By: Diane Benjamin
Since Tari became Mayor the citizens of Bloomington have been taxed to death:
- 4% Amusement Tax
- Utility Tax increase
- 4 cent a gallon gas tax
- 1% Sales tax increase
- Solid Waste Increase
- Other increases?
Tari claims inflation is causing the budget woes.
How about some facts! Some citizens have been pouring over reports obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Below is some of what they found.
Inflation Tari? This is all spending citizens see no benefit from, unlike roads and sewers being fixed.
Obviously spending for these 6 departments has increased much faster than the inflation rate.
Tari was sworn in as Mayor on May 1st 2013, the same day FY 2013-2014 started.
Note – The numbers do not match what was reported in the CAFR (financial statements) for each year.
The XLS file sent by the City is HUGE – too big to convert to a PDF file and link it here. The columns do not fit on one page, so converting it would also make it difficult to read. If you want to see the file, I can email it to you.
The point is:
Under Renner/Hales, Bloomington has a SPENDING problem.
Tax increases are a direct result of policies they want that do not benefit the people paying.
Inflation: noun
“Economics: a persistent, substantial rise in the general level of prices related to an increase in the volume of money and resulting in the loss of value of currency (opposed to deflation ).”
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inflation
Increases in government spending and an annual 3% wage increase for the City’s current and former employees contributes to the local DEFICIT. The Federal Reserve is keeping the interest rate artificially low to ward off the potential of inflation.
If you start adding up the uncollected fees, Coliseum losses and increased spending, the total is astonishing. The level of mismanagement blows my mind!