Elgin mayor: Trust the city (despite the state)

Elgin residents might have lost faith in the state, but Mayor David Kaptain wants them to keep trusting their city.

"If you can't trust anybody else, I want you to trust the city of Elgin," Kaptain said Thursday during his yearly State of the City address at a breakfast sponsored by the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce.

Kaptain said he, too, has started to lose trust in the state due to its inaction and the negative effects on local residents and municipalities. "The city council is dedicated to making our city the best that we can make it," he said at the event held at Elgin Community College.

A day earlier, council members gave the preliminary thumbs-up to a 2016 general fund budget plan that keeps the property tax levy flat, though residents on average will pay $138 more for public pensions and debt payments - both on property tax bills - plus utilities and refuse fees.

That's because the cost of government inevitably rises due to inflation and personnel costs, Kaptain said.

"Somewhere we have to pay for that," he said. "Either we pay for it by increasing revenue, or hopefully the city grows and our sales tax pushes us along, or we have to do cuts."

There are also costs related to unfunded mandates, requirements stemming from environmental laws and laws that protect people with disabilities. And there are unbudgeted costs, such as the time the legal department spends on Freedom of Information Act requests - 2,453 hours last year, Kaptain said.

After being a follower for decades, Elgin has become a leader in the region, the mayor said.

The city consistently is at or near the top in new housing construction in the Chicago area, Kaptain said. He pointed to a plan to build a 240-plus rental unit complex on Randall Road near Route 72, which already has been OK'd by the planning and zoning commission.

Also, the redevelopment of the iconic Tower Building downtown finally is moving forward, with construction starting soon. People already are expressing interest in living there once it's converted into rental apartments, he said.

The mayor touted business growth, pointing to businesses that have reinvested in Elgin - such as Hanson Plastics, which moved to a larger location within the city - and two auto dealerships that expanded. A Volkswagen dealership opened last month; a Toyota dealership, however, moved to Streamwood a few months ago.

The Fabricators & Manufacturers Association announced it's moving its headquarters, along with 75 jobs, from Rockford to Elgin, he said, crediting work done by the Elgin Development Group, an arm of the chamber of commerce.

Elgin is an area leader for occupied retail space, which "bodes well for us in the future," Kaptain said. Elgin's retail vacancy rate is 8.2 percent, compared to 20 percent in St. Charles, he said.

The city's unemployment rate has decreased in the last few years and now mirrors the statewide average, he also said.

"We have now caught up with the communities we used to look at as leaders."