Rock Island holds budget workshop; officials outline 2025 totals, hearing schedule as residents press for economic-development answers

Alderwoman Linda Barnes convened a public workshop on the City of Rock Island's 2025 budget, saying the document should "be a reflection of our values and priorities," and invited Finance Director Jessica Sager to walk residents through revenue, spending and the schedule for council hearings.

Sager told the room the city budgeted just under $154,500,000 in revenue across all funds for 2025 and budgeted about $168,500,000 in total expenditures. She said charges for services were the largest revenue source citywide (about 21.6%), with state and local taxes (18.8%) and property taxes (14.4%) following. "For the 2025 budget, total revenue across all funds was just under $154,500,000," Sager said.

City staff emphasized the budget's structure: Rock Island has more than 67 active funds, including governmental, proprietary (enterprise) and fiduciary funds. Sager said the General Fund ' the city's primary operating fund ' was budgeted for roughly $48.9 million in revenue and just under $56.4 million in expenditures for 2025, with personnel costs making up about two-thirds of General Fund spending. Across all funds, personnel was the largest expense category.

Sager illustrated property-tax distribution using a $100,000 home example: roughly 51'¢ of each property-tax dollar goes to the Rock Island School District while Rock Island receives about 27'¢. Staff noted assessed values come from Rock Island County and that the city presents multiple rate/value scenarios for council consideration rather than issuing a single binding staff recommendation.

Offi…