State of the Village 2025
With gratitude for the present and optimism for the future, Peoria Heights Mayor Matt Wigginton used his State of the Village address Thursday to tell a Chamber of Commerce audience that there has been “a lot of good news” locally in 2025 and to prepare for more of it in 2026.
For starters, Wigginton said that he will be proposing a property tax rate cut for fiscal year 2027 at next Tuesday’s Village Board meeting to compensate for the rise in local real estate values over the last year.
While that runs counter to what many municipalities are doing, Wigginton said the Village is well-positioned to absorb any forfeited revenues with multiple consecutive years of surplus budgets, ample reserves and fiscally sound practices such as keeping up with employee pension payments.
If the Village Board concurs, it won’t make a huge difference in local property tax bills, acknowledged the mayor, as the Village’s portion of that bill amounts to just about 4.2 percent, since local government relies most heavily on sales tax revenues. Still, it’s important to “continue to be business- and resident-friendly in Peoria Heights,” as it has produced so many dividends to date, said the mayor.
Indeed, asked recently at a forum of central Illinois mayors what distinguishes the community and government he represents, Wigginton said he told that audience that “the first meeting may be the only meeting you need to have” in a Peoria Heights where, “as far as red tape, as far as bureaucracy, you won’t find that.”
Beyond that, Peoria Heights is a community that makes decisions with an eye toward future generations, decisions that don't negatively or unduly “impact the child who’s looking to run for mayor 30 years from now,” said Wigginton.
In a Heights where “it’s no accident that we have kept the size of government small” and mom-and-pop shops are and remain “the bread and butter” of the economy, that has paid off repeatedly with record sales tax revenues, which then go to Village services such as the police and fire departments. Indeed, public safety is an overlooked component of economic growth, added the mayor, as people come to the Heights because they feel secure and comfortable here. On that front, the Village welcomed new police and fire chiefs this year in Chris Ahart and Austin Szentes, respectively.
In fact, local economic growth has been “consistent and persistent,” said Wigginton, with millions of dollars in private investment now going into projects large and small. The local jobs base is expanding, as well, with nearly 200 employees being added in the coming year to the payrolls of businesses such as Pearl Insurance, Raymond James and accounting firm Clifton Larson Allen, he said. In a community the size of the Heights, numbers like those are “major,” said Wigginton.
Retailers are relocating to the Heights because “success breeds success,” and the Village continues to have the region’s preeminent Restaurant Row, with growth this past year – Casa Agava, Frank’s Italian Beef, Feels Like Ohm and Big Behm’s – and new eateries such as Segreto and Sloane Supper and Social about to join those ranks, he added.
Meanwhile, Village government is doing its part to help with multiple public projects in the pipeline.
No investment is more critical right now than what the Village is pouring into its outdated water system, said the mayor. Local government has raised nearly $12 million in outside dollars to go with $2 million from Village coffers, including $8.5 million to be spent on a water filtration plant that will break ground in 2026.
“For the first time in 127 years, the Village of Peoria will have filtration in its water system,” he said.
The Village also is replacing hundreds of lead water lines at no cost to residents, another effort that goes against the grain of most area communities, he said.
In addition, the Village has infrastructure projects coming on Glen Avenue with road, sidewalk and intersection improvements as well as a library renovation and expansion there, plus a new water main that will be going beneath Route 29, which is due a nearly $90 million reconstruction and enhancement by the state that promises to be “game-changing” for the region, said the mayor. The Village is piggybacking off that state funding with a 4th tax increment financing district to stimulate private investment on the Village’s riverfront, he said.
Finally, the $20 million-plus reconstruction and reimagination of the Prospect Road corridor through the Village has gotten a lot of discussion. Wigginton reassured business leaders that the project is “in the early stages” and that “$20 million does not grow on trees and we have to get that financing,” so “this won’t happen tomorrow.”
That said, “Prospect will have to be addressed regardless of what we do,” he said. “The infrastructure has to be replaced” and the sidewalks must eventually comply with federal accessibility standards.
Nonetheless, “I don’t want you to worry. We will get this done and we will work with our business partners to make this as painless as possible.”
“We are constantly being the phoenix,” but not the one that rises from the ashes, concluded the mayor. It’s the one that continually invents and reinvents itself thanks to the leadership of those who came before – such as Ray Picl, the Heights’ longest serving mayor who died recently – and will come after, he said.
And that’s why, from the perspective of December 2025, the Village of Peoria Heights has reason for optimism even in the face of ongoing challenges, said Wigginton.