Council Hears From Mayoral Candidate Larry Russell and an Update on Fulton Mobile Home Park

            The regular meeting of the Fulton City Council on December 15 opened with communication from visitor Larry Russell who came to the meeting to inform the council members that he has taken out the necessary papers to run for Mayor in the 2009 election.  He stated that he felt that the current council has done a fine job, and he looks forward to attending their meetings prior to the election.

Prior to moving on to agenda items for consideration, City Administrator Randy Balk address the council saying that he felt that the public may need a more detailed explanation of the 4.7% tax levy increase that the council approved during their December 1 meeting. Specifically he wanted the public to understand that since the EAV (Equalized Assessed Valuation) of Fulton is larger, the levied dollars will be taken from a larger base.

            Because the council's December 1 discussion in open session of the EAV's affect on the levy and the lasted only about 3 minutes prior to the council' approval of the 4.7% increase, this writer met with Randy Balk and spoke with Whiteside County Supervisor of Assessments Darrell Drennan in an attempt to gain a greater understanding of the EAV and how it affects the city's tax levy. The following tries to explain the facts and figures involved.  

            The Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) used by the council is the taxable value of all real property with in the city of Fulton. Last year, the total equalized assessed valuation (EAV) of properties was $45,382,941. The City of Fulton levied, $367,148, which equals a tax rate of .8090. This year the estimated EAV is up from last year to an estimated $47,739,441 and the city is levying $384,173. That is a tax rate of .8047, lower than last year.  Basically this means that the City of Fulton is asking for a smaller percentage of the EAV than it did last year.

            First on the agenda under items for consideration was an update on The Fulton Mobile Home Park by co-owner John McNerney. John's main purpose was to explain to the council some of the zoning issues on vacant areas of the park. Certain areas are zoned residential while others are zoned commercial making it difficult to utilize them effectively. His intension is to go before the zoning board, but he wanted to inform the council and get their thoughts on the matter.  Mr. McNerney also updated the council on some of the progress that has been made in the park. "Our goal is to make sure that the trailer park is an asset to the community," stated McNerney.  These first few months of ownership have involved a lot of cleaning up. Abandoned, unrepairable trailers have been removed. Several trailers have been totally redone on the inside and will be redone on the outside when the weather allows.  There will no longer be mobiles homes for rent in the park, only for sale. The new owners know that pride of ownership leads to cleaner, neater trailer parks. Residents of the park are required to sign a large document outlining the rules of the park and those who don't comply are subject to eviction. John told the council that all problem residents have been evicted. Chief of Police Jim Rhodes reported that police calls to the area have dropped pretty dramatically and feels that there good progress being made in the park.

            The council voted to cancel their January 5, 2009 regular meeting and hold their next meeting on January 19, 2009 at 5:30 pm in the council chambers.

Courtesy of Fulton Journal