By: Diane Benjamin
PDF page 221: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=19712
The bigger government gets, the more it costs you. When government seizes your money for the good of all residents, you are no longer free to self-determination. Notice a lot of really stupid people in recent years? Government has made it possible for way to many to live off productive people. Yep, social justice demands equality. The problem is that equality doesn’t have to be earned.
Proving yet again that the City of Bloomington doesn’t think people need to be responsible for themselves, the final item on the agenda tonight is a “what’s good for the collective” item that will force people to pay for insurance they will likely never need so the minority aren’t required to be responsible for themselves.
The first clue that communism is here is the new program will automatically enroll every house in Bloomington, it’s not your decision to opt-in. You can opt-out by calling a company that will probably give you a 10 minute sales pitch before maybe allowing you to opt-out. The City is stealing not only your money but your time.
So what is it? Insurance to cover sewer and water leaks – and the Utilities Tax charged by the City. The cost looks minimal, the most expensive is $1.40 a month added to your water bill. Of course the City will be earning 14 cents to administer the program. If half of the town opted-out the cost would be much higher. That’s why everybody will be signed up without permission, they know people won’t even notice the charge, let alone take the time to call and opt-out. Sounds a lot like electric aggregation. Most people didn’t opt out of that collectivist program either.
The proposed insurance program is nothing more than redistribution of wealth. You get to share the cost for people who don’t understand that home ownership comes with repairs and responsibility. The automatic cost is yet another hit to affordable housing. Add this cost to every other fee and tax increase the Council has passed in recent years and it’s easy to see why the cost of living in Bloomington has skyrocketed.
It still gets worse. Your tax dollars paid people to search for a company that would cover excess charges because of leaks. They only found one in the entire country. The City will be making money off the program, but you can’t call them for claims. You have to call Tennessee. Why is there only one company? How long have they been doing this? The documents don’t say. What prevents them from collecting premiums for a couple of years and then cancelling the program?
Once everybody is opted-in, then the hard sell comes to buy coverage for water lines and sewer laterals. That’s optional and of course a lot more expensive.
The City can’t afford to fix the streets, but they can afford to pay paper pushers to create schemes for your money. Obviously they have too many employees with not enough to do.
The Council needs to reject wealth redistribution. The are creating Venezuela right here in Bloomington. Tonight we will see if any members of the Council aren’t socialists.
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Yesterday, the Pantagraph had several articles regarding affordable housing. Not one article mentioned raising taxes or fees.
The City government is now in the insurance business as well as the speculative real estate business. Local insurance companies offer coverage for water line breaks—the coverage increases the premium. It’s the cost of ownership. Personal bank loans can be taken out to cover unexpected, expensive water & sewer repair on your property. Getting insurance from Tennessee is not supporting the local economy.
It seems the insurance plan for water leaks is to “save” staff time from having to explain to a homeowner they have to pay their water bill.
The series of articles on affordable housing appears to be well choreographed and fit well with the narrative of the social justice warriors running for city council in Bloomington. I suspect the powers that be are planning an affordable housing full-court press in Bloomington. This is not a coincidence folks.
Yes they are! Personal responsibility won’t be required when taxpayers can be forced to subside live styles.
I understand the socialist push. The numbers from MCRP are skewed. The key to prosperity is the attraction of jobs that pay the equivalent of the median household income–Teach a man to fish. The Habitat for Humanity business model makes more sense that the handouts. This insurance proposal is deceptive, at best.
The Council’s job is to set policy not approve a program to raise fees. The council should have Staff write up a clear policy explaining to the homeowners’ their responsibilities. Make the information available on the Website. Include the information in the water/sewer bill. Do homeowners know who is responsible for what part of sewer/water pipe repair? Include recommendations for resolving the issue–like check if the amount due has increased dramatically month/month without changes in household habits.
Tell me when did Bloomington seize all the means of production? Does Bloomington own all the corporations and businesses within the borders of Bloomington? No. Then it isn’t either “socialism” or “communism”. You must be one of those people who run around without automobile insurance, a menace to society.
The sewer system is a public utility run by the city. That’s how it works in most every American city. Apparently you’ve never had a costly sewer leaks into your basement or house. That can cost thousand of dollars of ruined furniture, drywall and floors. Water line repairs can cost as much as $5,000 to $10,000. Damage that isn’t covered by home owner’s insurance. The fact is also anyone can opt out of the purposed plans, something your lying about in your post.
The mandatory insurance doesn’t cover the repairs. Evidently you can’t read.
@The cat’smeow–Who owns the water/sewer lines that run through a homeowner’s property from the sewer main that runs under the street? According to the City’s packet, State Farm offers insurance to cover water/sewer breaks with additional coverage on the policy.
The post says you can opt out. Wow, who’s lying now? Hint: Look in the mirror troll.
From the meeting packet:
“Primary Coverage – Water & Sewer Leak Coverage Combined
The water and sewer leak program cover excess water, sewer, Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation (BNWRD) CHARGES, and utility tax charges that result from a RESIDENTIAL customer’s WATER LEAKS.”
“Enhanced Coverage – Residential Water Line Coverage
The residential water line program covers repairs to PRIVATE water service lines.”
This proposal has nothing to do with the PUBLIC water/sewer system which is paid by current fee charges–of which, sewer fees were just increased by $6/month.
I think I need to stop approving comments for people who obviously haven’t read the article.
From the ServLine proposal overview
ServLine is a full-service customer leak solution. We pay for high water bills caused by customer leaks by insuring the Utility (the CITY). Specifically, by insuring the Leak Adjustment Policy and then administrating it on your behalf.”
“UTILITY OUTCOMES OF THE PROPOSED SOLUTION
1. Strengthen Financial Position
2. Raise Level of Independence
3. Increase Overall Customer Satisfaction
4. Extend Office Efficiency
5. Gain New Paths for Opportunity:”
I guess that’s because somebody else is paying your bills.
@Diane–let them show their ignorance…they are why the Corporate entity of the City is in the state it is.
Tolerating ignorance is getting tougher.
The citizens are already paying for the “readjustment” to the water bills of those who failed to monitor their usage and who can’t afford or didn’t purchase homeowner insurance to cover the expense of their private sewer line. Funds from the Water Department are depleted because of the practice and fees have to be increased. Vicious cycle. Maybe that is why the Water Department believes the Utility Insurance is necessary.
Government is more than willing to ride to the rescue in exchange for votes.
Cat said: “Damage that isn’t covered by home owner’s insurance.”
We had the city’s storm water drain back up into our basement about 10 years ago and cause minor flooding. Our State Farm homeowner’s insurance paid for repairs and replacement after the deductible.
I was replying to you laughable “socialist” and “communist” riff. You really don’t know what your talking about when you go on about “socialism” or “communism”. Go back to school and learn about actual socialism and communism not the comical meanings you have given to a complex social and political theory.
Offering insurance isn’t either socialist or communist. As to what a home owner’s insurance covers it can be very narrow. I know because I DID deal with home owners insurance on a flood and they payout on very narrow instances. They might pay out in one instance of a flood and not the other.
Other people paying? News flash that’s how ALL insurance works. That’s how automobile insurance works that’s how health insurance works. It’s call a risk pool.
Forcing people to buy insurance? Gee, where have we heard that one before? ObamaCare? That worked well. You must be unaware the freedom index for America in the world is slipping, I think it was down to 17th. Creeping socialism creeps for a reason. You must have missed “Right fit” too. In a capitalist society there is no right fit.
You said: You really don’t know what your talking about when you go on about “socialism” or “communism”. – – – I say, “Pot, kettle, black.”
The insurance is for the Corporate City not the citizens. The citizens are being charged the insurance premium as an additional fee to their water bill.
Read the packet not the Pantagraph.
Basically it sounds like just ANOTHER way to raise money for the city, and they can say they didn’t raise taxes. Wonder IF they’d be ALL IN if they were NOT getting a “kickback”? What next tree insurance?
As an aside, Diane has helped to inspire a new city slogan —
Welcome to Bloomington …Venezuela on the Prairie.
Perhaps someone should introduce that at the next council meeting as a new idea for the city. I like it – Venezuela on the Prairie – can a wall to keep people IN be far behind? Then we could be “Old Berlin on the Prairie” Think of the jobs it could create as border guards and people to sit in the watchtowers watching for people trying to make a run in old 1970s U-Haul trucks. By the way, mocking these people is a good way to not just irritate them but to stay sane yourself – that’s what oppressed people do. By the way SJWs – the preceding stuff is all called humor or humour if you will since you love anything that smacks of the UK.
Next up: AIR INSURANCE. For a nominal fee every month, you to can be privilege to breathe Bloomington air! What a scam folks! Just wait till you have to utilize this. This “company” will be unavailable to take your call!
Less than $2 a month to cover what could possibly be a $10,000 to $15,000 repair for your private sewer line is a pretty good investment. Unless you have someone run a camera down your sewer line you have no way of knowing what kind a of condition it is in or how long you will go before you have a problem. You may never have a problem but if you do it will likely come at the most inopportune time. I know in my town I have seen barricades on voids in the streets for months because the property owner does not have the funds for repairs and many times they do not have the means to get a personal loan to make the repairs. They City then finally hires a company at prevailing wage to make the repairs which is double what you can get it contracted on your own.
$2 doesn’t cover that. The charge only covers a water bill that is suddenly higher because homeowners didn’t realize they had a water leave. Coverage for the water and sewer lines is optional and MUCH higher.
“The first clue that communism is here is the new program will automatically enroll every house in Bloomington, it’s not your decision to opt-in.”
Throwing the word “communism” around when you dont know what it means makes you look pretty stupid, which im betting isnt far from the truth. maybe learn the meaning behind words before you use them.
Also this is a pretty good idea. the pros greatly outweigh the cons. Shit journalism at its best, you should work for Fox.
But you read anyway. Thanks. Communism is government control of the economy. They seize more at every meeting. Everything is what is good for the collective. Americans don’t care about the collective and we didn’t become the richest country in the world by acting like a collective.