By: Diane Benjamin
The taxpayers of Bloomington have no idea how much the Coliseum LOST last year because the City doesn’t want you to know. The year-end for the Coliseum was April 30th, no income and expense information has been released. (normally it is released in October)
The Coliseum was a mess, so the City called in auditors at taxpayer expense to make sense of the books. The State Police are also investigating. I predict nothing will be released before the election because sitting members of the council and the mayor don’t want to explain why David Hales wasn’t fired for extreme mismanagement!
Don’t forget, that didn’t stop the Council from approving $120,000 for a study on how to make the Coliseum ADA compliant: https://blnnews.com/2016/11/16/coliseum-failure-from-the-start/
The construction costs will follow!
Along with the Coliseum statements, NOTHING has been released for the City of Bloomington either! Evidently reporting tax revenue and spending is now optional!
I wonder if the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants would agree?
I wonder if the Attorney General would agree?
I wonder is David Hales awards from the ICMA will be revoked?
I wonder if Hales is planning to look for another job or just retire? I’m thinking retire – a Google search will show MANY stories that will make any future employers run!
Not releasing the financial statements with no stated reasons is just the latest.
Where is the press?
M.I.A.
(surprised?)
As my farmer uncles would say: there sure are a lot of hogs at the troff here in Bloomington!
Do all tax revenue and expense statements need to be accessed with FOIA requests now? Where is the transparency? How do the taxpayers or Council members know which of the CIP projects are actually funded? Do they just have to take Hales’ word for it? Revenue from the 1% Sales tax increase seems to be funneled into rebates for developers and businesses. The fee increases for city services–water, sewer, storm sewer–won’t be released and voted on until after the election. The FY2018 budget process is just around the corner–end of April, I believe. Time to get their act together.
I got it! Turn the Coliseum into a hog confinement operation…. at least it would then be able to make money…. yes it would smell a bit…We could call it the Hog Castle or the Hog Dome…The EDC could take credit for bringing jobs to our community (and 5000 hogs)…The Chamber of Commerce would get a hog rancher to join…The Bloomington-Normal Visitors Bureau could promote us to become Hog City of Illinois…its a marketing success story looking for a place to happen! Hog Castle..it smells..but you will love it!
It’s got ice for slaughtering day!
Yes – it’s already kinda set up! At least it would not be a black hole for taxpayer money anymore. One my uncles was a hog farmer years ago – he made a good living. The city needs to walk away from this money pit. This is like putting $1000 in a car worth $50.
David Hales is a SURE contender for the “Coprolite of the year” award with his inept management skills. I’d STILL like to know WHAT his “SEALED” records in Oregon have in them-can’t be positive or he’d be expounding on that too! Probably ranks up there with Renners “faculty evaluation” at I.W.U.