Belvidere Bulletin December 22, 2022

December 22, 2022

Your Weekly City News...City Views!!

Non-Emergency City Offices will be closed December 26th

Non-Emergency City Offices will be closed December 26th in observance of Christmas. City Offices will reopen on Tuesday, December 27, 2022.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

TAX LEVY PASSED

As shared in previous issues of the Belvidere Bulletin, a public hearing was held Monday evening regarding the 2022 property tax levy. This was an opportunity for members of the public to make comments or ask questions of Council members regarding the proposed amount.

With rates unchanged since 2017 and inflation higher than it has been in decades, Council approved a 5% increase in the City’s levy and 3.89% as requested by the Ida Public Library. The total levy amount for 2022, to be collected in 2023, is $6,006,634. For the owner of a $150,000 residence receiving the homestead exemption, the increase will be about $27.79 per year, or 8 cents per day.

Video- December 19, 2022 City Council Meeting

Primary Election February 28, 2023

City Council is made up of 10 Alderpersons, two from each of the City’s five wards, and each serving for four years. Terms are staggered, so every two years one of the two Alderpersons from each ward is elected.

On February 28, 2023 the following names will appear on the Republican Primary Election ballot for the only contested race for City Council:

Ward 2 Daniel K. Snow - Republican

Ronald L. Chilson - Republican

Since this is the only contested race for the February 28 election, all Voters in Ward 2 will cast their ballot at the Boone County Administration Campus, 1212 Logan Avenue. Please contact the Boone County Clerk’s Office at 815-544-3103 with any questions.

Early voting begins January 19, 2023.

The winner of the Primary Election will appear on the April, 2023 Consolidated Election ballot along with the following uncontested candidates:

Ward 1 John Albertini - Democrat

Ward 3 Wendy Frank - Republican

Ward 4 Mike McGee - Republican

Ward 5 Ric Brereton - Republican

The deadline to certify independent candidates for the April ballot is January 26, 2023. Any individuals certified will appear in addition to the candidates listed above.

Snow Emergency

A Citywide Snow Emergency will be declared following an accumulation of 2 inches of snow.

To find out if the city is under a Snow Emergency tune into your local TV station, Radio station or look on the City of Belvidere website.

Although there isn’t an Ordinance, the city encourages all residents to be considerate of pedestrians and school children by clearing sidewalks of snow and ice.

UPDATED ILLINOIS SMOKE ALARM LAW

EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2023

A new law passed by the State of Illinois addressing smoke detectors, and the bad habits of removing the battery when you burn the frozen pizza or never checking and changing the battery, takes effect Jan 1st and we want you to be informed. This may seem like a small thing to some residents but a properly placed and working smoke detector really does provide advance notification of a fire and gives occupants time to react and escape from a building. So you can see why its so important to have working detectors here are some facts from a recent report from the NFPA:

2023 Updated Smoke Alarm Law

*Smoke alarms were present in three-quarters (74 percent) of reported home fires in 2014–2018.

*Almost three out of five home fire deaths were caused by fires in properties with no smoke alarms (41 percent) or smoke alarms that failed to operate (16 percent).

*The risk of dying in reported home structure fires is 55 percent lower in homes with working smoke alarms than in homes with no alarms or none that worked.

*When present, hardwired smoke alarms operated in 94 percent of the fires considered large enough to trigger a smoke alarm. Battery-powered alarms operated 82 percent of the time. Power source issues were the most common factors when smoke alarms failed to operate.

Source: https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Detection-and-Signaling/Smoke-Alarms-in-US-Home-Fires

ComEd Press Release

ComEd is closely monitoring a weather disturbance that is forecast to spread snow across the ComEd territory starting Thursday and Friday along with increasing winds Friday into Saturday. Click here for more information.