By: Diane Benjamin
http://normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/17188/CAFR20-FINAL-DOC
The best information is often in the disclosures added after the financial stuff that is purposely difficult for average citizens to understand.
Look at PDF pages 219 and 220. Normal could have printed these in landscape mode, like they did on other pages, but that would make it too easy to read.
Look at street miles. In 2011 Normal had 213, now they only have 189? In 2011 they had 3405 streetlights, but now they have 3030? What happened to 24 miles of roads and 375 stoplights? Maybe they got tired of fixing the roads so they gave them to another unit of government?
It gets better:
In 2011 the Town had 301 vehicles, in 2020 they have 335 with fewer miles of roads. Logical, right?
Even better:
Maximum Available Daily Supply (Gallons)
In 2011 they could supply 11,500,000 gallons of water a day. In 2020 it’s down to 10,900,000 gallons.
Think back to the $250,000 study the Town just told citizens to pay for. Rivian is currently using Bloomington water because Normal can’t meet demands. The “professional staff” wants to run lines out west college anyway. Next you will be asked to fund a new water supply!
Now go to PDF pages 217-218:
I summarized parts for you:
Next got to pages 215-216:
Total employees in 2011: 355
Total employees in 2020: 377
Fewer miles of streets, less arrests, less garbage collected, less use of “cultural and recreation” – but 22 more employees?
Koos for 4 more years?
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Imagine what the numbers are for after 3/31/2020?
Now a free market business would be cutting things/people with these numbers, let alone the numbers after 3/31/2020.
Where are the cost saving cuts Mayor Koos?
Notmal’s budget and salaries have continued to increase too. Pam and Koos do not work for the taxpayers. They work to better themselves and their selfish agenda.
Diane, it would be interesting to know how many Normal town employees don’t even live in Normal. I bet many despise the fleecing of taxpayers that they moved out of Normal to escape the fleece. Can’t blame the staff for working there, they need to put food on their table. The Mayor, Council, Manager and director level staff make up the SWAMP in Normal.
I know many police and Fire
Moved to Hudson
Wow! Great finds for sure, Diane. The biggest takeaway is the size of government and spending on “full service” amenities has grown substantially since 2011, while the level of participation ergo interest-level among the citizenry has declined. Essentially, the marketplace has said they don’t want what the Town is offering/selling. The attendance for swimming, museum, theater, and golf has declined by 20%, 16.5%, 24.5%, and 11.8%, respectively. Expenses should have declined in line with the drop in revenue. Yet, Koos and Reece continue to think that the Town government and their “professional staff” know what you want. If a private sector company ran a portfolio of companies with this level of performance, they’d have been out of a job a long time ago.
April!
When the Radical Progressive Marxist Agitators arrive in Normal from other states, they have to be paid in order to live. So, the town of Normal adds them to the payroll, gives them an outrageous amount of money, gives them a Deputy, Associate, or Assistant title in a department. They don’t even have to actually work at anything of consequence, but they can buy a house, a car, etc. It happens in Bloomington too.