By: Diane Benjamin
Congrats to the citizens of Bloomington who showed up at last night’s Council meeting. I hear the room was packed – all the way back to the windows. I occasionally heard some soft applause when an alderman stood up for you.
Aldermen David Sage and Karen Schmidt were DYING for a way to vote no. David wanted to change the ordinance to only the .25 cents for the County – RENNER shut him down.
Being sheep and sitting quietly and hoping your master does the right thing doesn’t work!
I hear undercover police were mixed in the audience. Tari was ready to throw you out. More than two alderman would have voted against Tari if citizens had disrupted the meeting. Your voices could have been a lot louder. The wolves just ate your future because you were polite.
In the future:
Tari will keep bringing spending and more spending to the Council. He has plans that he wants implemented. As he proved last night, your financial future is immaterial. YOU must continue to show up – but don’t sit quietly by. Make news! Will the Pantagraph report citizens being thrown out standing up to their government? Will the City “lose” the video of Renner stopping a meeting to throw you out?
The odd number Wards are up for election in early 2017. Renner may want another 4 years. Who is willing to run?
Questions Tari:
You claim the City has 100 fewer employees than years ago. Even if those 100 employees only earned $50,000 with benefits, that’s $5,000,000! Where is that money Tari? Where is the savings from spending MILLIONS on garbage cans and trucks? Has the sick leave buy back program been changed yet? While waiting for David Hales to get his head above ground, how many other employees have spiked their salary? What else is the City hiding?
Ward 4 must be delighted that they went from an Alderman who stood up for them to a socialist-leaning lawyer who had no trouble voting for more taxes. Amelia actually believes the problems are now fixed, until raising garbage fees, sewer fees, and storm water fees are presented for a vote. Increase them – all the problems will be fixed! Until next year . . .
We knew Alderman Lower would vote NO, but what made Alderman Mwilambwe join him? I really couldn’t tell.
What about the lies? Tari told a whopper last night. He claims his salary as mayor doesn’t cover his property taxes. The mayor’s salary is $12,000 a year. Salary reports are on the City website: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=5443
Funny how the 2015 report doesn’t include the City Council! Any other City employees not on the report? I had to go back to 2013 to get former Mayor Stockton’s salary for a full year.
How much does Tari pay in property taxes?
Gee Tari, your salary is $12,000 but your taxes are $8,404.22. See the video starting at 1:48:20
.
Is honesty too hard for you Tari?
David Hales was on WJBC this morning, his lies next.
Tari is so snide. He truly believes he is better than and more enlightened than the public who speaks. He truly believes people who stand against him are stupid and nay-sayers and just don’t understand how smart he is. He’s an unbelievable human being surrounded by weak-minded yes men.
and yes women! He didn’t appoint Painter and Hauman for nothing.
Check out “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” on youtube. Dr. Renner and his flying monkeys.
Also, I think the only way Bloomington will survive is to somehow get him on the ticket for Congress and get him to win. A promotion is in order. He did have his congressional dreams squashed as did at least one other sitting up there on the dais. It’s time to help them “move along” as it were to a position where they will have much less control and will likely be seen/viewed as freshmen losers. This will put their egos back in check.
My absolute favorite moment from last night was witnessing Alderman Painter’s glaringly deficient math skills. The woman actually could not figure that a 1 cent increase in the sales tax would amount to, let’s see, is it $10 on a $100 purchase or $1????? Honestly, it’s bad enough to get our taxes raised, but they’re being raised by someone who has math skills worse than common core! I’m sure in Joni Painter’s world $10 per $100 purchase would just be a small sacrifice for the quality of life she and her coffers are offering us. If this doesn’t piss you off I don’t know what will. I’m tempted to email her some math problems dealing with percentages to bring her up to speed.
This is my LIKE button!
And then we have District 87 lined up asking for their fair share of the “new revenue stream.” Maybe they could send a math tutor to Alderman Painter’s home. I could go on, but this really has me fired up. Honestly! We have someone that dumb on the Council approving tax increases. After seeing that last night, I honestly think the situation in Bloomington is hopeless. Diane, you’ve got to find that moment on the footage and play it for everyone to see. It’s not funny, it’s maddening.
Ok, let’s do some real math here. If you buy a car out of town at a lower sales tax rate, Bloomington will charge you the difference when you get the car in your garage if you live here. I know this firsthand from buying a truck at Heller Ford in El Paso where the sales tax is 7.250%. So, if I buy a truck at Heller for $20,000 my sales tax will amount to $1,450. When I license and title it in Bloomington where the sales tax is now 8.75% the difference that I will now owe the city of Bloomington will be $300. So much for shopping out of town where the tax rate is lower. Suddenly, this seemingly insignificant tax increase last night does not seem so insignificant. This IS a big deal.
This increase supposedly doesn’t apply to cars.
While this may be true, I assure you if auto sales go down in the Twin Cities enough and car buyers let the dealers know where their new vehicle came from, both City Councils will get THE word. If out of town buyers do likewise, look at how many dollars per car the Twin Cities will loose.
IWU Professor perk: FREE tuition for children attending IWU and significantly reduced tuition for attendance at another college/university.
Did you find that on IWU website? I was planning to research it.
No, the parents of a friend of my son are professors at IWU. The son attended for free. It is a common perk for professors at most schools. Do the research for accuracy.
I know a lot of schools do it. Found it – he lied about this too. How much can college cost when tuition is free? They could live at home Tari!
Last year, tuition benefits were extended to support staff for the first time. Their children who are accepted into IWU attend tuition-free, and there is also a tuition exchange program through the Council of Independent Colleges Consortium that allows children of employees to attend other institutions
If free was extended to support staff, obviously professors get it. Nice Tari.
.
How much is the cost and maintenance of the little red Corvette the Mayor owns? Probably more than the cost of homes on Ward 1, 2, 6 & 7.
The tax levy ordinance of 9/21/15 does not resemble the discussion regarding distribution of revenue.
http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9167
But it doesn’t matter because once the budget is passed, by law the City Manager and Finance Director determine allocation.
BUDGET AND APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE FISCAL YEAR ENDING APRIL 30, 2015 CITY OF BLOOMINGTON
Section Four. Pursuant to 65 ILCS 5/8-2-9.6, and the home rule authority granted to the City of Bloomington pursuant to Article 7, Section 6 of the l970 Illinois Constitution, the Finance Director, with the concurrence of the City Manager is authorized to revise the annual budget by deleting, adding to, changing or creating sub-classes within object classes budgeted previously to a Department, Board or Commission, and to transfer amounts within a particular fund established by this Ordinance, with the restrictions that no such action may be taken which shall increase the budget in the event funds are not available to effectuate the purpose of the revision, and that the City Council shall hereafter be notified of such action by written report of the City Manager.
Looking at the mailing address is the mayor living in sin or what?
Hum. All I know is his kids get to go to IWU for free. He can stop crying about having two kids in college now.
It’s similar to Hillary claiming to be broke. Habitual liars.
How much are alimony payments?