By: Diane Benjamin
When the citizens aren’t paying attention to what their government is doing, you get the below. If you thought $100,000,000 was ridiculous for Uptown, be prepared for more folly.
PDF page 59: http://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/7440
This statement is in the Town of Normal’s Annual Report:
There is a good reason people want to work for the Town of Normal!
This chart is on the same page:
Last year Normal states they had 378 full time employees. How much did those 378 employees earn? For that see this link: http://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/7527
That link only reports employees with total compensation of more than $75,000.
There are 298 of them!
Google “household income Normal Il” and this is what comes up first:
Of course the Town is the preferred employer!
It gets worse.
For the holidays, approximately 400 employees are receiving $60 gift cards to Target. See the response to my FOIA request HERE
The documents do state this will be included on their W-2 forms for the year.
Why did the Town choose to hand $25,048 to Target? (Source: https://blnnews.com/2017/11/20/sit-down-normal/)
How many employees are going to shop Target on the Internet? Buy local must only be for peons.
Why didn’t they pick a local Uptown business? The Garlic Press couldn’t use $25,000? Is Normal attempting to prop up a business under a national boycott? https://cabotwealth.com/daily/dividend-stocks/how-targets-bathroom-policy-killed-tgt-stock/
Something else I learned from the FOIA:
That paragraph is from City Manager Mark Peterson’s contract.
Peterson’s total compensation in 2016 was $236,159 .
Where I come from this is called the Gravy Train with mashed potatoes! Wow… almost 300 of the 378 employees make over $75,000 a year? 52 weeks a year divided by 40 hours a week is $36 dollars an hour plus benefits? Where can I get an application? Just kidding…
Totals include benefits.
Still a lot of money.. and you know none of these people are killing themselves with overwork…
My corporate employer gives us $40 Visa gift cards for Christmas gift. Been giving us these for years. I like it because I can use it to purchase groceries.
$236,179 what a bargain Normal only had to spend this amount to have someone put them $100 million in debt. Wait a minute that is minus $ 100 million I guess the salary that they paid to Peterson was not a good investment. He gets a full retirement and the residents of Normal get to keep working to pay off the cities $100 million debt. At least Normal has a pretty uptown where the residents and the undocumented (pc correct) individuals here in the country illegally that Bloomington will be soon protecting
can stroll the streets and admire the landscaping. Relocation out of Illinois is looking more and more attractive.
Santa Koos taking care of those poor public servants. Ugh! Wonder if there were “employee appreciation” perks for Town employees just before election time. What a coincidence if true…
keep in mind that property owners in Normal will be hit Monday night with another tax increase to fund employee pensions that are far sweeter than what the average taxpayer in Normal receives. Mark Petersen at age 58 will be dipping into his pension prior to the median retirement age which in 2017 is 66.
And it will go up 3% every year
Just to give an example. If Petersen retired at 58 with a pensionable salary of $200,000 and hit a 75% percentage based on years of service, he would be back earning over $200,000 per year in retirement by 68. If he lives to 80, the town will have paid out nearly $5 million in pension payments alone.