Dozens of Urbana community members packed Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting and public hearing to voice their opposition to the city council’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2026.
In a nearly five hour meeting, residents filled the room and spoke out against proposed increases in funding for the Urbana Police Department, as well as the continuation of an already-existing 1% tax on groceries in the city of Urbana.
The budget proposes adding an additional three patrol officers to the UPD for salaries totaling $367,000 and $207,000 in “one-time startup costs” going to the police training institute, necessary equipment, expanding vehicle fleet and additional training.
Additionally, it proposes an extra $112,500 in extending existing “police hiring incentives,” and $150,000 for a sergeant to supervise the work of a Community Engagement Team, which has remained unstaffed since its inception in 2024.
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Debate over increased police budget
Many community members voiced their disapproval of an alleged ballooning police budget. The proposed budget allocates the police department $16,353,167, a $6 million increase since 2019.
A similar debate over a proposed police budget increase occurred last year. Ultimately, city council denied the UPD the funds, which were proposed to have been used to implement new technology, increase staffing and improve community relations.
Residents advocated for an alternative response model which would send more specialized professionals instead of police officers out to nonviolent and noncriminal calls. Many cited BerryDunn’s public safety assessment which found that two-thirds of call volume to the UPD were non-criminal and non-traffic-related calls.
“I believe that this last election, the voters were extremely clear,” said Danielle Chynoweth, Cunningham Township supervisor. “They resoundingly supported the position; get a recommendation from the alternate response task force and fill the vacant police positions before you hire more police officers.”
Urbana resident Galen Seligman echoed Chynoweth’s support for directing the proposed addition to the police budget elsewhere, presenting a list he compiled of other ways he believed the city could spend their money.
“I don’t expect that these will all be immediately actionable, but maybe it can help us think a little bit more creatively,” Seligman said before listing a variety of alternative uses of the proposed police budget, including re-examining housing and zoning laws and forgiving medical debt for Urbana residents.
Sandra Ahten, Urbana resident and co-owner of Elliott Counseling Group, similarly voiced her disapproval with the budget. She, among other contributors, was met with head nods, cheers and applause from the audience.
“(Urbana) is not dangerous for me; it is dangerous for young black men,” Ahten said. “It is partly because they need services … they need social workers, they need jobs, they need sidewalks … but it would be criminal, in my opinion, to add three more cops when we have yet to fund our alternative response team … I do not want our jails filled, I want services.”
The current state of the alternative response team is difficult to verify. The proposed police budget allocates $500,000 towards the alternative response program, roughly 3% of the total.
Addison Gray, member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in Central Illinois, discussed previous canvassing efforts she was a part of after the previous year’s budget was passed.
“We spent a lot of time going door-to-door … talking about what safety actually means to them,” Gray said. “What we heard was that people want to feel safe, but they don’t believe that more police are going to get them there. They want safe housing, youth programs, mental health resources, spaces for their kids to play, trash cans. Above all, they want to be heard.”
Grocery tax debate
The second primary point of contention was the continuation of a previously 1% state grocery tax on the city. This tax was repealed by the state legislature effective 2026, but Urbana’s budget proposes the city keeps it to “provide essential services.”
“The memo that supports the grocery tax is absurd,” Chynoweth said. “It says that it will cost $1.64 per year for the lowest income residents. Think about that: 1% means a person would be buying only $164 in groceries a year.”
Chynoweth continued, urging people to “use common sense,” explaining that a family of four spends thousands of dollars annually on groceries, which corresponds to a much higher total residents would have to spend on taxes.
According to the 2024 U.S. census, the poverty rate in Urbana is 24.8%; this percentage is over twice that of Illinois’ statewide poverty rate of 11.6%.
Urbana resident Adam Nichols also dissented against the proposed reinstatement of the grocery tax, asking for city council members to listen to what the people want.
“We’re being beaten down by inflation, which is not your fault, but it is something that we’re dealing with,” Nichols said. “Groceries are even more expensive than inflation shows, and the people could just use some relief. This is what your constituents want. This is how we want you to vote.”
Chief Boone’s response
Larry Boone, the UPD’s Chief of Police, started his presentation by acknowledging the elephant in the room — the public comments from constituents.
“I’ve heard from our constituents and most of them have some very valid points,” Boone said. “I’ve always said, we don’t want to send badges and guns to mental health crises for the most part. There are occasions where officers are needed.”
Boone also pushed back against the claim many constituents repeated: that police don’t stop crime, they just respond to it.
“You heard folks say that ‘police don’t stop crime,’” Boone said. “That’s not factual. In the 1990s, through actionable partnerships with community, crime in this country saw the most decreases we’ve ever seen.”
Steven D. Levitt’s famous University of Chicago study analyzed the reason for the precipitous drop in crime in the 1990s in the U.S. His answer claimed four factors: “increases in the number of police, the rising prison population, the waning crack epidemic and the legalization of abortion.” According to Levitt’s findings, police presence may present a correlation with decreased crime.
Boone maintained the core issue of police staffing was retention, as opposed to the acquisition of officers. He said “people want to come here” and that he and Dave Smysor, Deputy Chief of Police, interview people weekly. The problem is retaining those individuals.
In 2024 alone, the police department saw 11 officers leave, according to Boone’s presentation to the council on police staffing, hiring incentives and additional allocations. Two resigned, one retired and eight left for another police department. In 2025, four left, two for retirement and two for other departments.
“Our challenges, once they’re here, after about two or three years, due to some things they may read in the paper, in the media, they want to leave,” Boone said.
Boone also said the police department struggles with work-life balance, impacting retention.
“This generation values a work-life balance,” Boone said. “They’re not interested in overtime and that’s kind of how we’ve been managing it — through overtime.”
Boone added that officers are worked like “rented mules” due to the staffing problem.
To be continued
The council reached discussion on new business just past 11 p.m., with five resolutions and ordinances remaining to discuss and vote on.
After council members unanimously passed the two resolutions on the agenda, Mayor DeShawn Williams proposed a recess until Tuesday at 7 p.m. to continue their discussion on the remaining ordinances.
One ordinance updates a proposed revision to the 2024-25 budget regarding estimated expenditures, the proposed 2025-26 budget and the grocery tax.
The motion to reconvene the following day passed unanimously, and the Committee of the Whole meeting was subsequently adjourned.
