Carbondale Mayor Mike Henry delivered his first State of the City address Tuesday at the Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon.
Henry says the biggest challenge facing the city is the lack of a state budget. He says receiving around $400,000 when the state released some funds for municipalities last week was nice, but it does not help with the uncertainty since Carbondale's fiscal year ends April 30th.
"The problem is trying to say, going forward, are we going to say that we are going to do something? Because we don't know what's going on with the money this year and we'll probably be in this same situation at this time next year, we won't have a budget, the way it looks. It's like operating a year behind."
Henry says the city also realizes SIU-Carbondale is not receiving any state funds during the ongoing budget impasse. He says city and university leaders are working closely together to understand each other's dilemma during this unprecedented situation.
A portion of revenue from Tuesday's chamber luncheon supports the Mayor's Scholarship for Carbondale Community High School students who will attend SIU.
Mayor Henry also highlighted the police department's effort to reduce crime in the community.
Henry says an emphasis on neighborhood patrols helped reduce crime in the Arbor District by 38-percent. He says the overall crime index in Carbondale is down 14-percent...a 20-year low.
The mayor says some crimes have seen even larger reductions.
"Of significance in this preliminary report is a 53-percent drop in the crime of robbery and a 41-percent drop in the crime of burglary."
Carbondale Chief of Police Jeff Grubbs says his officers are some of the most highly trained in the country. So, he says it's the job of the administration to free-up the officers to go out and do more self-initiated activities.
"When they're in the neighborhoods, you know, they're able to hopefully not only detect more crime, but certainly deter crime too."
Chief Grubbs also says the working relationship is strong between the Carbondale Police Department and the SIU Department of Public Safety since the line is often blurred of where the campus ends and the community begins.
