By EDWARD HUSAR

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

Quincy's property tax rate is among the lowest of 15 Illinois cities of comparable size, according to a survey compiled from data collected by the state comptroller's office.

The survey compares Quincy with 14 other cities in the areas of tax rates, tax levies, public safety expenditures and general revenue, based on comprehensive annual financial reports for the year 2008.

A copy of the survey, provided by city officials, shows Quincy's property tax rate of 0.98803 in the 2008 tax year was significantly below the 15-city average of 1.717.

(Click here to download a copy of the survey results.)

Only Algonquin, with an estimated 2008 population of 30,482 compared to Quincy's 39,983, had a lower tax rate, 0.48.

Kankakee (population 26,608) had the highest tax rate at 4.0 while North Chicago (35,918) was second with 2.491 and Galesburg (31,738) third with 2.3607.

"I think it's interesting to see the comparisons when it comes to the revenue stream," Mayor John Spring said. "One of the reasons Quincy is so attractive to people, and affordable to people, is we don't have near the multitude of additional taxes in our community to produce revenue for city services."

Quincy is the only city among the 15 that doesn't charge a telecommunications tax on telephone or Internet services. All of the other communities charge a tax ranging from 2 to 6 percent.

In addition, 10 of the 15 communities charge a gas utilities tax, nine charge an electric utilities tax, seven charge a food and beverage tax, five charge a water utilities tax and two charge a liquor tax.

Quincy charges none of these taxes.

"We take pride in providing great city services without additional burden on the taxpayers by some of these additional taxes," Spring said.

Gary Sparks, the city's director of administrative services, said the survey shows Quincy's equalized assessed valuation (EAV) of $517 million "is very compatible with other communities our size."

The EAV combines with the city's tax rate to help determine the local tax extension, which is smaller than many other cites of comparable size. The survey shows Quincy's total extension of $5.1 million was well below the 15-city average of $7.3 million.

Sparks noted that the city's total General Fund expenditures of $17.2 million in 2008 also was well below the 15-city average of $23.7 million. Only four communities spent less from their General Funds.

In the area of public safety expenditures, Quincy's total of $12.8 million came in below the 15-city average of $13.1 million. While eight cities spent more on public safety, Quincy was at or near the top in the number of firefighters and police officers.

Quincy's total of 66 firefighters exceeded the 15-city average of 46.6, and its 72 police officers exceeded the average of 60. But Sparks said the average may be misleading because of the way some communities reported figures.

Three of the largest communities listed in the survey -- Champaign, Galesburg and Pekin -- were all shown to have zero firefighters and zero police officers. Algonquin, meanwhile, was shown to have zero firefighters but 51 police officers, while Rantoul was shown to have zero firefighters and 31 police officers.

Sparks doesn't know why there are disparities in the statistics. He said some communities may contract for emergency services and report their numbers differently. He said some cities, such as Quincy, may have more firefighters because the community's geographic size may call for having more outlying fire stations to improve response times, but the survey didn't provide any data on geographic size.

The survey indicated Quincy had 369 full-time employees in 2008, which is well above the 15-city average of 265. Sparks couldn't say why Quincy's number was so high. "It may depend on how they submitted the information," he said.

Sparks said the employee count for Quincy is skewed somewhat. Sparks said Quincy's full-time employment number is actually 346 now, which is down several positions from where it would have been last year.

Quincy Comptroller Ann Scott said the city doesn't typically count the 21 employees at the Quincy/Adams County 911 center as city employees because those workers are employed by both the city and the county. But on this particular report, she said, "they probably were" counted.

Sparks noted that some communities in the survey have an unusually high number of part-time employees. The 15-city average for part-timer positions was 145 -- more than double Quincy's total of 61.

Normal, a community of 52,495 residents, was listed as having 364 full-time employees and 627 part-time employees. Galesburg, with a population of 31,738, was listed as having 264 full-time employees and 425 part-timers.

-- ehusar@whig.com/221-3378