"With projects wrapped up in 2006, city officials have moved into 2007 with a healthy budget that was approved in December. "It's our largest budget to date, partially due to the passage of Issue 27, which provides an additional $1.2 million for police/fire/EMS and road projects," said Jeff Hoagland, Vandalia city manager, in a recent state-of-the-city address. "One promise we made during that campaign was to accelerate street maintenance and repaving. We have budgeted more than $500,000 for these improvements." In the works for 2007 will be a streetscape project in the downtown area. The plan is for the existing trees, paver bricks, traffic lights and streetlights to be replaced. The project is funded primarily through a state grant, which will cover about 80 percent of the cost. New entryway signs will also be installed. "