By: Diane Benjamin
Unlike Bloomington, that now has a financial report to the Council every month, Normal issues a report once a year in September. They call it a Financial Trends Report. Do citizens have to wait until September to find out just how bad Revenue is now?
The turndown isn’t stopping them from spending money, just issuing spending reports. See Monday’s agenda: http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3604
A report of bills being paid is not included in the packet. I’m sure Pam Reece will explain that Monday.
Public Comment has changed:
Over $3 million in infrastructure projects for resurfacing, water main replacement, and sidewalks are on the agenda. So is a report by Patrick Hoban from the EDC on COVID-19 and the Economic Impact. His report will likely be on the County impact, Normal should be giving one on Normal. That isn’t on the agenda.
This is also on the agenda:
The Council had previously approved $350,000, the total cost is supposed to be reimbursed from the Foundation. The museum is closed with no date to reopen.
What you probably don’t know about the Children’s Discovery Museum:
Town budget: http://normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/16444/2020-2025
PDF page 68 Total Budgeted Revenue: $1,052,870
PDF page 127 Total budgeted Expenses: $1,536,605
Budgeted Loss: $483,735
Did you know your government built it to lose money? These numbers don’t include the interest on the bonds or construction costs.
See PDF page 357:
How many “full-service” programs can taxpayers afford?
Evidently whatever Normal tells you to afford.
We all know that with the students gone the amount of money being dumped into Normal by them has dropped to near zero.
Will any of them realize that higher education and ISU will never be the same now?
Or will they continue to pretend that the world is not changing and students will forever continue to arrive by the thousands, to spend money in Normal and in the Uptown movie set?
I am betting that it will be “illusions as usual” from the leadership that lacks the vision, knowledge and IQ to see what is coming. Only when it is too late will they finally admit they have created a massive problem that can’t be fixed.
Koos and Co will probably give ISU more local taxpayer money because they lost revenue with the students gone. I enjoy ISU but they have received record endowments and a lot of state funding. They should use some of that money instead of keep reaching into the pockets of locals.