By:  Diane Benjamin

Mayor Transparency wants his Budget Tax Force to report to the Council in September.  Gee Mayor, how are they putting everything on the table when nothing is on the table yet?

The audited financial statements for the Coliseum, which will show a much bigger loss than previously reported, won’t be out until the end of October.  The year ended 4/30/15, but timeliness is only important in the private sector.

Ditto for the City of Bloomington.  Their year ended 4/30/15 too, but finally the audited statements will appear at the end of October.

The auditors always write letters to the Council, the Council and Hales ignore them, but much of the information and needed changes to prevent fraud are the same year after year after year.  Guess what?  We won’t see them until October either, and the way the City stalls FOIA requests, maybe November.

Here’s a report that could have really helped Tari’s Turkeys figure out some cuts:  http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=7478

This one is from 2014, but it lists everybody the City paid.  Since this has nothing to do with audits, I sent the City a Freedom of Information request for the 2015 version.  Guess what?  October 30, 2015.  Wouldn’t it be nice to pick out all the consultants hired because the City can’t make any decisions on their own?  How many millions you think it will be?

The committee is obviously a sham that isn’t suppose to find cuts.  Any proposals will be cuts that are untenable.  So, the only option is tax increases.

The next election isn’t going to be non-partisan.  Voters deserve the political leanings of the candidates.  Pretending to be working in the best interests of citizens while jamming tax increases down their throats has to end.

_______________________________________________________

Let go down memory lane and look at the last time the Council stole money from your wallet:

http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=6644

Gas Tax – 4 cents per gallon expected to generate $1,000,000 (Now they are expecting $2,400,000-it was sold to the Council to fund roads)

Yes votes were:  Mwilambwe, Schmidt, Painter, Fruin and Black

Amusement Tax – 4% expected to generate $1,000,000 (Now they only expect to receive $700,000)

Yes votes were:  Mwilambwe, Schmidt, Painter, Fruin and Black.

Utilities Tax – Taxes Natural Gas/Water, Electricity, and Telecommunications expected to generate $2,700,000 (not enough info to see how much it is bringing in)

Yes votes were:  Mwilambwe, Schmidt, Painter, Sage, and Black

They voted for a total increase of almost $5,000,000 less than 1 1/2 years ago!

No surprise – now they need more money.

Since Mwilambwe, Schmidt, Painter, and Black voted for all the taxes last time, what are the chances of them doing it again?  100%?  Higher?

Fruin voted for 2 out of 3, Sage for one.  Hauman does whatever the mayor tells her.  State government has now come home to Bloomington.  Tax, Tax – spend for votes – Tax, Tax spend some more.  Repeat.

Here’s some interesting info I found while looking around:

.25 Sales tax for the Coliseum and BCPA was supposed to expired 7/1/15, but it was added to the Home Rule Sales Tax in 4/21/14.  At the time it was reported to raise $2,500,000

The BCPA bonds will be paid off in full by 2026, debt service is estimated between $853,000 and $1,064,000 per year with an outstanding principal balance of $9,626,000.

The Coliseum bonds will be paid off in full by 2035 with an annual debt service payments ranging from of $1,650,000 to $2,660,000 per year with and outstanding principal balance of $23,935,000.