by: Diane Benjamin
The Bloomington City Council is seriously considering raising your motor fuel tax. They don’t care that not long ago gas was less than $2 a gallon. They don’t care the gas prices are headed back to $4 a gallon again. They don’t care because they DON’T want you to drive. Get on your bike – they will paint lanes for you.
http://time.com/35061/us-gas-prices-up-4-dollars-per-tank/
But this is MUCH worse: out of control pension payments. These payments do not include the other pensions the City must also fund. In 5 short years, the city will need another $5,500,000. These numbers do NOT make the pensions systems viable long-term – just catches up a little. At the Saturday Council budget meeting, some members were already talking about decreasing these payments, they just adopted a 30 year plan a few months ago.
The police and firemen should be outraged at the lack of respect they are shown by the City of Bloomington. Bloomington wouldn’t be the first city to declare bankruptcy because pensions can’t be funded.
These numbers are from the City of Bloomington – Finance Director, Patty-Lynn Silva.
Did you see this in the Pantagraph? They are now disinformation central for the City. Aldermen Fazzini and Stearns tried to talk about the future, they were shut down. The local media is out of the business of holding government accountable. State pension reform passed last year did nothing to save city pensions.
If you are an employee of the City of Bloomington, don’t count on ever receiving your pension. Quality of Life is more important to Mayor Renner and David Hales. It’s boring just throwing money in a pension fund.
The City claims they can’t find any cuts. You must tell them what to cut or your taxes will skyrocket.
Moving is always an option. It’s pretty popular these days. The City is projecting a $1.8 million drop in Sales Tax receipts next year. I wonder why.
Start watching at 5:49:30 for the meeting wrap up and discussions for cutting pension funding. See who is being responsible and who isn’t! Check out the beginning of the meeting too, technical difficulties have it starting at 25:09, not 0. Mayor Renner obviously wants more taxes. The sound does cut in and out a little.
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