By: Diane Benjamin
The numbers below are from the Illinois Comptroller’s website: http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/
Normal’s budget has increased 33% in 6 years. 5.5% per year is much higher than the inflation rate. Last year Normal spent almost $36 million more than it did in 2012.
Where is it? Roads?
Population is estimated at 54,264. That spending increase since 2012 amounts to $657 per person.
Every year your property taxes are increased because Normal doesn’t budget pension funding. Even with the tax increases, pension funding isn’t headed in the right direction.
Normal considers itself full-service government. It provides services it wants to provide at the expense of essential services residents expect government to perform. Think all those Uptown and park are free?
The bigger government gets the more of your money it has to take. Expect property taxes to be increased again for the next budget.
The budget Normal just passed is impossible to figure out: It is intentionally written to be vague, that is why the Comptroller’s site in invaluable. Unfortunately, the numbers for the year just ended 3/31/2018 won’t be available for months. Numbers for the current year beginning 4/1/2018 won’t be available for at lease a year and a half.
Current year budget – PDF page 27 shows total expenditures of $127,175,713. http://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/13257/2018-2023
I don’t know if that is the number that will eventually appear as the total budget for 2019. It would be nice to see that number going in the right direct!
Total Budgets:
2017 – $142,035,203
2016 – $128,117,298
2015 – $131,933,626
2014 – $111,312,109
2013 – $110,288,148
2012 – $106,368,128
Fire Pension Percent Funded:
2017 – 55.5%
2016 – 55.0%
2015 – 57.1%
Police Pension Percent Funded:
2017 – 51.8%
2016 – 51.5%
2015 – 55.4%
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Full service lobotomy for those who don’t care enough to notice. And for those drinking the koolaid and not tasting the poison.
Full service theft from all to serve only a few!
Full service is too nice in that it used to have a good connotation.
Did another restaurant go bye bye in uptown Normal? Just went by Merry Anns diner in uptown Normal saw a closed sign on the front of the building. Inside looked pretty well cleared out. If so revenue for the city declines a little more.
Merry Ann’s closed Monday night and on Tuesday employees were seen carting out the equipment. Can’t afford to eat in Uppity Town with my high taxes paying for Utopian Koosville
Food and service I hear wasn’t so good, no where close to park. Go figure.
Look at your tax bill and tell me that Normal is the problem. What % goes to Unit 5?
Koos clearly isn’t running for re-election. Good luck to whoever gets luck holding the bag. Normal is toast. College enrollments will continue to decline and State Farm employees working in BN are increasingly filling low skill-low pay roles. Who or what is going to pay the debt? Rivian? (By the way, they were called out by the Gov. recently for underwhelming results…haha.)
Link?
AdaptBN had an article on FB. Rauner’s comments were disputed.
🐥
Anyone who is unlucky enough to take the wheel of Upscale Normal when Koos leaves is going to have a nightmare scenario to deal with. I am going to use the “default” word here because that is what is going to happen. Upscale Normal will be forced to default on its debt in the not to distant future. Koos, Peterson and company will become infamous for the financial disaster that will befall what was the nice little town of Normal.
Oh, no! Where will I go for overpriced trinkets and stimulating conversations over a glass of Chardonnay? Not to worry, Lawrence451, Rivian will ride to our rescue (in the car they don’t make and won’t show anyone).