The day after President Trump’s marathon “State of the Union” address, Bettendorf Mayor Bob Gallagher took an hour less to deliver his 45-minute “State of the City” address Wednesday, Feb. 25 at Waterfront Convention Center in downtown Bettendorf.
“We have to be financially sound and deliver excellent quality city services. We also want orderly growth and quality development,” said the mayor, who’s led the growing city for 14 years. “We'd like to create a destination for entertainment and living in our downtown that connects with our community's greatest resource, the Mississippi River. Of course, we want to grow current businesses and attract new businesses to Bettendorf.
“All of which adds up to becoming a premier place to live, work, play, invest and to visit,” Gallagher said. “We go through a purposeful strategic planning session each and every year with a consultant who comes in for three days. The reason I think we see such success in Bettendorf and this predates my time, is we have a consultant help us create long term goals, snippets of how we can get there each year, and we work that plan.”
The city’s 2026-27 budget is $134 million, and continues to demonstrate Bettendorf’s financial strength and flexibility in the face of future revenue uncertainty, the mayor said. The budget uses significant valuation growth to fund current service levels, one-time requests, and reduce the debt service levy for existing general debt.
It upholds the city’s commitment to fully fund six firefighters currently paid for by the SAFER Grant ending in March 2027, and will begin construction of a new, voter-approved police station. It takes advantage of grant funding to purchase new lifesaving equipment and complete important infrastructure improvements, Gallagher said.
Challenges, like in other cities, include rising costs, such as property & casualty insurance – 3 times higher than 10 years ago, +14% annually, and health insurance – next year 9% higher than the current fiscal year, and costs up 58% over the last 10 years.
Employees are picking up a bigger share of health insurance costs, he said. Proposed caps on local property tax revenue, now being considered by state lawmakers, would limit how much cities could tax, and Bettendorf may be deprived up to $400,000 a year in property tax revenue, Gallagher said.
“We have done all we can and we continue to find efficiencies and cost containment,” he said. “So we are like all of our cities in the community, looking hard at other ways to find money to do the things that we're doing, like through grant funding. Lots of grant funding, especially in Parks and Rec, Fire and this Central Avenue resurfacing project.”
“We've reduced print and mailing costs. We continue to analyze our health insurance and other ways to save money in those types of fees,” Gallagher said. “We've right sized operating hours. We've renegotiated contracts for private individuals and entities using parks to continue to get bang for the buck and allow great things to happen in our parks. We're increasing fees where we can and we continue to look for utility efficiencies just like you're all doing in your businesses.”
In the last two years, the City Council authorized the purchase of seven new snowplows. In 2025, on Public Works Day, the city announced results of a naming survey for two of them, the winners being Snow White and the Bettendorfs and the Big Leplowski. Last Thanksgiving, there were about 12 inches of snow over four days, and city plows moved over 7,000 lane miles, Gallagher said.
The city last year widened 53rd Street from Devils Glen to Middle Road and did a widening project on Devils Glen from 53rd to Forest Grove Road.
“Looking forward, we have 275 capital improvement projects in our program over the next five years costing about $130 million,” the mayor said. “We only spend about $9 million per year on these projects. So obviously we gotta make some choices.”
This year, the city will do resurfacing on Central Avenue, 29th Street, and completion of a 10-year alley rehabilitation program. The 2026 construction projects include:
* Completion of the Gateway Bridge over Middle Road
* Trail Addition ahead of Middle Road Widening Project
* Pigeon Creek Channel Stabilization Project
* Replacement of 53rd Avenue Bridge Deck over Crow Creek
* Sidewalk & Recreational Trail Repair Programs
* 19th Street & Glenn Street Reconstruction Project
* East Ridge Drive Reconstruction Project
* Turnberry Lane & Thomas Court Reconstruction Project
The $14.5-million Gateway Bridge construction is not being funded by tax dollars, but through tax-increment financing (TIF) revenue generated by private development in the Bettplex area, Gallagher said. “So it's a great tool in our toolbox and this is a great thing to create without using tax money. This is just generated by the private development there,” he said.
Nearby, the state will do a $70-million reconfiguring of the I-80 and Middle Road interchange into a compressed diamond interchange, which will take a couple of years to complete.
In 2025, the city hired a new police chief, Doug Scott, who hired eight new officers, and the city continues to look for more. The planned new $26-million police station next to the post office on Devils Glen is expected to break ground this fall, and take about a year to complete.
Last November, 74% of Bettendorf voters approved the project in a city referendum.
The booming TBK Bank Sports Complex continues to grow, with these projects --
Opened in 2025:
* Forest Grove Sports Complex
* Springhill Suites by Marriott
* Authentix Apartments
* Hancock - State Farm Insurance
* IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union
* Willy’s Wine & Spirits
* Ray’s Roundabout Lounge
* Ghost Chicken
* La Herradura Mexican Grill
Opened/Opening in 2026:
* Duck Creek Tire & Service
* ORA Orthopedics
* Atomic Coffee Bar
* Country Style Ice Cream
According to Visit Quad Cities, the complex since opening in 2019 (through 2025) has seen 8.1 million total visits, including 1.5 million in 2025 alone, and 55 percent of those included an overnight stay in the area.
Total Bettendorf population, estimated at 40,281 in 2025, is expected to grow to over 56,000 in 2045, Gallagher said. Downtown Bettendorf saw seven new businesses open last year:
* The Bulldog Arms
* D’Lua Taco Shop
* Sindo Pan Asian Cuisine
* State 18
* Scooter’s Coffee
* Royal T’s Beauty Parlor
* Paragon Interiors
Throughout the city, there were ribbon-cuttings for these new businesses last year:
· University of Iowa Healthcare
· Springhill Suites
· Hancock State Farm
· Kimball & Beecher Dentistry
· St. Joan of Arc School
· IHMVCU
· Authentix Apartments
· Hungry Hobo
A new illuminated “BETT” urban park sign is expected to be installed by June 30, at the foot of the I-74 bridge downtown, and the annual festival “Be Downtown” will take place June 6.
After three years of work, The Landing (with new water park and ice rink) opened its last phase last May, and has been very popular, the mayor said. For that project, a third of the $24-million construction funding came from the city, a third from the YMCA and a third from philanthropic organizations in our area.
“This is a way to partner, to get big cool things done,” Gallagher said, noting in the first season, about 17,000 people went to ice skate this year and 70,000 hit the water park over the summer. “So we are reaching a ton of people. Lots of things that we're going to try to do with the skating park. John Burns, our new director of parks and recreation, has great ideas about reprogramming this for times when it's not ice. And some of these things already drew big crowds. Line dancing and roller-skating parties, birthday events, fundraising nights.”
Like similar courts in Davenport and Moline, Bettendorf, will get its first “futsal” court at Kiwanis Park, one of 27 city parks, covering a total of about 600 total acres. “Our friends in Moline and Davenport have had great success with futsal and we appreciate learning from that and believe it was going to happen here as well,” Gallagher said.
Futsal is indoor soccer, played on a smaller, hard-surface court.
The new “On the Road” permanent exhibit opened at The Family Museum in 2025.
“It's a great opportunity to take a road trip, an adventure if you will,” Gallagher said. “You can go to an old-style diner. You can go camping. You can play mini golf. There's even a place to tune up your car before the trip where you will find Gallagher's Gadgets. New and used tools for sale. It's on the back of the thing in the back, but it's still really cool.”
Last fall, the city completed a resurfacing project for the parking lot just south of Faye’s Field and The Learning Campus.
Gallagher is planning on releasing his 300th Mayor’s Message on March 6. And he promoted the city’s Citizen Academy, noting in a recent survey, 96% of residents are satisfied with the overall quality of life in Bettendorf and 94% are likely to recommend the city as a place to live.
“If you want to know more about what makes this a great place to live, work, play, invest and visit, take a look at the Citizen Academy. We'd love to have you,” he said. “All 12 department heads will talk to you about their departments. You'll get to go take a look at our community partners like the Waste Commission of Scott County, the Emergency Management Agency, our 911 communications center, the waste treatment facility. You're going to learn what it is like to run this city through our partnerships with the other cities in the community and all the things we do together. It's a great opportunity.”
Gallagher ended his talk by highlighting that for the first time, the Iowa League of Cities will bring its annual conference (with over 500 people) to Bettendorf’s Isle of Capri, Sept. 23-25, 2026, and he showed the dphilms video that promoted Bettendorf and QC as a whole. (You can see the 4-minute video HERE.)
“You exit onto Middle Road and enter the middle of an economic development mecca,” the video narrator said, showing TBK Bank Sports Complex, and then the Landing. “You continue south and pass by one of the coolest amenities in the state. Soon you'll find another body of water that's as mighty as it is magnificent. There's beauty, there's bliss. There's Bob.”
To see the slides in the 2026 State of the City, attached below.
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