By: Diane Benjamin
Sick of hearing about Solid Waste funding yet? The Council has been discussing it since at least 2013! Don’t worry, it will end soon when fees are raised again.
The neighbor wars are going to be great. Somebody dumps junk in front of your house and you get the bill. You put out a frig, some neighbor adds a washer and dryer after you leave for work and before the pickup. The bill comes to you and you have no way to dispute it.
City workers need to take pics of the pile and include a copy with the bill. Homeowners may not know neighbors added to the junk pile, of course they won’t know who did it. The City’s Administrative Court will be charged with deciding who owns the junk! Need proof government is incompetent? There it is.
One more time:
2005 was the first year the City of Bloomington started charging for garbage service. For decades the cost was included in the taxes you already paid.
Here are the new rates – note an increase is already planned: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=532
Since you didn’t pay a fee before 2005, all these fees are TAX INCREASES. That’s between $192 and $300 a year. Since then gas taxes, amusement taxes, utility taxes, sales taxes, and probably other fees and rates have increased. Wonder why your Quality of Life in Bloomington is much worse? Thank the City Council, Tari Renner, and David Hales. Most of these increases have taken place under Democrat Mayor Tari Renner.
David Hales created the Solid Waste Enterprise fund. All that means is the service that used to be included in taxes you already pay, now needs to pay for itself. It’s the perfect way to con citizens into believing they need to pay more.
Want more cons?
Below are the Enterprise fund results – straight out of the financial statements. Some of these funds MAKE money. Solid Waste does lose money, but look at the US Cellular Coliseum! Did the Budget Task Force say it needs to break even? Has it ever been discussed at Council?
http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9336
Page 52:
Has anybody mentioned the $2.4 million loan from the WATER FUND to the Coliseum that was forgiven? See this story:
http://blnnews.com/2015/11/23/coliseum-ever-pay-this-back/
The City Council will cause neighbor wars because the cost of the Solid Waste program doesn’t cover expenses.
Meanwhile, the Coliseum is located in their precious downtown so it’s allowed to lose money. What citizens want is immaterial, by order of the City – PAY MORE.
See more on Enterprise Funds here:
http://blnnews.com/2015/11/30/enterprise-funds-facts/
One More Thing:
Think local elections are really non-partisan? Think they should be? Besides all the tax increases under this DEMOCRATIC Mayor, this is from the US Conference of Mayors convention Renner and Koos are attending right now:
Read the last paragraph, still think local elections should be non-partisan, or is calling them non-partisan just another con job on citizens?
Source: 2015survey-keyfindings
Here’s the website for the event: http://usmayors.org/84thWinterMeeting/
Note:
- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is speaking on reducing violence and the policing! (stop laughing now)
- Michele Obama is going to deliver the Federal talking points
The taxpayers of Bloomington and Normal and paying for the mayors to attend this democratic convention.
Now you can laugh.
I really appreciate all the work you do.
That said this constant partisan crap really hurts your cause.
Why not refer to Sorenson in every article you post as a Republican? Why not note that a Republican majority voted for the coliseum and performing arts center?
Please stop with the partisan attacks. You are better than that.
Regards
Tom
Sent from my iPhone
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Renner proclaimed himself the first every Democratic Mayor of Bloomington. The Council is loaded with them. Citizens deserve to know who they are voting for. The results speak for themselves.
Want me to bash Sorensen? It speaks volumes that an indicted former chairman of the McLean County Board left his name on the ballot. It also speaks volumes that the majority Republican Board has said nothing about it. Both sides are in on the con, I do point out both.
I think your comment of “constant partisan” is crap. Diane provides tons of info that partisan politics is never mentioned.
Can’t wait for bulk refuse to start showing up in front of the city managers house. That will be a hoot!
Or Renner’s!
Hold a dumping party?
The following are two of the sessions that may interest Mr. Renner.
“Economic Impact of the Hotel Industry on Local Communities”
TROY FLANAGAN
Vice President, State and Local Government Affairs American Hotel and Lodging Association
“How Cities Can Transform and Reuse Vacant Lots for Soccer Pitches”
ED FOSTER-SIMEON
President
U.S. Soccer Foundation
I think the Council is a expressing a disconnect with the concept of neighbor wars. No one wants to pay for the pick up of other peoples’ trash but everyone is required to pay for entertainment for the common good?
Dumping like on south Morris Avenue before getting to I-74? I can’t tell you how many piles of garbage I have seen thrown out there. I expect more with a fee increase and probably elsewhere too. Need to dispose of a dehumidifier, just throw it out on Veteran’s Pkwy is what it will be.
Nothing wrong with a little civil disobedience every once in a while. I suspect some of those with a lower disposable income will dispose of their bulk in the dark of the night where no one is watching. They’ll do what they have to do to get by. Can’t say that I would blame them.