by: Diane Benjamin
The following is from Book 1 of the Proposed budget – the one that was $11 Million higher than last year. See pages 48-49. Click on either picture to enlarge.
The City is anticipating a decrease in revenue of $14,008,375!
The City has budgeted for a decrease in expenses of $22,683,662!
First, why are they expecting a large DECREASE in Revenue?
Accounting for the decreased revenue and the reduced expenses, the net decrease in spending is $8,675,287. Why is the budget asking for $11 Million more? The two charts are clearly labeled ALL FUNDS.
Those numbers reflect Budgets for 2014 and 2015. Using the proposed numbers for 2014 and Budget for 2015, Expenses are down $4,174,530 while revenue is down $14,047,004 – a difference of $9,872,474. These numbers make the economy in Bloomington look like it is sinking fast. But, look at what Revenue they anticipate going down: Intergovernmental, Miscellaneous, and Transfers In. 3 items that nobody but government will understand because only they have access to the data. Council members are supposed to be able to recommend cuts, with information this clear? Expenses are just as murky.
Accounting only government is allowed to understand?
Those kind of swings are generally related to capital spending, I.e. One-time expenses. They book borrowed money as revenue. So the $10m loan you see in one year, but not the other. It doesn’t necessarily mean the economy is going downhill fast. If you weed out capital spending, it appears to be fairly straight forward with total spending increasing slightly less than the five year CPI growth avg.