29-01-2025
Rock Island mayor conducts State of the City address
Rock Island Mayor Mike Thoms gave his annual State of the City address at Bally's Quad Cities Casino & Hotel, projecting the city's progress last year and wants for the new year. Thoms is looking for new businesses to help increase city revenue.
'New buildings, expanding businesses is probably the number one area,' said Thoms. 'We need to expand our tax base, we can't keep relying on the same people paying more taxes to cover the expenses. So our number one goal is going to be how can we add new businesses.'
The city is also looking at building software that will streamline interactions between the city and residents, such as paying bills, applying for city permits and accessing city data.
'It's going to be a lot more user friendly and save a lot of time and effort at city hall,' said Thoms.
Thoms also reported that violent crime was down 9%, even with a reduction in police staff. Thoms says the need for officers is still high however, as calls increased over 7%.
'At this point we'd take ten, 11 officers right today if we had them,' said Thoms.
Another takeaway from the year is better planning for large scale projects.
'You know it's frustrating, maybe some things to learn is maybe handle the construction a little different as far as timing, but yet we're are very proud of what's going to be the end result,' said Thoms.
Thoms is optimistic of the future of the city, but says the city can only thrive with the help of local business.
'People that have been here, are still here, reinvest in your business,' said Thoms. 'Reinvest in opportunities in the city of Rock Island. Whether it be building a new building, whether it be buying a house. Whatever it is, the theme is reinvest, be involved in the city of Rock Island.'
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