 43% property tax hike the board approved at the end of 2025.

The board estimates the new tax rate to generate over half its total revenues for the township and to be the primary funder for its general assistance fund. The board is planning for payroll, maintenance at the township building and the cemetery, and accounting and legal services to make up the majority of its expenses, according to the drafted budget.

The township board approved the 2025 property tax levy with a near-tie vote after the board faced vehement protests from a large crowd at a Dec. 10, 2025, public hearing.

[ Coloma Township Board OKs 43% property tax hike, residents outraged  ]

The total levy request is $507,203, up 43.07% from the total $354,521 that it received from 2024 taxes. The 2025 property tax rate is set at 35.87 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, up from the 2024 rate of 27.37 cents, according to the levy.

Township Assessor Dave Hand said property tax bills were mailed May 15. Of a resident’s total tax bill, which includes several taxing bodies, the township’s portion makes up about 2.4%.

At the May 13 board meeting, Township Supervisor Kristine Dobbs gave an overview of the budget for the fiscal year that runs from April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027. She noted that it’s still a draft, and changes can be made before voting takes place.

The township’s road district has its own separate budget, which is also still a draft. Both budgets will be voted on at its next meeting, set for 5 p.m. June 17 at 1200 Prophetstown Road in Rock Falls.

With that property tax revenue, $353,544 of it is planned to go to its general fund for the township. In total, that fund will have $822,310 available to spend, which includes that tax revenue, a starting balance of $268,960, $146,845 in cemetery revenue, $26,000 from replacement tax, and various other sources that contribute a small amount, according to the budget draft.

Using those funds, one of the largest expenses is planned to be payroll at $135,140 for administration, which includes the salaries of nonelected staff and some elected officials, and $47,000 for the assessor’s office nonelected staff, according to the drafted budget.

Dobbs said the drafted budget includes an increased amount of funds allotted for maintenance and improvements at the township building along with the cemetery.

“We’re in this building. We’re here to stay,” Dobbs said of the township building on Prophetstown Road. She added that the building is old and alleged that the previous administration neglected a lot of things there and at the cemetery.

Hand said the township building is not up to code, and Rock Falls city officials could require the township to fix those issues at any time. One example Hand pointed to is the bathroom, which doesn’t meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements for government buildings.

The drafted budget sets aside $70,500 for those projects.

Another area of the budget draft that’s increased is for accounting and legal services at $35,000 each, which is up from $10,000 each in the previous year’s budget.

“We may be incurring some legal [expenses] because of the past administration,” Dobbs said. The township also still owes a “big chunk” of money for its financial audit.

Dobbs said the audit is being done by Dixon firm Johnson CPA, which did the audits under the former leadership, and the township got its lawyer involved because they still haven’t gotten it or any of its records back.

That audit is of the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2025. For a majority of that time, the township was led by former Supervisor Sindy Sotelo, who abruptly resigned, along with nearly the entire board, in February 2025.

At the tax hearing in December 2025, Dobbs said the township was in a financial hole when the new board came in and would eventually run out of money if they didn’t increase property taxes.

Dobbs and other township officials have said their hands are tied with what they can and can’t say when it comes to any potential mishandling of funds by the previous administration.

Hand said that one expense in the township’s last annual treasurer’s report, which includes those paid under Sotelo’s leadership, was not related to township operations. He said that was $180 for Esthetics by Darla White, a beauty salon in Rock Falls.

After the previous administration resigned, one of the first things the new board did was take a $75,000 loan from the road and bridge fund in March 2025, which, Dobbs said, was to cover payroll and general operating costs. The loan was repaid in September that year.

Another big move was selling the former U.S. Bank building at 300-302 First Ave. in Rock Falls, which was purchased by the township under Sotelo’s leadership in February 2023 with the plan to move operations there, but it never legally opened because it failed to meet building code requirements.

In total, the township invested about $457,000 into the building including the purchase, a line of credit taken out for renovations and property taxes, Whiteside County records show.

The new board sold it for $528,000 to Pete Harkness of Harkness Enterprises Inc. on Aug. 19, 2025. That month, the township also received a full refund for the property taxes it paid, Whiteside County Supervisor of Assessments Robin Brands previously told Shaw Local.

The township used the money from the sale to pay off the credit line and the road district loan, Dobbs said, explaining that it still wasn’t enough to rebuild the township’s finances.

Anticipating an uptick in the need for assistance programs

A portion of its property tax revenue, $141,417, will go to the township’s general assistance fund, which is up 64.18% from 2024, according to the levy.

“I see us spending a lot more money this year,” said Guy Quandt, the township’s general assistance program manager.

Quandt said he’s been seeing a lot more people coming in to apply for general assistance and has had 17 applicants in the last month and a half.

General assistance is a last resort for people who can’t afford basic necessities and aren’t eligible for other government-funded programs, such as food assistance.

Coloma Township provides general and emergency assistance to residents who meet several requirements, including that they have a job or are looking for one, proof of denial from other government assistance programs and copies of eviction or utility disconnection notices, Quandt said.

The drafted budget sets aside a total of $85,000 for those assistance programs.