By: Diane Benjamin
Remember when Bloomington paid cash for a new ambulance and Normal bought the same but financed it? https://blnnews.com/2021/08/02/purchasing-bloomington-vrs-normal/
Normal claimed their savings could earn more money than the interest on the loan, but they forgot to put in the ordinance that equal cash is REQUIRED to remain in savings for the 10 years it was financed. Normal is wasting money on interest so it can be spent on other goodies.
Former Bloomington City Manager David Hales is the guy behind capital leases. Instead of paying cash he created a credit card to finance capital items. If he had contracted fewer consultants he would have had more cash available. Hales is also the guy who did not require transparency from the Coliseum managers, they were allowed to run amuck.
Notice how Hales was never held accountable? He cost taxpayers millions and just moved on.
Bloomington has been trying for a few years to unwind the use of capital leases. Reserves way above what are needed are making that possible.
http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1128&Inline=True
PDF page 28
Jump to PDF page 35.
The Council will be considering vacating an alley. Normal just vacated a road for Rivian. The Bloomington documentation says code requires payment, Normal gave away the road.
This is interesting:
Did Normal publish the required legal notice? Did Normal notify the property owners within any number of feet? (Hint: FOIA pending)
In both Bloomington and Normal the property being vacated is mostly surrounded by the entity receiving the property. Bloomington could receive $9246.00, Normal got zero. The Council will decide whether to waive the fee, not sure why they would when the receiver is gaining value for his properties. There will be a public hearing on the issue.
VERY short agenda tonight. There will be another presentation on City infrastructure. Good thing, people had sewage in their basements AGAIN after the rain yesterday.
Many decades of failure to invest in upgrades have led to the current problems. Too bad pensions aren’t tied to performance, past public employees wouldn’t be getting one.
They get by with substandard results because citizens fail to vote in local elections. You get what you get when you refused to participate.
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The last paragraph cannot be emphasized enough!
So true. Mahatma Gandhi translation from a long time ago…If there is an idiot in power, it means those who elected him are well represented…
Diane, thanks for being pretty much the only one out there attempting to keep our local governments honest and on track.
The year after year slide into mediocre financial management of the sizable part of our income we give them (taxes) adds up. Sadly it always ends up with government asking us to give them more money because SOMEHOW they just don’t have enough of it.
But always after these folks have moved on to a place where they are comfortably unaccountable for what they did to us way back when.