By: Diane Benjamin
If I hadn’t been out of town this weekend, I would have written A LOT more on the Pantagraph story that attempted to make you believe the Bloomington roads are getting better. It’s really difficult to compose story on a cell phone, so I left a lot of details to readers: https://blnnews.com/2017/09/24/more-pantagraph-conspires-with-city/
Now that I’m back, I can add more:
Remember when Renner and Council added a FOUR CENT gas tax and a QUARTER PERCENT sales tax for roads? Remember all those other taxes you pay? Remember when all those other taxes paid for the roads? Heck, they used to pay for garbage and sewers too. Then your local clowns decided “dedicated” funds meant they don’t have to use the other money they steal from you for silly things like roads! Remember the City also borrowed $10,000,000 in 2014.
Public Works declared in 2015 it would take $9.4 million a year just to eventually get the roads to FAIR.
Hales and Renner fed a “$3.8 million street story” to the Pantagraph in an attempt to pacify citizens. The story even claims staff is receiving positive feedback on the changes to E. Washington. You are expected to believe “creating congestion” is exactly what citizens want!
Where does all your tax money get spent? The Coliseum is an Enterprise Fund that doesn’t have to balance like the other funds do. The BCPA sucks up a lot too. Pension spiking, lavish benefits, expensive employees. travel, consultants, and pet projects suck up much of the rest.
The result is:
Essential services are paid for with additional fees and taxes. I wonder when the City will start charging for police and fire calls?
Maybe the 911 operators can require a credit card before they send help.
Since the Pantagraph article mentions Renner’s medical leave – I wonder when the paper will do an extensive “feel good” story on his eventual recovery. Meanwhile, a reader spotted Tari at Swinger’s Grill using the City PCard. Laws and policies don’t apply to anybody but peons.
Ever feel like a mushroom? (kept in the dark and fed bull****)
(And you thought government exists for you! ha ha)
That gas and sales tax that was created and implemented should of gone entirely to roads. Do you how much money was actually generated, and much was actually spent on roads during the first fiscal year? If they took money from that fund fr some other purpose, then they should be held accountatable for perpetuating a fraud against the citizens of Bloomington.
Good luck finding out! Tax receipts are no longer published monthly and the financial statements are issued more than 6 months after the year ends. ZERO transparency.
Tha tax to be used for “roads” is actually a tax to be used for “infrastructure.” Infrastructure includes more than just road resurfacing. It includes bike lanes and Constitution Trail. We’ve been hoodwinked.
I do believe fling a FOIA would be useless because they probably won’t answer it anyway. But I would bet the monies generated from those funds are being used for other purposes other than what was sold to us to justify a tax increase. You’re right about no transparency! Why should they? They have free reign to do what they want. The law be damned. Integrity? What’s that? Spend, Spend, Spend, then bleed the little people until you suck the life out of them. Then, with a smile on your face, try and convince them how good you have it. The Coliseum should be forced to balance like any other Enterprise Fund, and subsidizing it and/or the BCPA from any other city fund needs to stop. These two facilities need to either stand on their own or close, or the private business sector needs to start pitching in. I’d really like a forensic accounting of these new taxes that were imposed upon on us. We need to be able to trust that when we get hit with new tax burdens, those tax dollars are going to be used for those items originally intended.
If he’s on a Leave of Absence….meaning he’s not performing City work….why is he using the PCard?
Good observation. Wow, Renner is truly an idiot! The idiots that worship him are bigger idiots.
Tarry must be fed, and we must pay for him to be fed, surely you know this.
I think I have a solution for Washington Street congestion. There is a street close by that would be just perfect for bikers. It’s called Country Club place . Street wide enough for bike Lanes, speed bumps already in place to keep the traffic moving at a slow pace and very little traffic
🙂 🙂 🙂
That idea was suggested during the “citizen feedback” period. Of course it was dismissed.
duh … democrats will suck a quarter of debt out of a copper penny ,, they love to spend on perks , buy happiness for select friends , and have no idea of what a budget is , how to cut waste and streamline bureaucracy. if one person can get it done ,then hire consultants to see if five can do it , if something needs fixing , reduce the available funds and then you have an excuse to find even more . just look how things seem to increase in cost and no thought is required in any decision , as they continue to deny there are issues they created by ignoring the facts and doing as they please .
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What extravagant spending on roads–a whopping $3.2M out of a budget of more than $200M. It includes $25K/mile for the bike lanes on Washington St and the “sharrows” on Grove. Seriously, though, an additional $5M should be contributed from the General Fund for a total of at least $8M annually.
Time to revisit home rule for the towns of Bloomington and Normal for sure!
Indeed!