Money approved in a partial spending plan earlier this week is beginning to flow to local governments throughout Illinois.
The thrust of the bill is to release tax revenue on motor fuel, cellphone calls and more.
Union County highway engineer Kevin Grammer says this is great news since 70-percent of the funding for his highway department comes from the Motor Fuel Tax.
"We're now able to start working on some of the drainage projects and things like that we had planned for this winter. We were not able to purchase materials to do some of our projects - and now we can move forward with some of those issues."
Grammer was outspoken earlier this year about how the budget stalemate could end up leading to very poor road conditions in Union County this winter. He says the release of this funding will allow his department to respond to emergencies.
Grammer says his office received the first reimbursement check Thursday for money owed back in July.
"They have told us they would be giving out the August disbursement next week, September the following week, October the following week. They hope to have all of us caught up to where we were supposed to be by mid-January."
