By: Diane Benjamin
Quality of Life? it’s not if you can’t afford to live here or participate!
Details for anything listed as Total are in this document FY 2017 Budget Detail It’s searchable, so any item is easy to find.
Much of the below is what Bloomington spends to entertain you. I’m purposely not including golf and the Coliseum yet. I’m also not saying any of these items shouldn’t be done with tax dollars. The point: Nobody at the City listens when citizens say Streets and Public Safety first. Priorities are set at City Hall regardless of what citizens think. The conversation may happen, but then it’s completely ignored.
TOTAL Parks Administration $519,012.90
TOTAL Parks Maintenance $3,957,009.13
TOTAL Recreation $673,923.12
TOTAL Aquatics $177,908.13
TOTAL BCPA subsidy $346,427.45 BCPA Recap
Listed separately:
TOTAL Miller Park Zoo $648,549.49
TOTAL Pepsi Ice Center $-32,427.67 (SHOWS a PROFIT!) not enough to pay for the building though.
TOTAL SOAR $25,291.56
Some misc spending:
Seriously?
Route 66 Trail Normal to Towanda – Construction 2nd Half $45,000.00
Route 66 Trail Towanda North 2.4 Miles – Design $600.00
Route 66 Trail Towanda North 2.4 Miles – Construction $44,000.00
Route 66 Trail Shirley South – Design $400.00
Route 66 Trail Shirley South – Construction $35,000.00
Downtown Bike rack & bench project $25,500.00
TOTAL Public Transportation $1,188,050.00
TOTAL Police Communication Center $2,023,039.15 (How much was Metcom?)
TOTAL McLean County Mental Health $2,428,619.35
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Oh, goody! A new bench downtown for the bums to sleep on!!
WHAT? $120K for a “STUDY” of space for city folks. WHO in GOD’S green earth dreams up these studies. For $120K I’d study the placement of Grizzly scat in relation to dead caribou carcasses in Denali Park, and probably have a more INTERESTING report! Do they BID these things out, or do they just eat LSD with their “light lunches”??? How come Bill Flick don’t write about THIS stuff??? Guess it’s NOT funny, really!
Redistribution of your wealth to friends!