By: Diane Benjamin
Although there are a number of items I could FOIA on Bills being paid tonight, I’m not going to.
There is one item the citizens of Normal need to see:
$90,045.67 was paid earlier in September https://blnnews.com/2018/09/04/normals-fleece-tonight/
$60,728.85 in July PDF page 24 http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3017
$88,020.70 was paid in June https://blnnews.com/2018/06/15/normals-monday-bills/
$46,333.57 was paid in May https://blnnews.com/2018/05/07/normals-handouts-tonight/
That’s $318,827.78 just since May!
(I might have missed some!)
When will the Council say “enough already”? Never – they want the “free” money too.
Normal still wants people who pay Federal Taxes to pay for their underpass. That’s how they got a brand new train station with City Hall above it.
Evidently they will pay whatever they need to for the “free” money.
See the agenda and payments here: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3067
So, the Town of Normal is spending taxpayer money in the hope of securing a grant paid for with taxpayer money to be applied to a local government project that will require constant infusions of capital in the form of more taxpayer dollars. Wow! Is it any wonder the town is broke, financially and morally? Don’t worry though, Koos believes the economic problem is just “baby boomers retiring” and that more government spending and jobs created by “right fit” companies like Rivian and Uptown knickknack shops will win the day. Ugh.
I believe TIGER grants are matching grants. Costs all that money to apply with no guarantee the grant will be awarded. If it is, the Town would still have to come up with the remainder of the funding for the project.
They COULD have taken that money and ALREADY have pretty much have built the bridge, etc. What a bunch of spend thrift Democrats. It’s FREE! Maybe we ought to make common sense FREE also.
WSP USA, Inc. formerly known as Parsons Brinckerhoff, the company that paid a $450 million settlement for a lawsuit over a fatal tunnel collapse. The settlement enabled them to avoid criminal charges and cover the costs of leaks and design flaws with the Central Artery project in Boston which resulted in the death of a motorist. There was also a wrongful death suit filed against the company. Parsons Brinckerhoff was also sued for hiding the true financial cost of the project. Wow!