By: Diane Benjamin
The arena continues to fleece taxpayers:
I wonder how many payments there will be?
Legal Fees For October (the boot of government?):
History Museum and Visitors Center:
Following Normal’s lead, Bloomington will be taxing short-term rentals! All residents who rent their property will be required to register. If the website the rental uses doesn’t collect the 6% tax, the homeowner will be required to collect it.
PDF page 242: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=20388
Yes, Bloomington-Normal hates small business. How much was Bloomington willing to fork over to a developer for a downtown hotel? How much did Normal hand to the two hotels in Uptown? The Chateau? DoubleTree?
No, the little guy can’t make a few bucks to help offset the ridiculous property taxes without getting mired in government bureaucracy.
New topic:
Renner keeps repeating the lie about the number of employees Bloomington has. He is sticking with there are 150 less now.
Below is a chart showing the actual numbers the City of Bloomington submitted to the Comptroller since 2004. I could have gone back farther, but obviously Tari is getting the City into the same mess as when early buyouts had to be offered when the economy crashed. From the high of 690 full-time in 2008, Bloomington has never been down 150 full-time employees.
(click to enlarge)
Tari was first elected in 2012. Bloomington has almost twice as many total employees as they did then.
Data prior to 2016 is available here: http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/Downloads.cfm
2016 – 2018 is available here: http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/
Think all those part-time employees were added as reliable voting block for the April 2019 elections?
If we have SO MANY city employees, then WHY don’t they have ALL the leaves picked up yet?? How come the streets are like the Oregon trail, and WHY do we spend $100 K a month on the museum?? Let alone the Markorean! Tear down that white elephant, and HOW MUCH tax revenue did the city lose yesterday because of the stores at Eastland closing?
As I predicted, Bloomington is now taxing AirBnB rentals. I have to admit that was an easy call. Tari loves other people’s money. Speaking of which, the Arena continues to flush money down the drain, endlessly funding this boondoggle without asking for even the most basic of questions about its performance or return on investment. Probably because they know the answer…the arena burns millions of dollars a year and has no measurable impact on the local economy. Same with the museum. Both have reliable voting blocks in local elections that the Council is afraid to upset. Go along to get along. The government employees are the same way. The key to Koos’ most recent victory was adding to the number of municipal employees. They vote big government every time. This coming local election is likely the last opportunity to reverse the downward spiral of Bloomington-Normal. Sadly, I think the die is already cast.
“This coming local election is likely the last opportunity to reverse the downward spiral of Bloomington-Normal. Sadly, I think the die is already cast.” Agreed.
NOT if EVERYONE who IS FED UP with the way things have been run since Tari took office AND the council AVOIDS the issues, votes them OUT!
It is obvious that Teri is not qualified for Mayor or anything else for that matter. My dog could do a much better job than Teri and his wanna be council. Bloomington is doomed.
Looks like that is the contractor who is building the elevator, the $200,000 payment.
That was my thought.
unfortunately folks this wont be the last of the taxes! Tari and Koos haven’t even scratched the tax surface. Waiting still for taxing the Bloomington/Normal air you breath. How about a pet privilege tax? So many dollars for every fish you own. How about tax every blade of grass individually? The taxing ideas out there are endless and believe me Tari and Koos are sifting thru the possibilities!
Renner and Koos are Communists. They think it is ALL the government’s money, anyway.
Clearly, I should have gone to law school.
It’s amazing to see the City of Bloomington just cutting $95,000 in checks in a single day to the history museum and visitors center without any discussion or questions being raised. The Arena is a well-documented mess, but less is explored with regard to the museum and visitors center. In my conversations, the feedback is that the Route 66 museum is a joke, and that hardly anyone stops in or otherwise engages these resources. Bloomington is not a destination, period. End of story. Route 66 appeals to a narrow demographic of baby boomers and is not an economic engine. Are we hoping the few visitors that drift into Downtown Bloomington will buy a sandwich or coffee that produces tax money? This is an absolute joke and far from economic development. When I think of economic development, I think of spurring the economy, not taking money from productive citizens and redistributing it to career government employees creating a living for themselves through questionable at best tourist ideas.
Hey Jak have your dog run on the democrat ticket and he will have no problem getting elected. It is obvious that many democrat voters will never vote for the most qualified. And no before I am accused of being a die hard republican I have crossed party lines when voting .