2 weeks Ago By DANIEL BETHERS [email protected]
Moline officials took Monday morning to reflect on a year of community projects and financial successes enjoyed by the city. Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati's annual State of the City address at The Sound Conservatory highlighted successes on community enrichment projects, along with conservative fiscal planning, regulatory changes and a community of collaborative institutions. Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati gives her State of the City address on Monday, Feb.
3, 2025, at The Sound Conservatory. Despite financial struggles, such as an $3.5 million shortfall of state personal property replacement tax allocations, the city reduced its levy rate this year, taking only an $500,000 increase in property tax levy compared to the $1.
33 million increase climbing property values would have caused under the former rate. An average home worth $150,436 will see a $21 increase in a resident’s city property tax bill under the planned rate, which includes Park Board and library levies. The average commercial property, valued at $733,653, would see a $93 increase.
The city received almost $15 million in grants this year, helping Moline achieve results despite the conservative budgeting Rayapati credits with keeping property tax rates low. The city granted over $65 million in construction permits in 2024, a $3 million improvement over last year. Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati poses with Moline officials after her annual State of the City address on Feb.
3 at The Sound Conservatory. “In 2022, our economy grew by 5.05%,” Rayapati said.
“In 2023, it grew by 5.75%. In 2024, the preliminary projection was a growth of 8.
06%. Certainly, this may trend downward over the course of 2025, but we have evidence that we have been on the right path.” Moline remains on track to save over $20 million in the coming decades by using bonds to refinance pension investments, although pension contributions have still increased this year because the Moline Police Department has reached full capacity for officers, filling all 84 positions.
Rayapati also highlighted infrastructure projects the city completed, including more than 11 miles of road and utility reconstruction this past year, as a part of the $24.6 million 2024 Capital Improvement Plan. “Critical intersections” like 16th Street and Avenue of the Cities and John Deere Road at 41st Street were repaved, and Rayapati highlighted increased pedestrian and cyclist safety along 19th Street.
Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati gives her State of the City address on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, at The Sound Conservatory. Another 2.
4 miles were served by the Sidewalk Replacement Program, which Rayapati said will soon be augmented by a sidewalk condition index similar to the one the city currently uses for streets, allowing the city to objectively prioritize the worst sidewalks in the city. In response to increasing regulation from the federal government, Moline has been replacing lead service lines wherever repairs are done, with a full replacement initiative expected to launch this year. Flood resiliency work has begun around the north side of the riverfront railroad lines, and the city’s application for quiet zones along downtown rail lines is awaiting approval by the Federal Railroad Administration.
A private $19 million investment in the city-wide Metronet broadband installation project came to fruition in October of 2024, featuring 125 miles of buried fiber optics and an additional 60 miles carried by telephone pole, giving residents and businesses more internet options. The city has submitted an application last week for two BUILD federal infrastructure grants that will be instrumental in preparing Moline’s riverfront for development. “There will be two BUILD grants, the first for engineering and design, about $6 million and the second for construction — $24 million-plus assuming the BUILD money is still there (by the time our application is processed),” City Administrator Bob Vitas told The Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus.
“That would be used to develop all the public land and infrastructure at the riverfront.” Vitas said the city can’t reveal private investor information yet, but “there’s great interest.” Kelly Nache speaks about Moline becoming a Bee City at the State of the City address on Monday, Feb.
3, 2025, at The Sound Conservatory. Rayapati also highlighted that Moline’s rental housing inspection program has successfully paid for itself using fees and 1,877 units were licensed in 2024, compared to 434 in 2023. “Almost all of them have been inspected with only 39 in our lowest graded category,” Rayapati said.
“We are pleased to be able to hold landlords accountable, (using) the municipal court system to bring living conditions up to an acceptable level.” She also highlighted the recent passage of the Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance as a means of diversifying Moline’s housing and building “up not out.” The city has reported interest in the new Rivers Edge tax incentive program from developers, and anticipates it will be ready to handle applications by mid-2025.
Riverside Park saw significant success with its upgraded Riverside Riverslide Aquatic Center, welcoming 56,587 guests, up from 18,844 in 2022. Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati gives her State of the City address on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, at The Sound Conservatory.
Several guest speakers highlighted prominent resident-led projects supported by city officials with personal expertise, business acumen and connections. Emily Allen credited “resounding support from the city of Moline” in her effort to rescue Bob Vogelbaugh’s iconic Mr. Thanksgiving community dinner when lack of a venue threatened to end the event’s 54-year legacy.
Allen, who knew Vogelbaugh as the crossing guard “who has safely escorted my children across the road for seven years,” decided to do something about it. Felix Vallejo speaks at the Moline State of the City Address on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 at The Sound Conservatory.
Vallejo spoke about preserving The Skelly Service Station in the Floreciente neighborhood. She was joined not only by other parents but also Hy-Vee, RIA Federal Credit Union, Stern Beverage, The Rust Belt, the city of Moline Human Rights Commission and Lou Fusz Kia and Nissan of Moline, who quickly established a new home for the event at Mercado on Fifth. The event, organized in three weeks, served 2,000 Thanksgiving meals with the help of nearly 100 volunteers.
Allen told attendees she is in the process of establishing a 501(c)(3) organization to “secure the storied tradition for many, many more years.” Felix Vallejo told a similar story of his restoration of the Skelly Oil Co. service station, built in 1932, culminating in its recognition on the National Register of Historic Places.
Emily Allen speaks at the Moline State of the City address on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 at The Sound Conservatory. Allen talked about the work she took part in to help find a new home for Mr.
Thanksgiving's free meals. He was supported by the John Deere Foundation, Habitat for Humanity Quad Cities, employees of the Deere Seeding Group and the Moline Historic Preservation Commission and Sarah Robb, who contributed a mural to the site. “I did not bring this .
.. back to life alone,” Vallejo told the gathering.
“Especially during these trying times, it’s important to recognize that none of us are alone — it took a village raising everything from disrepair.” The station is now a center of community again, as a novelty site for classic car shows, and an informal museum for various memorabilia donated to the site by residents. “(As) a board member of the Moline Community Development Corporation .
.. I am even more grateful to see firsthand that our city leadership upholds the interests of our neighborhoods and those who reside in them at the root of every decision they make.
It has been rewarding working alongside (them in) those appointments of mine,” Vallejo concluded. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois.
Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb.
1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois.
Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb.
1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois.
Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb.
1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois.
Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb.
1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois.
Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb.
1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois.
Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb.
1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois. Cheerleaders from Moline High School compete Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in the large school division of the competitive cheerleading sectional at Farmington High School in Farmington, Illinois.
Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. News Reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items..
