The meeting started on time for a change, it was adjourned at 7:02. Scott Preston even managed to welcome the ISU students back.
By: Diane Benjamin
Once again the Town of Normal has no General Orders and no New Business on their agenda. Your wallet is safer until the next meeting. Tonight will be another very short meeting. http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3042
Interesting facts:
The Town collects water charges and forwards payments to the Water Reclamation District. This was the amount from July 2018:
For July 2017 the Town sent them:
That is a decrease of more than 14%.
There was a similar decrease in June:
$255,920.28 June 2018 PDF page 24: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3017
$297,090.06 Jun 2017 PDF page 29 http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2653
Is that a trend with significant meaning? The surest way to tell is Utilities Tax receipts because those are difficult to avoid for people actually living in Normal, but the Town doesn’t publish that information. Are there a large number of empty houses? Zillow shows 282 houses for sale, I have no way of knowing if that is normal or exceptional. Bloomington shows 781 homes for sale. Realtors?
Sponsored:
PDF page 36 recaps the Health Insurance Plans offered to employees:
Descriptions of the three plans are on the previous pages.
How do these compare to what you pay?
Diane,with respect to declining water consumption. People do react to water and sewer increases. I have not seen much lawn watering compared to years ago. Almost none. Additionally, since the 1.6 gallon toilets were introduced, finally the new ones all work almost as well as the old ones that used 4 to 5 gallons per flush. Additionally, when I am home alone all day, I flush only once every several times I urinate. New water appliances such as washing machines and dish washers use less water than the ones they replace. I have several 1.6 gallon toilets in my apartments with no problems. New Faucets and shower heads are low flow compared to the ones they replace. Finally, people repair dripping faucets faster than when water was cheap because they see the spike in the water and sewer bill because leaks now cost alot more and we get billed monthly instead of bi-monthly leading to faster repairs. R
I have a feeling there are a lot fewer people watering. Last summer, my neighbor wanted his watered several days per week. This summer, maybe once or twice so far. Most people in our neighborhood who water are connected to a lake and pull from there. I’m not sure the legality of that, but it’s what they have set up. Perhaps the “arrangement” with the Town of Normal is similar to how things have worked out at Lake Bloomington with the docks.
Two things about real estate: There are houses that have been taken off the market because they have not sold and many of the houses that are on the market today are empty…. as opposed to trying to sell when the homeowner is living in these houses….these houses are empty because the homeowner has already moved away.
I hate to bring up something that no one wants to talk about…. but could this be a sign of the beginning of an economically driven population decline? See below the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics… there appears to be almost zero job growth and declines in many sectors this year already. https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.il_bloomington_msa.htm
Doesn’t look promising