By:  Diane Benjamin

Last night’s Bloomington City Council meeting was short by council standards. Watch it here.  

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Alderwoman Stearns was not there to stand up for the citizens – called in sick.  See your future Bloomington, her last meeting will be soon since she isn’t running again.

A couple of Aldermen acted like they cared about spending and then voted to hire another consultant anyway – the same consultant who botched the garbage carts estimates.

Your $200,000+ City Manger tried to blame the Council, and David Sage gladly accepted the blame for them.  Alderman Lower was the only one to vote against handing the same consultants another $76,970 to determine how much to raise your taxes!  It so much easier to blame a consultant than aldermen for not being able to prioritize spending so taxes don’t have to be raised.

Hales had a long speech to justify the last time these consultant were used.  They had no experience with 3 different size cans because all other cities don’t offer 3.  The were guessing.  City staff needed to pay consultants to guess?  Really, this isn’t rocket science.  All it takes is common sense.

News Flash:  People don’t like paying for garbage!

Yes, they know they need it, just like electricity and natural gas.  Parents tell their kids to turn off the light when not in use.  They turn the heat down to save money.  Obviously a lot of people would pick the lowest price option because having a big garbage can isn’t high on anybody’s priority list.  If all the garbage can be crammed into a small can, of course that’s the option they will pick.  Forward the consultants fee to me, but don’t get my address from Jeff Jurgens ($175 per hour lawyer).  He thinks I live in Cooksville.  (a whole other story)

What Renner and Hales are doing is pigeon-holing taxes and spending.  This tax pays for this, that tax pays for something else.  Every new tax is designated for something different.  The total amount of tax you pay is immaterial.  The City can’t be expected to subsidize the work citizens expect government to do.  The new gas tax will provide money for roads, so how much do you think is going to be budgeted for roads next year?  Meanwhile, it frees up the General Fund for bike paths and more parks and rebuilding downtown.  Illinois politics is now in vivid color in Bloomington.  Renner has been taught by Chris Koos.   Nobody objects in Normal when Koos passes numerous tax increases, so Renner has the same plans for Bloomington.

Want to know why businesses in Bloomington are closing?  Spending in the General Fund has gone up $23,000,000 in 5 years.  That’s $23 Million citizens don’t have to spend where they choose.  Government is spending it the way government wants to spend it.  A LOT of it is being shipped out of town for lawyers and consultants!  Total spending is up $34,400,000 in 5 years.  When government picks winners and losers, local businesses can not survive.  Economics 101 folks.  You’ve been watching Illinois disintegrate for more than a decade, this shouldn’t be news.

All these numbers are from the budget documents on the City website:  http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=37

Are you sick of being used by the government that is supposed to work for you?  Sick of non-essential spending while taxes are raised FOR essential spending?  Fork over a few bucks for a good purpose:

netpac.me

Changing the potted plants is the only way to get a government that works for the citizens instead of Hales and Renner.  If it’s not important to you, start packing now.