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2023/11/27 - Mayor's Column: Year End Items

“AN OPEN DOOR TO O’FALLON”
A WEEKLY NOTE FROM MAYOR HERB ROACH
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We are closing in rapidly on the end of 2023.  That means that the city has been working on all the year-end planning for calendar year 2024.  This includes some very important documents that lay the groundwork for the next year and beyond.

Those include our 5-year Capital Improvement Plan, the 3-year Strategic Plan and the Real-estate Tax assessed by the city.  The Real-estate Tax is a complicated item which requires a lot of study of such things as increase in operating costs for the coming year, any increase in taxable properties, decreases in taxable properties because of exemptions and/or protests filled by property owners.

The numbers above keep changing until about March of 2024 but we must have our numbers ready to go in November 2023 so the Council can vote on it in December 2023, and we can submit our requested number by the end of December 2023. During the last 6 years, we have lowered the city tax rate back to where it was 35 years ago and we will work to keep it there, which is the lowest of any city of 20,000 or more in St. Clair and Madison County. The city portion of your real-estate tax is only about 10% to 11%.

I also wanted to give you an update on the 14-million-dollar improvement to the city Wastewater Treatment Plant.  This update is moving along with completion expected in early 2024.  When completed, it will increase the volume that can be handled, place us in full compliance with State and Federal Regulations and improve the cost of operation. 

Two other thing that you should know about this project:

  • The 20-year loan that we have taken to pay for this has an interest rate of under 1%.  This was obtained due to our very good financial rating.
  • When this is completed, we will do a study on the possible use of a solar farm on our property to produce power for this facility which uses the largest amount of electricity of any city facilities. Our hope is that this will further reduce our electrical needs.

As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open.