By: Diane Benjamin
I reported in September Normal’s funding of Police and Fire pensions was dismal: https://blnnews.com/2016/09/26/normal-what/
While Chris Koos was busy creating his vision for “Uptown”, he forgot the Town’s other needs. One of those is funding pensions for the essential personnel citizens really want – Police and Fire. Somehow the employees on IMRF got funded at 81%, Koos obviously didn’t care about the Police and Fire people.
Tonight Koos is going to show he really does care by raising your property taxes!
Meanwhile, plans for a new library and underpass continue.
I reported in 2012 TOTAL Town debt in 2005 was $ 28,896,720. Documentation was taken off the Town website. See this story:
https://blnnews.com/2012/04/28/how-much-debt-is-town-of-normal-in/
How much debt was Normal in as of March 31, 2016?
Page 27: http://normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/10763
Koos added $69 million in debt, but couldn’t fund pensions!
Four more years of Koos?
Koos isn’t done putting you in even more debt and raising more taxes.
You have a better option Normal!
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I’ll be speaking against the proposal tonight. I encourage others to join me. In addition to the $88,000 a year we committed for Zagster bikes,we had $500,000 for demolition of citizen-owned property on Beech Street, nearly a million to buy out and renovate Terri Ryburn’s privately held Pine Street filling station, $40,000 to build a canopy for the new Stout Chiropractic offices, and $67,000 to put in fiber optic links for Destihl–all private projects that were financed out of the general fund. The town just sold a house at a roughly $100,000 loss to the taxpayers and has others poised for similar sales.There is certainly room to tighten the budget and cover the additional pension amounts without levying new taxes.
Normal: Meet your next mayor!
Add to Marc’s list:
$100,000 on a score board at ISU’s Hancock stadium
$1.4 Million on a feasibility study for an overpass or underpass in Uptown
$350 to haul the Normal Town Council in a horse drawn carriage in the ISU Homecoming parade
$3,700 on an audit for Scott Preston’s travel follies
$1,500 for Family Fun day at Rader Family Farms
$1,900 on a strategic planning retreat
$250,000 on two properties purchased on School Street and sold at a loss
Normal residents, I know for certain we can find more. Please chime in. I’m just getting warmed up.
Subsidies for destihl, extreme motors, Home Depot, all the uptown properties! Don’t forget $700,000+ for the house in underwood park they paid way more than accessed value for a tore it down