ROCKFORD — Aldermen are recommending that the City Council approve bids worth $206,445 to demolish 29 vacant and abandoned homes.

Approval will bring the city that much closer to its goal of removing 100 blighted properties a year, said Mayor Tom McNamara on Monday. McNamara said the work over the last several years to remove vacant homes appears to be paying off. It’s becoming more difficult for the city to identify properties for which there is no hope of redevelopment.

“But we still have hundreds of properties that have been ranked as blighted in our neighborhoods, so we still have a lot of work to do to decrease blight and increase home ownership,” McNamara said.

McNamara said abandoned homes attract crime, vagrants and arsonists while driving down property values.

Rockford uses an objective ranking system based on structural integrity, condemnation and other factors to prioritize properties a year for demolition. Another 16 properties were recommended for the list on Monday.

The demolitions are paid for through a variety of state and federal grant programs and a portion of sanitation funds.

So far this year, the city has demolished about 70 abandoned homes, Code Enforcement Official Thaddeus Mack said.

The goal is to demolish about 100 this year.

Aldermen recommended the City Council use federal Community Development Block Grant funding to demolish 21 abandoned structures:

• A $76,887 contract to Northern Illinois Service Company of Rockford for the demolition of 831 N. Johnson Ave., 431 Oakley Ave., 1234 Blaisdell St., 121 S. Henrietta Ave., 518 Miriam Ave., 1212 Arthur Ave., 1433 Mulberry St., 2204 Ashland Ave., 1418 Green St., 1012 Furman St., 2116 Shelly Drive, 1404 Elm St., and 1502 Green St.

• A $32,590 contract to Northern Illinois Service Company for the demolition 712 Woodlawn Ave., 705 N. Sunset Ave., 1130-1132 Revell Ave. and 947 N. Horsman St.;

• A $2,961 contract to JIMAX Corporation for the demolition of 611 Royal Ave.

• A $28,455 contract to J.D. Mark for the demolition of 821 Maple St., 2109 Green St., and 1232 Clover Ave.

Aldermen also recommended using a share of the city's Blight Reduction Program — a $1.2 million grant to demolish 34 abandoned homes — from the Illinois Housing Development Authority to demolish eight homes. So far, 15 homes have been demolished this year using the funding source. The low bid for the latest group of abandoned houses was submitted by Northern Illinois Service Company for $65,552 for demolition of 933 and 943 Woodlawn Ave., 211 and 317 Irving Ave., 1319 10th St., 1424 15th Ave., 725 Maple St., and 1816 W. State St.

Jeff Kolkey: 815-987-1374; jkolkey@rrstar.com; @jeffkolkey