Property tax bills were mailed to City residents last week, with the first installment due on June 1st.

There are always concerns about tax bills and how much money it takes to operate local government agencies that serve St. Charles residents.

When you receive your tax bill, please make sure you do 2 things:

1. Look at the net taxable value for your home. It is located in the lower right hand portion of the bill and looks like this. That is an important part of determining how much tax you pay. It can also explain an increase or decrease in the amount you owe.

This year, the total value of all property in St. Charles decreased by 6% (from $1,568,915,730 to $1,478,384,386). This is a substantial decline, but logical, given the current state of the economy and local real estate market.

Essentially, if your property value declined by 6% or more, you should pay less to the City than you did last year. If your property value decreased by 6% or less (or if it increased), you will pay more to the City than you did last year. Individual circumstances may vary based on other factors, so you should consider those before reaching any conclusions.

2. Look at the taxes allocated by agency (e.g. city, county, school district, park district, township, etc.). It is located in the lower left corner of the bill and looks like this.

Each agency levies its own property tax. No entity has control over any other. Many people believe the City has the power to control the taxes levied by the school district, park district, etc. We don’t. If you are concerned about the taxes charged by a certain entity, contact that entity. There are knowledgeable staff at each agency who can answer your questions or provide explanations for the amount levied.

You may also be interested in reviewing this document:

Tax Levy Comparison

It shows how the City’s property tax levy (the total $ amount of taxes) compares with other taxing bodies in St. Charles. Please note that the City’s levy for the year declined slightly. I believe this demonstrates that the City is working hard to minimize the tax burden for area property owners.

The levies for other taxing bodies increased or decreased based on the amount needed by each to fund services, programs, and facility needs. Again, if you are concerned about the taxes charged by a certain entity, contact that entity directly.

The St. Charles Fire Department recently released its 2011 Annual Report. The report provides information regarding service to the community and highlights department activities.

The Fire Department responded to 4,511 calls for service in 2011, a decrease from 5,100 in 2010 and the 10-year high of 5,215 in 2006. The main reason for the decline is that the city’s fire department no longer provides service to the area of the St. Charles Countryside Fire Protection District (now called Fox River & Countryside Fire & Rescue District). That area typically generated about 20% of the total calls for service or approximately 1,000 calls annually. For 2011, only 377 of the city’s calls were generated by the District, as the service agreement terminated May 1, 2011.

While the separation had a significant impact on the volume of calls received, it did not impact the quality. The men and women of the Fire Department continue to provide exemplary service to the St. Charles community.

During 2011, calls for emergency medical services represented 61% of all calls for the department. This is by far the largest category of need of St. Charles residents.

The Fire Department also handled 132 fires in 2011, representing approximately 3% of all calls for service. The majority of those fires were structure fires with the balance consisting of vehicle fire, brush fires, dumpster fires, and cooking/chimney fires.

St. Charles maintains 3 fire stations. Station #1 (located downtown on Riverside Avenue) was the busiest station, handling 1,771 calls. This station maintains sufficient daily staffing to operate 1 engine or ladder truck and 1 command vehicle.

Station #3 (on Campton Hills Road) handled 1,404 calls. This station maintains sufficient daily staffing to operate 1 engine and 1 ambulance.

Station #2 (on Industrial Drive) handled 1,336 calls. This station maintains sufficient daily staffing to operate 1 engine and 1 ambulance.

Other highlights of the report include:

• April was the busiest month of the year during 2011 when 429 calls for service were received. November was the slowest month of the year with 295 calls for service.
• Saturday was the busiest day of the week with 682 incidents. Sunday was the slowest day of the week with 602 incidents.
• The busiest hours of the day for the fire department were from 11 am – 2 pm with the peak hour for calls being 12 noon -1 pm.

In 2012, the St. Charles Fire Department will be pursuing accreditation through the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI). CFAI provides for a comprehensive self-assessment and evaluation model that enables fire and emergency service organizations to examine past, current, and future service levels and performance and compare them to industry best practices. For more information on the accreditation process, you can click here.

For more information, or to review the fire department’s annual report in detail, please click here.

The System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) is the average number of minutes each system customer was without power during the year.

In 2011, the City of St. Charles electric utility obtained its best reliability performance in 10 years, scoring in the industry’s top quartile for shorter duration and lower frequency of outages. While the city’s electric utility routinely enjoys top performance, industry standard index numbers trended better in 2011.

The number of service interruptions for the average customer in 2011 was 1.3, down from 2.5 in 2008. In 2011, the average number of minutes a system customer was without power decreased 67% from 2007 (to 35.5 minutes from 108.9 minutes). In addition, the average time to restore an outage fell to 28 minutes in 2011 from an already impressive 51 minutes in 2009.

The city’s steadily improving performance can be attributed to several factors, including infrastructure replacement, equipment modernization, and enhanced customer communication. Electric cable replacement, pole replacements, substation modernization, and the new outage notification system have greatly helped improve outage performance and response times.

The improvements in performance were documented in the city’s 2011 Priorities Survey. Results of that survey show that:

• 88% of respondents rated the reliability of the electric system as “excellent” or “good”
• 78% of respondents rated the value of the electric service as “excellent” or “good”

Last July, the city launched a new automated telephone notification system that relays outage information faster to reduce crew response times and a new phone number to report electric outages—866-444-0016. The new system uses caller I.D. to identify a caller’s outage location and offers an optional call back feature to confirm power has been restored. Residents are encouraged to register their phone number with the system by calling Utility Billing at 630-377-4426 or registering online here.

The #1 cause of outages for St. Charles customers is the loss of the electric system feed from Com Ed. City officials continue to work with Com Ed to improve system performance so that outages can be minimized.

To view a presentation that was recently made to the St. Charles City Council on the subject of electric system reliability, please click here.

The popular program allows residents to place unwanted items at the curb for collection by the city’s waste hauler, Veolia.

Spring Clean Up items will be collected on Saturday, May 5th, for residents EAST of the Fox River. Residents who live WEST of the Fox River will have their items collected on Saturday, May 19th. These dates were selected to avoid 2 important dates in the month of May – Mother’s Day (May 13) and Memorial Day (May 28).

As a result of careful consideration of many factors, the City Council elected to suspend the program in 2010. Financial considerations were only one part of the decision. Other factors included environmental sensitivity/sustainability, abuse of program guidelines, equity of service and charges, and readily available privately-provided service options. Approximately $250,000 in savings from the city’s 2011-12 snow removal program will allow funding for the program to be restored in 2012.

The 2012 program is expected to cost approximately $90,000. Veolia will charge the city $90,000 for the collection of up to 300 tons of material. For each additional ton, an additional charge of $75 will be levied. The last clean-up program that was conducted (2009) generated just under 300 tons of material from St. Charles homes.

For further information regarding the program, or to obtain detailed information about items that are ineligible for collection, please click here.

Crews work to construct a temporary causeway on the east side of the Fox River.

In the next few weeks, construction activity at the site of the future Red Gate Bridge will ramp up again as McHugh Construction will begin the work to build the roadway and bridge structure. This work follows the completion of preparatory work last fall by Herlihy Construction including clearing the site, grading, and construction of a bridge over the Fox River Trail.

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has spent the past several weeks reviewing the bid results for the project. The agency has awarded the contract to the low bidder, McHugh Construction. You can view a copy of the memo awarding the contract to McHugh Construction here. IDOT will maintain a role in administering and overseeing the work, in conjunction with representatives of the City of St. Charles.

McHugh is mobilizing equipment, materials, and trailers to the project site. That work will continue this week. Also taking place this week will be the installation of construction signs and message boards to notify the public of upcoming construction activity.

During the week of April 9, tree removal along both sides of IL 25 will commence (within the IL 25 right-of-way) and driving steel test piles on the east side of the river bridge will be initiated.

For additional information regarding the project, to view images of construction progress, or watch the construction activity live via a webcam, please go here.

The Red Gate Bridge is expected to be open for traffic in December, 2012.

Construction on East Main Street (Route 64) from 7th Avenue to Dunham Road is scheduled to begin April 16, 2012 with message boards being placed the week of April 9th. During the first two weeks, most activity will involve material and equipment deliveries and surveying activities. It is estimated that actual road closures and roadway removal activities will begin May 1.

Construction on the segment of East Main Street/North Avenue from Dunham Road to Route 59 is scheduled to begin April 23, 2012.

The estimated completion date for the section of Route 64 from 7th Avenue to Dunham Road is July 26, 2013. The completion date for the section from Dunham Road to Route 59 is August 31, 2013.

The long-awaited project is expected to provide significant safety and travel improvements, once complete. However, during construction there will be substantial impacts on residents, businesses, and the motoring public.

As with any construction project, motorists are requested to allocate additional time for their trips, use patience in travelling through construction zones, or consider alternative routes. In addition, please remember that use of cellular phones and other communication devices in construction zones is prohibited by state law.

The city has provided a section on its website to provide project updates. You can go here for that information.

When calls for service are divided by quadrant of the community (using Main Street and the Fox River), the following results were obtained:

• Northeast quadrant – 13.5% decline
• Southeast quadrant – 8% decline
• Northwest quadrant – 5.5% decline
• Southwest quadrant – 4% decline

The report shows a continued downward trend in crime throughout the city. This includes the more serious Part 1 crimes as well as Part 2 crimes. Part 1 crimes have decreased by 24% since 2007. Part 2 crimes have decreased by 15% over that same period.

Motor vehicle accidents on public roadways have also declined in St. Charles. Statistics show that the number of accidents in 2011 totaled 997, a 24% reduction from 2007. However, the city still has certain areas that are prone to more accidents. The top 3 crash areas are:

• South Randall Road between Oak and IL Route 38
• East Main Street from 7th Avenue to Dunham Road
• West Main Street/IL Route 31

The red-light camera device at West Main Street and IL 31 has been a contributing factor to reducing accidents at this intersection; however, the sheer volume of traffic and the configuration of the intersection make it difficult to improve safety.

The reconstruction and widening of East Main Street will improve this section of roadway. The addition of a center turn-lane should help tremendously.

The annual report also provides highlights of some of the other services provided by the Police Department, including the Kane County SWAT Team, K-9 Unit, and Crime Prevention Unit. The Community Restitution Program is also included. This program uses the labor of those ordered to perform court-ordered community service to complete many tasks including daily collection of refuse in the downtown area, pick-up of trash along public roadways, graffiti removal, and mowing/weeding of foreclosed and abandoned properties. In 2011, this program provided services valued at over $125,000!

For additional information, or to view the entire 2011 report, please click here.

In 2011, the St. Charles Police Department was recognized by the Commission on Law Enforcement Accreditation (CALEA) with the “Accreditation with Excellence” award, which is presented to law enforcement agencies that display excellence in public safety professionalism. That recognition, and the results of the 2011 annual report, demonstrates the positive impact that the St. Charles Police Department has on the quality of life here in our community.

The city is projecting a $369,000 surplus for FY11-12 that is primarily due to the effectiveness of robust cost containment efforts. In addition, approximately $250,000 is expected to be saved due to the mild winter and lower than anticipated costs for snow and ice control.

The FY12-13 budget represents a solid, sustainable financial plan that:

1. Includes no new taxes or fees and no increases in taxes or fees
2. Restores some programs/services that were suspended during the worst of the economic downturn
3. Completes long-awaited and much-anticipated capital projects including the Red Gate Bridge and East Main Street Reconstruction

The city’s efforts during the past few years to achieve financial sustainability are paying dividends – the General Fund is strong. From an operations standpoint, the city is expected to enjoy surpluses for the current year, FY12-13, and FY13-14. Unfortunately, the economic downturn has resulted in underperformance of several of the city’s TIF districts and that will require the city to provide subsidies to repay bonds issued to fund improvements. Even with this subsidy, General Fund reserve (the city’s “savings account”) is expected to be 32% of expenditures at the end of the 5-year forecast – well in excess of the city’s target of 25%.

The FY12-13 budget includes:

• restoring the popular “Spring Clean-Up” program. This program allows St. Charles residents to dispose of unwanted items on a 1-time basis. While many residents believe the program is free, the actual cost to taxpayers will be approximately $100,000. Preliminary plans are to offer the program in May, with 1 collection date for residents east of the river and 1 collection date for residents west of the river.
• restoring the façade improvement program at a cost of $40,000. This program is a matching grant program for downtown business owners to improve the exterior of their buildings, maintain the character of our historic downtown, and enhance the overall appearance of the community. Funds are administered by the city’s Community Development Department. You can get more information here.

Capital projects to be undertaken in FY12-13 include the construction of the Red Gate Bridge and the reconstruction of East Main Street from 7th Avenue to the city’s eastern boundary.

Construction of the Red Gate Bridge commenced last summer and is slated for completion by late 2012. Construction on East Main Street also started in 2011 and is expected to last until Fall, 2013.

The city’s budget is slated to be presented at a public hearing on Monday, April 2nd. It is scheduled for adoption by the City Council on Monday, April 16th.

For additional information, please view the presentation materials here.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental organization with a mission of helping governments tackle the economic, social and governance challenges of a global economy.

The OECD recently published the results of its review of the 21-county region that is sometimes referred to as the Gary-Chicago-Milwaukee corridor. The review focused on:

• The effectiveness and coordination of workforce development programs in the Chicago Tri-State metro-region
• The metro-region’s capacity for innovation
• The role as a major center for logistics in North America
• It’s capacity to encourage green growth over the long term

You can get more information regarding the OECD and its assessment here.

A summary of the assessment and recommendations can be found here.

Some of the key findings that I found interesting are:

• Our region contributed 3.4% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the US, third behind New York and Los Angeles.
• The study concludes that the region is a good place to do business, with state and local taxes not higher than the US average.
• The region ranks 4th among US metro areas in educational achievement, with 1/3 of the population holding a BA degree or higher.
• There is a “serious mismatch” between the skills that workers have and the needs of businesses. Existing job training programs are splintered and ineffective at addressing the skills gap.
• Inter-state competition for businesses is ineffective in providing true economic growth for the region and could be “self-defeating in the long run.”
• The region’s transportation network is plagued by problems related to planning, coordination, and funding.
• Fragmentation of government is extreme. The report states Toronto has 28 local government entities, London has 34, Paris as 1,400, and our region has 1,700.

To address these concerns, the OECD recommends greater region-wide planning for the 21-county region that focuses on:

• Economic Development
• Workforce Development
• Transportation and Logistics Development

The report goes on to recommend that key components include:

• On-going community outreach to educate and inform constituents
• Expand existing organization of mayors and county executives to include all portions of the tri-state region
• Regular meetings of the governors of all 3 states
• Regular meetings of state legislators of all 3 states
• Establish a US congressional caucus representing the region

I encourage anyone interested in the global economy and keeping our region competitive to read this report. It provides some great information and some very sound recommendations for the future.

What do you think needs to be done to keep the Chicagoland area competitive in the global arena?

There was some speculation that the Governor would announce the closure of the Illinois Youth Center facility located in our community. That didn’t happen, but St. Charles was mentioned by name during the address – regarding a new school construction program that was proposed by the Governor.

The Illinois General Assembly has started its Spring session. This is an election year, so many experts predict that there won’t be a great deal of activity. And, those same experts predict that any activity that does happen will not have a major impact. “Stay safe” appears to be the guiding principle.

Anytime the legislature and Governor are in Springfield, there is reason to be concerned. There are always a variety of groups there pushing for legislative action on their agenda. Cities and villages also have their agenda. This year it includes priorities related to:

• Protecting revenues used to fund city services
• Pension reform
• Protecting local government decision-making
• Opposition to unfunded mandates imposed by state government

There are some initiatives that could have a significant impact on local taxpayers. Here’s a few to keep your eyes on:

1. Pension reform

Recent media reports have legislative leaders focused on doing something related to pension reform. The Governor has appointed a pension task force that includes Sen. Mike Noland from Elgin and 3 other legislators. Governor Quinn set a deadline of April 17th for the task force to complete its work.

Pension benefits for local government employees are mandated by the state; yet cities and villages bear all costs not covered by employees (also determined by the state). That burden is significant. The annual cost of pensions paid by taxpayers for city employees is about $4 million.

Pension reforms continue to be tied to the constitutional debate about whether benefits for current employees – state and local – can be reduced. I hope that all parties can get together to negotiate reforms that will help stabilize the state’s financial position and provide some relief to local governments as well.

2. Funding for Regional Offices of Education/Superintendents

Governor Quinn has again proposed funding Regional School Superintendent salaries out of Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax. This will reduce funds to local governments, including St. Charles.  You can read more about the history of this here.

The concern here is about the proverbial “slippery slope” and the State of Illinois continuing a pattern of funding state programs with sources of revenue designated for local governments.

3. Public Safety Employee Benefits Act (PSEBA) reform

PSEBA allows police & fire employees “catastrophically” injured in the line of duty to receive free health insurance benefits for rest of their lives. Benefits are also provided to spouses and dependents free of charge. That is a good policy. The problem is that the definition of “catastrophic” has been bastardized to allow any disabling injury to qualify. That’s not good policy and legislative action is needed to clean it up. I understand that labor unions are in discussions with the Illinois Municipal League. I hope that they can work something out.

The Daily Herald recently called for a fix – read more about it here.

4. Property Tax Caps

The Illinois House of Representatives has already approved legislation that would prevent schools, non-home rule cities, counties and other governments from increasing the amount of property tax revenue they collect in any year when the assessed value of property within their boundaries dropped. Right now, those governments can increase the amount by the Consumer Price Index.

I understand the concern about rising property tax bills when values are decreasing – I experience it too. However, the property tax caps implemented in Illinois decoupled property tax LEVIES from property VALUES. A change of this nature will have no impact on the City of St. Charles, but could have drastic impacts on many other local governments. The true economic impacts should be studied before something of this magnitude is approved. You can view the legislation here.

St. Charles residents should contact their state legislators with their comments or concerns. You can find that information here.

Over the next few months, I will use this blog to keep you updated on important issues that the City of St. Charles is tracking.