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2022/07/25 - Mayor's Column: New Ratings

“AN OPEN DOOR TO O’FALLON”
A WEEKLY NOTE FROM MAYOR HERB ROACH


­­­I want to take this opportunity to share some information with you on ratings of your City and other things occurring in O’Fallon:

  1. Most recently, the O’Fallon Fire Department went through its ISO evaluation. An ISO fire rating is a score provided to fire departments and insurance companies by the Insurance Services Office. The score reflects how prepared a community and area is for fires. While it mainly focuses on the local fire departments and water supply, there are other factors that contribute to an area's score. O’Fallon received a score of 3 (1 being the best; the lowest score is 10). This ranking is better than some local full time fire departments and is higher or as high as any other volunteer fire department.  A BIG Thank You is deserved by Chief White and all the people of our fire department. This rating may have a very positive impact on your home or building insurance.
  2. I want to start by thanking our Planning Commission, economic development department, City Council, builders and other staff for the following accomplishment. It is with their efforts that O’Fallon continues to grow but in a positive manner that has a positive impact on the value of local property. According to the Zillow Home Value Index the 62269-area code saw a 17.7 % value increase with the highest average value of the twelve zip codes reported. Unfortunately, some communities suffered decreases of over 25%. Another group that helps to maintain this is our Code Enforcement Department which works with home and business owners to see that both property and buildings are maintained.
  3. With costs rising and inflation hitting some 40-year highs, the city is also confronted with some higher expenditures in just about everything it does. To be proactive, we have held meetings to discuss the rising costs and how we will need to manage it going forward. 

We want to maintain a good solid financial rating (the best in Southwestern Illinois).  Due to the very good management of our finances, we just received a loan rate of under 1% for our $14 Million expansion on our sewer plant.

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.