By: Diane Benjamin
Your elected aldermen in Bloomington really have guts! On the same day they found out at least $1 Million was stolen from you – they voted to slap higher sewer and storm water rates on the victims of their ineptness! Yes, that would be Bloomington taxpayers.
The conversation was really amusing. Scott Black lamented cuts are never discussed. Duh Scott. They won’t be discussed this year either.
Some aldermen and David Hales were extremely concerned about hiring employees under the accelerated plan to get the infrastructure fixed. They must not remember voting a few weeks ago to disband the Downtown Bloomington Association and hire their two employees full-time! With Benefits! With Pensions! (Shhhh – they support the City goddess: Downtown)
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Something I found from 2014 while looking for something else:
Source: https://blnnews.com/2014/02/04/government-and-dba-dont-have-to-be-responsible/
In 2012, the City cut funding to the DBA to $90,000, which is 2/3 of their budget. The 2012 article states “there is little incentive for downtown businesses to join the DBA if Bloomington taxpayers are going to supply the majority of the organization’s funding.”
The Downtown Business Association couldn’t get enough support from downtown businesses to fund itself, so the City took it over at your expense!
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The ONLY mention of the Coliseum theft was by citizens during public comment. Hit play below to hear the comments. Speakers expressed various degrees of outrage. At least watch Gary Lambert at 18:30 and Angela Scott at 23:35. The third speaker talked about downtown policing policies for bars that he thinks are discriminatory and costing you money. It sounds like “friends of government” get special treatment!
Other items discussed:
Alderman Mathy pulled the signage for the arena from the consent agenda because 2 local companies were not given the opportunity to bid. The Council approved going ahead with the bid from a Decatur company anyway. This is a GREEN LIGHT for you to NOT buy local! Mathy wanted it tabled for two weeks, of course Hales butted in and probably flipped votes. The conversation starts at 26:00 and went for 13 minutes. That’s at least 10 minutes more time than they spent overseeing operations at the Coliseum!
Raising your sewer and storm water rates starts around 44:00. The consensus on the Council was again that’s it’s your fault for not paying enough, therefore rates are not being increased slowly. This is an emergency! Gouging the poorest residents succeeded. I’m sure nobody on the Council equates un-affordable local housing with all the taxes and fees imposed by the Council. Landlords aren’t going “eat” the increases, rents will be raised. None of them realize spendable income in Bloomington will be decreased. Everybody just got a cut in disposable income that will appear in decreased revenue. The vote was 5-4, but not because 4 thought the General Fund (that used to cover sewer work) should be used instead of more fleecing. The proposed plan included hiring 9 employees in the future. Hales wouldn’t agree to taking that out, he claims he has a different plan he will bring in the future. Most likely – just like his “plan” to investigate concessions at the Coliseum. Rates go up May 1, 2018.
At 59:45 Patty Lynn Silva gave a presentation on Bloomington finances as of 4/30/2017! WOW 5 month old data – just like the private sector. (cough, cough). It included many mentions of their upcoming “structural deficit”. That means its YOUR fault for not paying enough taxes – not theirs for over spending! It doesn’t sound like the financial statements will be out anytime soon. They will wait until the data is so far out of date nobody cares.
NO alderman made comments at the end of the meeting. David Hales did announce he’s off to Disney World with his grandkids though.
The marijuana Commie (seen in many of Tari’s event photos) calls you the “racist blog lady” while taking the Council’s time….to talk about how Bloomington “loves its music.”
Says “we need a public piano” because “music saves lives.”
Because there are no other issues the Council needs to be held accountable to.
I love that we’re on the other side of these goof balls.
How amusing, Hales going to Disney World, guess he REALLY IS getting his management lessons from Mickey Mouse!
I personally liked Karen Schmidt on “sound Ideals” saying that “10 years is a LONG TIME” and I don’t remember all the agreements we had with the coliseum…
These are the SAME folks wanting to RUIN our city for the next 20 or 30 years. Great planners they are! Bet she can remember WHAT she ate at lunch with Tari or Hales!
This is the downside to hiring an outside “expert ” to manage our city. Local business and keeping our money in town, does not matter as much.
EXCELLENT point Kevin! Seems that McGraw, and Bittner and MANY before them were from here, and we DIDN’T NEED a “city manager”…
Old John Baldini (last of the OLD democrats) once said to us “Don’t trust ANYONE that has “come” to the area”
The 2012 article states “there is little incentive for downtown businesses to join the DBA if Bloomington taxpayers are going to supply the majority of the organization’s funding.”
The above statement was not included in the meeting packet for the budget amendment to hire Stiller and her gal pal as administrative staff for downtown development. This is a perfect example of how Hales omits pertinent information to accomplish his and Renner’s agenda. Hales now wants to codify a policy of reducing employees in Public Works and out-sourcing all work. Of course, that won’t happen with the Administrative Department.