The improved Genoa Road Interchange

 

Moody’s downgrades Rockford’s credit rating - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

The city’s bond rating was downgraded by one category from Aa3 to A1. It is the fifth highest rating available and is considered to be a low credit risk. Moody’s cited the city’s limited flexibility to raise revenue due to its lack of home rule powers and its high debt and pension burden as the reasons for the downgrade. Home rule gives local governments greater autonomy to create laws, tax and incur debt.

The effect of the Moody’s downgrade is a minimal increase in the cost of borrowing money, about 5- to 10-100ths of a percentage point on future bond issues, according to the city.

It will not affect the interest the city is paying on current debt.

The downgrade comes as the city is preparing to borrow for two major redevelopment initiatives. The city may issue a $10.7 million bond to pay for downtown parking improvements tied, in part, to a redevelopment deal to turn the former Amerock building, 416 S. Main St., into a downtown hotel and conference center. The city would pay about $16.6 million in principal and interest to repay the debt from that bond. The downgraded credit could cost the city approximately $7,200 more per year or $144,000 more over the 20-year life of the bond, according to estimates from Rockford Finance Director Chris Black.

The city also plans to borrow approximately $10.9 million to help pay for rebuilding the Ingersoll building into a downtown sports complex.

Moody’s downgrades Rockford’s credit rating - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

Gov. Pat Quinn in Rockford Thursday to make major Amtrak announcement | The Rock River Times

 

According to sources, Quinn’s announcement will be about more than just rail subsidies. Officials have reportedly scrapped a plan to make Rockford a stop on a southern Canadian National route, as initially pushed by city leaders. Instead, Rockford and Belvidere will be stops along a northern route from Chicago to Dubuque, Iowa on tracks owned by Union Pacific.

The new Amtrak station will be built at 815 S. Main St., downtown.

The new route will send the train through centrally located McHenry County creating what officials hope to be steady influx of downtown activity. Amtrak is expected to be a key component in both the Amerock and Ingersoll redevelopment projects.

Monday, April 7, the City Council approved the plan to turn the Amerock building into a 150-room hotel and convention center. The proposal to transform the nearby Ingersoll building into a 104,000-square-foot sports complex is still pending. The matter will reportedly be up for a city council vote in coming weeks.

In 2012, Rockford received $5 million in state and federal funds toward the Amtrak project. The total cost was estimated at around $60 million.

The amount of additional subsidies has not been released. Funds are part of Quinn’s six-year, $8.6 billion construction plan aimed to improve roads and bridges and establish passenger rail service between Chicago and Moline, Ill.

The new Amtrak station will be at 815 S. Main St., where the old Black Hawk line provided passenger service from 1974-81. The depot then sat vacant until it was demolished in 2011.

Read the entire story by clicking on the following:  Gov. Pat Quinn in Rockford Thursday to make major Amtrak announcement | The Rock River Times

Who Pays America’s Highest (and Lowest) Property Taxes? - Yahoo Homes

 

Who Pays America’s Highest (and Lowest) Property Taxes?

By Camille Salama April 9, 2014 12:31 PM

The second biggest cost of home ownership — following the mortgage — is usually property taxes. In 2012, U.S. homeowners paid an average of about $2,800 in property taxes, according to a recent Zillow study. And if you live in New York, New Jersey, or Colorado your taxes were in some cases five times more than the national average. The numbers are based on an average of real estate taxes paid on single family housing in 2012.

The residents of Westchester County in New York pay more in property taxes than the typical resident of any other major American county. The average property tax bill for a single family home in Westchester County comes to $14,829 a year.

Want to know how your county stacks up against the rest of the country? Check out our rankings below.

Adjusting for the average cost of single-family homes in each county, homeowners in Allegany County, NY win the award for the highest property tax burden. The average tax obligation of $2,549 in Allegany County amounts to 3.8 percent of the average single family home value; in Westchester County, the average tax obligation is slightly lower, at 2.5 percent of the county’s average home value. Nationally, the typical homeowner is spending approximately 1.4 percent of their home’s value on annual property taxes. See the full rankings below.

Highest Property Taxes as a Percent of Home Value

1. Allegany County, NY (3.76%)
2. Milwaukee County, WI (3.68%)
3. Kendall County, IL (3.57%)
4. Sullivan County, NY (3.56%)
5. Orleans County, NY (3.49%)

Lowest Property Taxes as a Percent of Home Value

1. Caroline County, VA (0.17%)
2. Catahoula County, LA and Randolph AR (0.2%)
3. Iberville County, LA and Cumberland County, TN (0.21%)
4. Butler County, PA and Maui County, HI (0.22%)
5. Elmore County, AL and De Soto County, LA (0.23%)

Who Pays America’s Highest (and Lowest) Property Taxes? - Yahoo Homes

Belvidere Daily Republican: Plote Quarry special use goes back to zoning board

By Bob Balgemann
Reporter
BELVIDERE - Beverly Materials' request for an early renewal of a special use permit for mining operations at the Plote Quarry is heading for another hearing before the zoning board of appeals.
That action came Wednesday night on March 19 in a 6-4-1 vote of the Boone County Board. Members Denny Ellingson, Bill Pysson,... Craig Schultz, Marion Thornberry, Ron Wait and Cathy Ward supported the motion, made by Pysson. Opposition came from board Chairman Bob Walberg and members Chris Berner, Brad Fidder and Paul Larson. Member Kenny Freeman abstained; member Karl Johnson was absent.
Reconsideration won't occur until the April 22 meeting of the zoning board. The current special use expires Jan. 30, 2015.
Pysson moved for the delay because he didn't believe residents had been given enough time to provide additional evidence to support their views on the quarry.
Some neighbors have claimed the quarry has violated conditions attached to the special use permit. But attorney Warren Fuller, representing Beverly Materials, said that's not the case.
"There's not one item in the settlement agreement that we haven't complied with," he said. "We have complied with the letter and the spirit of the agreement."
Presumably the additional time will give residents opportunity to prove their allegations of non-compliance.
Responsibility for keeping track of results from ongoing monitoring of groundwater took up most of the board's time Wednesday night. Beverly Materials has retained Patrick Engineering to collect the water samples, with testing done by another company.

NO SPECIFICS
The health department has been criticized for not paying close enough attention to test reports, resulting from quarterly water samples taken from each of the three monitoring wells. But the original agreement allowing the mining operation only stated that reports were to be sent to the county.
The current health department administrator, Cynthia Frank, reminded the board of the following facts:
• The department is not qualified, nor does it have the equipment, to monitor the wells.
•
• The department tests water from residential wells. Monitoring well tests are far more extensive than those conducted on residential wells.
•
Frank said she had no problem with monitoring well reports being sent to the health department. But she wanted language in the special use permit to be specific as to the department's responsibilities.
"I want to be sure that in 10 years, when this comes up again, that the health department isn't persecuted for not monitoring these wells," she stressed. "We cannot do that."
County Environmental Health Director Bill Hatfield also objected to some of the wording in Condition 18, requiring Plote to have not less than three nor more than six monitoring wells. He didn't like the following sentence: "The number and location of the wells shall be established with the advice and consent of the Boone County Health Department."
"The (three) wells are already there," he said. "They never had the advice and consent of the health department." He asked that the sentence be deleted.
"It's not accurate," Frank interjected.
Interim Planning Director Kathy Miller agreed the language didn't need to be in there.
There was uncertainty as to who approved the location of the current monitoring wells, which are situated between the quarry and nearby homes.
Dave Zumbrunn, general manager of Beverly Materials, said Patrick Engineering selected the locations of the wells, with approval by county staff. While he didn't specify who "county staff" was, he said with certainty that the Illinois Environmental Protection (IEPA) was not involved.
In the future, board member Ellingson said if more wells are sunk, the health department and IEPA should be aware of where they are located.

Belvidere Daily Republican: Habitat for Humanity may create space for women's shelter

Belvidere Daily Republican

April 7

By Bob Balgemann
Reporter
BELVIDERE - The Boone County chapter of Habitat for Humanity will not be building a house this year. But instead, the organization may remove an existing residence for use as a women's shelter.
Carol Loveridge, president of the Habitat board of directors, said the board is interested in having that as its 2014 ...project. She said there would be more discussion of the possibility at its April meeting.
The prospect of finally having a shelter for at-risk women brought a level of excitement to the March 21 meeting of the Boone County Homeless Project task force.
"There is no safe place for women in Boone County," said Danice Loveridge, sister-in-law of Carol and chairperson of the task force. "So often they have to go to Rockford when they're fleeing an abusive situation."
"We have a big gap in our community," Danice Loveridge added. "Habitat for Humanity has no money to build a house this year. Now they may rehab a house to serve as a shelter for women. I think we finally have a direction."
She added the hope is that the housing would be somewhere in Belvidere, because "transportation is an issue for a lot of people."
"There was a house for battered women years ago, but it went by the wayside," recalled John Fish, a Belvidere police officer and task force member.
"I think they lost their funding," Danice Loveridge said.
Housing in general has been a longstanding concern of the task force. There is plenty of need but an inadequate number of available places to live. Waiting lists are common; quite often applications aren't being accepted.
The county chapter of Habitat for Humanity was formed in 2005. Since then it has built six three bedroom, one-bath homes in Belvidere. The most recent residence was for Lisa Waters and her three children at 735 Chicago St. It is near house No. 5, on Main Street near Fairgrounds Road.
But those houses now cost in the area of $90,000 and after the main sponsor, Thrivent, decided to focus more on Rockford, getting that amount of money has been difficult.
OFFICERS NEEDED
Also at the March 21 task force meeting Loveridge reminded members of the need for new officers to serve at that level, and on the overseeing board of directors. Darren Ahlgren originally offered to serve as chairman of both the board and task force, but a job change forced him to take a different direction.
In addition, she reported that a third church was in the planning stages of offering a monthly community meal. The Apostolic and Christian Church on Town Hall Road hopes to offer its first meal later this month or in May.
"They have a van so they will pick up people," she said. "They're a little bit out in the country."
Transportation continues to be a problem for some people and Loveridge said she still receives phone calls from those who have no way to get to Poplar Grove United Methodist Church, the first one to start offering meals every month.
Poplar Grove UMC continues to provide meals every Wednesday, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., with St. John's United Church of Christ on Main Street in Belvidere having a meal the third Wednesday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Between the two they are serving about 55 people per meal.

WHY? WHY? WHY?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead?

 

Why does someone believe you when you say “there are four billion stars” but checks when you say “the paint is wet”?

 

Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?

 

Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that  something new to eat will have materialized?