By: Diane Benjamin
See the detailed budget here: FY 2017 Budget Detail The document can be searched – if you want more information on any item Click Edit – Find and type the exact words in the Search Box.
This looks like more signs pointing downtown:
Wayfinding signage – adding $100,000
More consultants:
Downtown Parking Evaluation – $35,000
In case you missed this one: (Connect Transit)
PUB TRANS To Bloomington-Norma $1,188,050.00
Now it gets fun.
The City created Enterprise Funds to isolate the cost of a few City services. It becomes much easier to raise fees when they can prove the program doesn’t “pay for itself”. Of course, many of these were formerly paid by taxes already stolen from citizens. Enterprise Funds make it possible to steal more.
Below are General Fund TRANSFERS listed in the budget.
The Water Fund has excess revenue every year. The amount below is being taken out of the Water Fund and transferred to the General Fund. They call it an Administration Fee: (Expensive Admin!)
GF TRANS From Water-Administra -735,554.84
From WATER ADMIN FEES: Interfund transfers, monthly basis 1/12
The same applies to the Sewer Fund:
GF TRANS From Sewer-Administra -251,881.20
SEWER ADMIN. FEE
Also the Storm Water Management Fund:
GF TRANS From Storm Water Mana -143,311.25
STORM WATER ADMIN. FEE Interfund transfers, monthly basis 1/12
Ditto Solid Waste:
GF TRANS From Solid Waste-Admi -373,924.43
FROM SOLID WASTE ADMINISTRATION FEE
Except Solid Waste doesn’t have any excess!
The City is taking $373,924.43 out for Administration and then transferring $1,301,283.35 back to cover the shortage!
GF TRANS To Solid Waste $1,301,283.35
Transfer from the City General Fund to cover the projected deficit in the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund
The same thing is happening with Golf. They take out $139,358.61 for Administration and put back $414,000.00 and $108,882.52. To be fair, the City is paying $250,000 to resurface the cart path at Prairie Vista. I remember resurfacing being an emergency years ago because the carts were being damaged. Obviously the course doesn’t generate enough money to cover the cost.
GF TRANS From Golf-Admin Fee -139,358.61
Golf Admin Fee for Highland, Prairie Vista and the Den at Fox Creek.
GF TRANS To Golf Operations — $414,000.00
Transfer to Golf Courses
GF TRANS to Golf-Prairie Vista $108,882.52
General Fund Transfer to balance Golf Fund Budget as a whole for FY 2017.
These are the totals reported for each course:
TOTAL Golf Operations — Highland 24,476.22 (Loss)
TOTAL Golf Operations — Prairie Vis -15,168.51 (Profit)
TOTAL Golf Operations — The Den -9,307.71 (Profit)
Add 15168.51 to 9307.71, then subtract 24476.22. Magic! ZERO.
The TOTALS include transfers.
There must be a full-time administrator to transfer all those funds. Wonder if the money taken from each Enterprise Fund is used for “handling fees” similar to how a portion is taken from the .25% Sales Tax that goes to McLean County for mental health.
Diane, great job and thank you for the tireless effort you put forth researching and printing these facts that affect each of us. On a different matter though, I would like to ask your opinion on why the BPD no longer makes public the police summary runs? It is not a matter of cost as much as it seems a lack of transparency from the most important department in public government. Considering Tone Deaf Tari publicly boasts of transparency, why is the public not able to see what the real time crime activity is about at this time? Thanks for your efforts and thoughts.
Is this what you mean or did they do something else? http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=547
Thank you again this is exactly what I meant. I was looking for it on the JBC website. That site states that Bloomington did not post while everyday they post Normals runs. I will check this website daily and thanks again.
BTW, Normal Police put out their blotter of runs each and every day and are available for public view on the radio station website, but Bloomington does not.