The limits of the office
Know what to hold your mayor accountable for.
Bob won't promise powers the office doesn't have. Here's what Rockford's mayor controls, what the mayor can only influence, and what belongs to somebody else.
What the office actually controls
The mayor writes the city budget, appoints the department heads, sets administrative priorities, and decides what the city publishes. The mayor does not run the schools, set the county or school tax rate, rewrite state law, or control most of the lines on your property-tax bill. Where the authority is real, Bob will make commitments. Where it isn't, he'll say so.
You are welcome to hold every candidate in this race against the table below, including Bob.
| Area | The mayor's actual role |
|---|---|
| Controls — directly, as the executive | |
| Police department | Appoints the chief, sets the department's priorities and its budget request. Answerable for the results. |
| Fire department | Same. Appointment, priorities, staffing plan, budget request. |
| Public works | Streets, plowing, resurfacing schedules, sequencing of capital work. |
| Water | The municipal water system, service line replacement, and the rate proposal that goes to council. |
| Permits and inspections | How long a permit takes, how the process is staffed, what gets published about it. |
| The budget proposal | Writes it. The council amends and adopts it — but the proposal sets the terms of the argument. |
| Hiring and department heads | Appointments, subject to council confirmation where required. |
| What the city publishes | Financial reporting, ward capital numbers, response times. Entirely an executive decision, and free. |
| Influences — not under the mayor's control, but still worth showing up for | |
| RPS 205 schools | No authority. A partner on safety, after-school space, and shared facilities — and a public advocate. The school board is separately elected. |
| Winnebago County | Separate elected government. Shared work on public health, the jail, and countywide services happens by agreement. |
| Springfield | Advocacy on the local government revenue share, pension mandates, and any authority the city needs granted. The mayor asks. The General Assembly decides. |
| RMTD transit | Coordination and appointments where they apply. Not operational control. |
| The park district and the library | Separate taxing bodies with their own boards. |
| Private employers | Speed, predictability, site readiness. No mayor creates a private-sector job by deciding to. |
| Does not touch | |
| School curriculum, staffing, or closures | RPS 205. Not the city. |
| Your school tax rate | Set by the school district — and it's the largest share of your property tax bill. |
| The county tax rate | Set by the county. |
| State income tax and the LGDF formula | State law. The city receives what Springfield sends. |
| Public safety pension mandates | State law. The payment is required, not chosen. |
| Federal immigration enforcement | Federal. A city sets its own department's participation, and nothing beyond that. |
| Court sentencing | The judiciary and the State's Attorney. |
If it's in the first block, hold Bob responsible for it.
Why this page exists
Two reasons, and neither is modesty.
The schools
In an open-seat race, several candidates will promise to improve RPS 205. The mayor has no authority over the school district.
What a mayor can do is show up, share facilities, keep the routes to school safe, and be a real partner — and Rockford Promise, the scholarship program, is the genuine lever the city already holds. Saying so is more useful than promising something the office cannot deliver.
Your tax bill
The city is a minority of it. That fact cuts against this campaign as much as for it — it limits what Bob can promise about the number on your bill.
It's also the reason the plan for your bill covers the whole bill: water, sewer, refuse, fees and the city's share of the tax line together.
Keep reading
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