By: Diane Benjamin
I will be on Cities 92.9 today at 3:30 with Ben Yount to discuss the future of BlnNews.
Now for last night’s Bloomington City Council meeting:
Bring in the CLOWNS!
Oops, they were already there!
Starting at 1:05, and ending 45 minutes later, the Council droned on about spending $300,000 at The Grove to pay the difference between 8 inch sewer pipe (the developer is required to install) and the 36 inch pipe the City wants to install to prevent ripping up yards if future growth happens.
Alderman Scott Black questioned how he would explain to his Ward spending $300,000 when the sewers in his ward are 100 years old and falling apart.
The real question Scott is NOT spending $300,000 at The Grove to prevent a much higher cost in the future.
The question is why the City isn’t fixing those 100 years old sewers!
This Council allowed the City in FY 2017 to throw away $265,919.85 on employee pension spiking. The total spent on penalties for employee spiking since August 2012 is now over $1.8 MILLION. How many sewers could that fix Scott? (https://blnnews.com/2017/04/01/updated-pension-spiking-cost/)
This Council continues to allow GOLD-PLATED health insurance for employees. How many people in your Ward have that Scott? How many sewers could have already been fixed with the millions spent making City employees much better off than the people forced to pay for their lavish benefits?
Back in 2009, Jim Karch told the Council he needs $4.8 million a year for road resurfacing just to get to a POOR rating. https://blnnews.com/2017/03/24/mondays-bloomington-agenda/
The budget approved last night only spends $5 million on resurfacing. Nobody on the Council blinked.
None of YOUR representatives on the Council questioned taking $1,366,562 from the Enterprise Funds either. When you pay your Water, Sewer, Storm Water, and Garbage bill you aren’t paying for those services. The City is stealing part of it to fund themselves. Rate increases coming soon, those funds will be short!
Jim Fruin took time during the 45 minutes discussion to berate the Council on questioning previous Councils. He must be trying to keep people from questioning his votes in the future. Jim, you were the only guy on the Council who questioned the City employees overly generous health care plan. Thanks for dropping it. Yes, the City did a study. We will probably never hear the results. Your votes are fair game Jim, just like the rest of the Council who think government creates prosperity.
History proves government destroys prosperity, but facts don’t matter when your representatives spend 45 minutes discussing $300,000.
How much more money is this Council going to toss to David Hales? For 2016, his total compensation was $239,274. http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=10245
Since Hales is due for another raise, we should know the answer soon. The Hales robots may give him another 3% raise because of the great job he is doing.
Meanwhile, the essential services government was founded to provide take a back seat to monument building and maintaining the lifestyle of City employees.
Scott Black doesn’t communicate with his ward so I wonder why he thinks he needs to “explain the $300K.” Scott doesn’t care.
He really thinks his ward read the HUNDREDS of budget pages?
Last night, I wish the Council had been reminded that citizens in Ward 5 have problems with sanitary sewer backing up in their basement from combined storm & sanitary sewers. I wish the Council had been reminded that the flooding of basements in Ward 8 & 9 is because the storm water system (detention & retention ponds) were not built large enough to support the growth on the East side.
Sanitary and storm sewers THROUGHOUT the City NEED to be considered #1 priority so the streets can be resurfaced. According to Mr Karch, $5M/year is the amount that can be spent on road resurfacing in a season of work given physical resources.
$300,000 is chump change when you consider $1.4M was spent on the North Main property–that does not include cost of plans and construction for the development. Don’t forget there is $10M in the FY 2018 budget for the Library expansion with $10M to follow in FY2019. The West Side activity center will cost another $15M. Then there is $24M in yet to be announced infrastructure spending–How much will be given to CT? Yes, CT is considered as infrastructure. How much tax rebates will be given to Eastland Mall? What about taking taxes out of circulation with a possible TIF for Eastland Mall? Isn’t District 87 having budgeting shortfalls due to the State financial problems? Does the City have to add to that? How much is the City spending on supporting not-for-profits like the Museum of History?
The Council meetings are becoming more and more difficult to watch.
NOT the only area with sewer problems! Our area (Joni Painters ward) has has the city out here MANY times and they recently spent the better part of a week “re-building” the sewer and even going so far as putting boiling water in it.
Quality of life the RENNER way, so instead they vote to keep trucks off Clinton street. Priorities in this town are skewed!!!
Meanwhile on Fairway Dr. the Joni Painter memorial pothole @ the service road has ONCE again been patched. FIX THE ROADS!!
Everywhere I go the streets are a mess except Ryan Dr which waited 30 yrs & a water break to get a resurface. I don’t know what streets got repaired as Trash Can Tari claims.
EAST Oakland, EAST Washington, EAST College, Airport Rd, Hawthorne Hills, and a few others. See a pattern?
The frontage road at the Empire Crossing strip mall also.