By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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LOVES PARK — For proof that Loves Park puts its focus on growing its business sector, Mayor Greg Jury offered this evidence Wednesday: The city has a full-time police department, full-time fire department, water department, street department and community development department.
All are paid for without a property tax.
It funds those services for the city of roughly 24,000 people because its businesses generate enough sales tax to keep the city churning, Jury said.
“So that tells you how hard we’ve been working to get our retail businesses up and running,” he told dozens of business and community leaders gathered for his State of the Parks speech at Forest Hills Country Club.
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Jury used his presentation before Parks Chamber of Commerce members to illustrate his support for local police officers and firefighters, but he also put a big focus on touting the city as business friendly. Multiple business owners have backed him on that claim, too, with several new restauranteurs and other entrepreneurs praising the city in the past year as they opened up new shops.
“During COVID, we supported the hell out of our businesses,” Jury said to applause from business leaders in attendance. “We allowed them to stay open, do their job, and I’ll be quite honest with you it has paid back to this community huge.”
That decision also proved controversial, with pushback from health officials and neighboring city leaders saying that allowing restaurants to resist state-mandated closures put the public at risk. But Jury maintains it was the right move to help business. Now, he says its paying off because more local businesses are eager to work with the city.
“We have tons of business that come and talk to us that want to be in Loves Park, and we have current business owners that want to buy more businesses or add on,” he said.
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Those new businesses are also helping pump more money into city coffers. Largely thanks to the addition of Costco in mid-August 2019, the city’s sales tax revenues have surged. Those revenues are up 70% since 2011, according to city records.
Sales tax revenue went from $3.89 million in 2011 to $6.62 million in 2022.
“That happens because we support our businesses full time,” Jury said. “People just enjoyed working with us because we’re business friendly and we make it as easy for them as possible.”
Jury also praised Nathan Bruck, the city’s economic development and planning manager, Steve Thompson, its director of community development and public works, and Gino Galluzzo of AGHL Law, which represents the city, for their regular work to attract business to Loves Park. He said they’re all key to bringing business here.
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Jury delivered his remarks during a State of the Parks speech he shared with Machesney Park Mayor Steve Johnson, who spoke second in the evening’s event. They were the ninth of 10 presentations in the Parks Chamber’s legislative series.
True to form for a city that has the shortest council meetings in the region, Jury delivered the shortest speech so far in the series. He wrapped up in 17 minutes and 54 seconds, which is about four minutes longer than the average City Council meeting.
In less than 20 minutes, Jury provided an overview of the city’s services, its efforts to attract new businesses and provided some key stats such as the $30 million in road repairs made over the past decade in Loves Park.
He also injected humor, poking fun at himself with one of the slides in the presentation calling for “laughter and applause” while showing himself in cartoon crown. He also joked that next month when Rockford Park District Executive Director Jay Sandine speaks about the state of the parks there will be a petting zoo from Lockwood Park, mini putt and a driving range.
He wound down his speech by highlighting a few things on the horizon, including work to redevelop the area around the Rockford Speedway, the Interstate 90 and Riverside Boulevard corridor and the area around Forest Hills Road and Riverside. He also said multiple streetscape improvements are coming to North Second Street over the next couple years, a new user-friendly website is in the works and the Birthday Bash held this past summer to celebrate the city’s 75th anniversary will become an annual event.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas.