by Diane Benjamin

Currently the Town of Normal is not in trouble because of the massive spending to create Uptown.  They have a broad source of funding, and taxes were raised to pay for it.  Unlike Bloomington’s investment in the Coliseum that CAN’T pay for itself, it’s easier to spread the Uptown cost over the entire town economy.  See previous posts for explanation of tax increases.

If you live in Normal, how much is the debt per person?  Click on the picture to enlarge.

This information is from the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) – March 31, 2012.  The population of Normal – 52,757 – is also from the CAFR, page 146.

If you live in Normal, every person is in debt to:

Town of Normal and Overlapping Government                  $     3,246

State of Illinois                                                                        10,858*

US Government                                                                       51,018*

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Total debt per person                                                          $   65,122

*Source:  usdebtclock.org

I hope you keep these numbers in mind when voting in November and next year for local elections.  If ANYBODY is unopposed on the November ballot, I urge you to leave that race blank to send a message to the candidate.  A family of 4 in $260,488 to government makes us hostages, and our futures are being STOLEN.

Back to Normal.  Below is a chart of trends for the last 10 years.  Click on the picture to enlarge.

Since 2002:

Fire calls down 40%

Inspections down 37%

Arrests down 35%

Are employees down, or has discussion taken place about staffing requirement?  (see next picture)

Tons of Recyclables down 62%?!?  I thought everybody in Normal was for sustainability.  I know Normal did  collect from some bins in Bloomington, but I believe that just ended this year.

On the bright side, the Children’s Discovery Museum attendance continues to increase.

Golf is down 36% though, has spending been adjusted?  Maybe a better question is why government is spending money to entertain people.  Is that a role government should play, considering it doesn’t benefit the entire city?

The 11% increase in Traffic Violations probably explains why the revenue is now 2% of the budget, and why the speed limit on College Avenue is 30 miles and hour.

Has personnel been revised for the trends:  Click this picture to enlarge.

Numbers of Police and Fire are higher even though calls and arrests are down.  Look at the TOTAL number of employees – up 13% in 10 years.  Do you feel like a hostage to government?

Much more to come.