ROCHELLE — At its Monday, Nov. 25 meeting, the Rochelle City Council unanimously approved its 2025 budget, which totals $133.5 million. 

The city’s budget in 2024 was $125.5 million. With its 2025 number, the city’s budget has seen a 45 percent increase since 2020, largely due to power purchases for Rochelle Municipal Utilities electricity that is sold back to customers. Power purchases in 2025 will be $26.8 million. Thirty percent of the budget in 2025 is capital improvements, about $48 million. 

City projects slated for 2025 include work within City Hall, a partially grant-funded downtown infrastructure project that will see new and reconstructed current parking lots along with electric line undergrounding and the addition of a new bathrooms, storage and stage structure; the reconstruction of the intersection at 20th Street and Flagg Road, planning for a new electric substation, completing upgrades at the diesel generation plant, phase two of upgrades at RMU’s wastewater treatment plant, a new iron removal plant at Well 8 and lining within the sanitary sewer system.

“The budget is in great shape,” City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh said. “Our finances are great. We're using some reserves to fund capital projects. I'm very proud of our staff and appreciate the support of our mayor and city council. It's ultimately their decision to make and they've been supportive and we've made any changes they've wanted to make. I think we're in good shape and I'm proud of it.”

The city’s budgeting process starts in July as department heads forecast the rest of their year and where they’re going to be in 2025. The budget also includes a 20-year capital improvement plan. 

At the end of July, meetings are held with department heads, Fiegenschuh and City Finance Director Chris Cardott on issues like line items and staffing needs. The city’s tax levy also plays into its budget and was unanimously approved by the city council on Nov. 12 after the city’s budget workshop on Nov. 4. 

The city's levy rose three percent from last year for a total of $3,069,195 in collected property taxes. The city collected $2,932,578 in property taxes last year. The city's equalized assessed value (EAV) has seen an increase from $311,565,381 to a new estimation of $322,256,037.

Based on the estimated EAV, the city's tax rate would decrease .006612 per $100 EAV for the coming year. The average homeowner will see a decrease to the city's portion of their property taxes. The 2024 levy includes funding the city's police and fire pension funds as recommended by the pension boards’ actuarial studies.

The city has about 1,400 accounts that require budgets. Upon receipt of all the information necessary, Cardott and the finance department prepare the budget before it's summarized in a Powerpoint and budget message by Fiegenschuh before November approval. 

“I've always been extremely impressed with how Chris knows the budget forwards, backwards and inside out,” City Director of Community Engagement Jenny Thompson said. “You can call her and ask her about any line item in the budget, and she knows it off the top of her head without looking it up. We have so much that goes together and intersects between departments. We're not all finance people, so we rely on Chris and her expertise and how she keeps an eye on different things throughout the year to keep them on track. We have policies in place for cash reserves so we're prepared for emergencies. It's a very collaborative effort that we have such a strong financial position that we have today.”

About 75 percent of the general fund expenditures in the city’s 2025 budget  will go to police, fire and public works, Fiegenschuh said. The city has worked to staff its basic services at appropriate levels. Three Rochelle Fire Department firefighters will soon be hired with the help of a grant. Ensuring of adequate staffing levels within the Rochelle Police Department is ongoing after RPD encountered a number of retirements in recent years. The 2025 budget includes money for two new public works employees as the city will try to do more of that work in house at a lower cost and more quickly than contracting it out.

“Those things are what you think of when you think of city government,” Fiegenschuh said. “Fire, police and public works.”

For the past five years, the city has received the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Award. After approving its 2025 budget, it will now have 60 days to submit for the award again. Out of the 1,297 municipalities in Illinois, 87 or 6.7% of them have been recognized with the award.

“Winning the budget award over the years makes us strive to improve on the budget each year,” Cardott said. “We'll dig into what we need and what we need to improve on in those 60 days after the budget is approved before we submit it.”