By: Diane Benjamin
If you don’t like the direction Normal is taking change the people taking it there.
RC Bride seems to be touting Normal’s AAA credit rating as one of the reasons he should be reelected. He doesn’t say Normal has that credit rating because they aren’t afraid to pass tax increases. If you look at RC’s campaign Facebook page, he has virtually every big spender endorsing him. Nobody mentions he is part of the media and therefore makes sure the Town of Normal isn’t subjected to investigative scrutiny.
Kathleen Lorenz is another incumbent running for reelection. She must think as long as the bills get paid everything is fine. Debt was a big issue in the last election. From her campaign page: https://friendsofkathleenlorenz.com/Issues.html
Here’s the problem: how much money is being thrown away on interest? Last December they paid more than $2 million just for interest:
https://blnnews.com/2018/12/01/normal-millions-for-interest/
That is $2 million that didn’t go to reduce the debt! That is $2 million that couldn’t be spent to fix the roads.
Is merely able to “make the payments” how you handle your finances?
Lorenz’s statement also doesn’t say if the debt payments start inching up to the magic 10% number, all they have to do is increase General Fund revenues! Bloomington passes a gas tax increase, Normal will too. General Fund Revenues increase – their debt payments look even better.
These two incumbents think as long as the bills can be paid nothing else matters. They are gambling with your money. Uptown 2.0 is still in the Master Plan. The Town is still attempting to get taxpayers across the country to fund their underpass (Federal Grant). A new library isn’t off the table. Since Dave Shields was Koos’s campaign manager, he’s on the same track.
Normal is much more than Uptown. Both incumbents love to say Normal is a vibrant town. All those “free” events Normal offers are never free. What they are actually doing is entertaining people who don’t live in Normal and billing their own taxpayers.
This Saturday there is an Open House for Trustee candidates Stan Nord and Karyn Smith. The Stimpert’s are hosting it from 9:30 to 11 at 5 Crestwood Ct in Normal. Stop by and meet them!
Tonight:
(If this meeting lasts 10 minutes it would be a surprise)
http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3245
Some interesting payments for tonight’s meeting:
Sumek is telling Normal what to do from FLORIDA. He has advised them many times. Staff can’t plan for themselves?
Normal Professional Baseball doesn’t exist:
One month rent:
More gift cards!
Will RC McBride recuse himself? Likely. Why does Normal have an annual contract with them? It has something to do with Parks and Rec.
Great article Diane. One thing missing, Dave Shields. More of the same.
It in there – one small line
All of this is contingent on Normal’s main economic driver staying the same for many more years in the future. And when ISU stops bringing student cash cows into town? It is not if they will stop bringing students into town, but when? And yet Normal’s leadership operates like it is 1988?
I’ve heard through my contacts that the Admin in Normal is terrified of the idea of Nord winning a seat on the council. Virtually all of them can’t stand the idea of him winning. They laugh about him and his lawsuit against the Town. And, as you can imagine, they virtually all also want Shields to win. They’re pulling very hard for him and hoping he’ll get a seat to keep Nord out. It’s so important to vote Nord in along with Smith. I plan to write in Sila as well, though I don’t know how much reach he’s gaining.
I don’t think he has filed a lawsuit, he was thinking about it though.
If Stan is going to win a seat the people who vote for him must not under any circumstances vote for Shields, McBride or Lorenz. Any one of them will cancel your vote for Stan. Normal voters, you don’t have to vote for three.
I echo that Stan is the best candidate and the biggest threat to the status quo. Write-in Karl Sila seems to be nearly identical to Stan on the issues, and Karyn Smith seems to be the only other candidate willing to face economic realities. All three are essentially normal people for Normal people, with no special interest backing.
Right, I voted for Nord, Smith and wrote in Karl Sila. I didn’t vote a single incumbent. I’m hoping for the best.
Reducing debt by refinancing?? Yeah, that works out for the old saving account!! That’s about like trying to make a desert with a bag of sand..
I must have MISSED something, somewhere along the way, as it seems that politicians nowadays seem to want to “out do” each other on the dumb things they do and say and the contest just keeps going..
It’s interesting to see Lorenz and McBride spending more time and copy rationalizing the debt load. We have Marc Tirtilli, Diane, Stan, and few others to thanks for that. The spotlight is on the runaway costs and lack of project containment associated with Upitty Town. The reason the Council and City Hall fear Stan is because he has a different opinion. Koos and his cabal in government and their donor base have historically been left unaccountable and have been able to run the town without any check against their spending or wildly misplaced priorities.
I just heard that a supposed Republican county member member has a Shields sign in his yard. It’s GOP like him that will never allow me to call myself a Republican
No word on what the debt actually is in Kathleen Lorenze’s gloss of city finances. Does she even know?