by: Diane Benjamin
The most surprising part of last nights Townhall, besides the COMPLETELY packed room, was the number of people who think government knows how to spend their money better than they do. Around 40 people thought another $7 a month in Utility Taxes wasn’t a big deal. They almost demanded more taxes, but at least some were recipients of either City spending or pensions. The discussion was a microcosm of why Washington DC can’t control spending – the people wanting their piece of the pie are loud and vocal, finally last night the silent majority wasn’t silent.
There were a good number of people disgusted with City spending. Folks, you have to be specific. The aldermen need a list of cuts the citizens are willing to make. General discussions of spending cuts aren’t going to make a difference. If you attended last night and didn’t turn in your list with acceptable cuts, I encourage you to email Aldermen Lower or Stearns.
Here is a 2 page list of possible cuts. Page 1 was compiled by Alderwoman Stearns just to get the discussion started. Page 2 has cuts proposed by the City and some from a citizen: Possible cuts to consider
Former Mayor Jesse Smart explained why Normal has higher Utilities Taxes than Bloomington. Normal passed their tax because they have a large part of the City that is exempt from property taxes – ISU. The college does use a lot of utilities, so the lost revenue was recouped there. Bloomington wants to raise the Utility tax to the maximum to fund pensions. What the people wanting their taxes raised didn’t understand is the tax is a temporary fix. Pensions payments will DOUBLE in a few years, more and more taxes will be needed if spending isn’t cut.
One citizens thought the Bloomington City Council could change the pension system. They can not. The pensions were established decades ago in Springfield. We are now paying for the mistakes made in the past. Only Springfield can change pensions. If changes are going to made, people willing to change the system must be elected. Meanwhile, cities across Illinois are forced to either not fund pensions or raise taxes.
Monica Metz, an immigrant from Poland 21 years ago, spoke passionately about living under communism. The people wanting their taxes raised didn’t comprehend that giving more control of their money to government is accepting communism willingly. Government isn’t capable of responsibly spending money as evidenced by a citizen who reminded the crowd of the vacant almost $3 million fire station on the west side. There will NEVER be enough money for government. They don’t exist to solve problems because they can’t. If they did, there would be no reason for their job. They aren’t going to fix themselves out of a work.
Government is NOT run like a business where they must compete for customer dollars. The only pressure they get is be fiscally responsible is from citizens. The City Council recently passed Master Plans for both the Zoo and Downtown Bloomington. If David Hales and Mayor Renner were aware of the massive upcoming financial pressures on the City budget, why did they demand these plans be passed. Next, they will demand they be funded since the plans were passed.
Your aldermen are under immense pressure for very little money. They dedicate a lot of time to their part-time job. I congratulate Aldermen Stearns and Lower for having the event and especially congratulate all the citizens who took the time to attend.
Alderwoman Stearns also distributed a list of Revenue Enhancements that aren’t all across-the-board tax increases. You can see the list here: Revenue Enhancements
The General Fund is growing at an alarming rate. In 2011 it was $74,140,721. Proposed for 2015 is $93,325,309. Raising the Utility Tax is not going to be enough. Start thinking cuts and let your aldermen know your thoughts.
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Thank you Judy and Kevin for the meeting last night! We do not need a tax increase when we can cut programs that we may “want” but do not “need.” If Republican Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Republican Governor John Kasich in Ohio can fix their state’s economic disaster that was created by Democrat leadership of tax and spend by using cuts instead of tax hikes then our city can do the same. Your list of cuts seem like a wise decision but with this tax and spend Democrat Mayor and his city manager who failed as a city manager in Bend, Oregon you will have a hard fight, especially if the 7 potted plants on the council do not grow some cajones and stand against them! We do not need a soccer complex on our west side or a new hotel downtown!
Good post, but I would respectfully disagree with you that we the citizens have got to be specific on what we want cut. I’m not sure anyone is listening and those who are have at best limited power to turn it around. It is the mayor and the city manager who have presented a budget to the City Council that is $3 million over budget. That needs to be dead on arrival and these two clowns (Renner and Hales) need to go back and start over. I’m not playing their game of divide and conquer where we argue over spending priorities. I want a balanced budget. Period. They want to add $17 million to Miller Park Zoo expansion then cut mowing the grass. I’m not playing this game with them. They need to present a balance budget to the people of Bloomington and to do that they’re going to have to start over.
I agree to a point. Obviously Hales wasn’t looking for real cuts in his proposal. Cutting police officers is a LAST resort, not where you go first. Government likes to inflict pain to justify spending. The citizens can’t fall for the ploy, therefore they must tell the Council where to cut – bypass Hales.