By: Diane Benjamin
Remember when the Local Sales Tax Rate increased back on 1/1/2016? This is what Bloomington residents were told it was for: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/9197/636130888246430000
PDF Page 2:
This year the City of Bloomington budgeted $7.2 million for streets and sidewalks: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/26008/637508827017530000
The Local Motor Fuel Tax projected revenue this year is $4.1 million. https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/28561/638022024003730000
Bloomington received $13,386,924 in ARPA funds, $9,000,000 was allocated to infrastructure. Water and Sewer were designated for some those funds, the Council was considering allocating $4,000,000 to concrete and asphalt back in May: https://blnnews.com/2022/05/18/bloomington-roads-history-and-the-american-rescue-plan-money/
Bottom Line:
$7.2 million every year isn’t nearly enough to even get close to a fair rating for all roads. See the link above.
Passing a 1% Sales Tax and an .08 Local Motor Fuel Tax should have supplemented your tax money already spent on roads, unfortunately in 2000 it was ZERO. (Also see link above) The actual spending is much closer to ONLY spending the additional taxes raised by increases than supplementing concrete and asphalt with taxes you already paid.
Tax increases OFTEN just give the City more money to spend on other things. They quit spending from the General Fund and use the new money instead.
Think solid waste – it used to be funded only from the General Fund until it wasn’t. Fees this year are expected to generate $8,237,505. Years ago money to collect and dispose of garbage came from the General Fund, now it comes through fees you pay monthly. The General Fund spending didn’t decrease, spending was just diverted.
Your other taxes never go down, they are just provide money for other projects.
The chart below is just interesting. Since Normal and Bloomington don’t want to compete against each other on tax rates, all of these are likely the same there. This chart was published in 2015 when the 1% Sales Tax increase was proposed. It’s hard to keep track, but I don’t think any of these have increased since that Tax passed.
Think about the money local governments are raking in every time you eat out or buy a case a beer. They even make money from the BCPA and Coliseum tickets. The expected Amusement Tax revenue this year is a little over $1,000,000. That money goes in the General Fund for nothing specific. I guess we can say that helps cover the losses at both, most of the revenue doesn’t come from either however.
https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/9198/636130888246430000
We vote the people in office that we think will spend OUR money as it was allocated. Then they reach office and guess what , nothing changes.
Neither Council has a majority who care. That can change next April, of course if only 10-15% bother to vote it won’t.
You need to be willing to Vote OUT those who break their word or otherwise lie or mislead. “The lesser of two evils” is still supporting evil. Sometimes the best choice is a third party or just not voting at all in that particular race – I know that’s my plan for more than one contest next week.
Tax increases are nothing more than a money grab by big government. They lure you into supporting them by issuing false promises on what will be done with the additional revenue and even false promises that they’re only temporary. News flash. Tax increases are never temporary nor are they ever enough. They are endemic of a government that cannot live within its means.
Remember this next week when voting for Unit 5’s referendum. They’d like you to believe that they’ll manage more of your money more wisely and that their funding shortfall is the result of flaws in the state’s distribution to them. In other words, they are wanting me to pay more taxes because the taxes I’m already paying aren’t reaching them. Let that one sink in before November 8.
The power to tax is the power to destroy.
Taxes DO go down, but Only If You Elect Public Servants instead of politicians.
When Normal Library needed to build an expansion (late 90s iirc) they asked for and were granted a ‘temporary’ increase in their property tax rate. Then after it was paid for, they requested A Reduction!
If you want to reward that kind of behavior, vote for Charles Sila for County Treasurer, as he was one of those library board members who kept their word.
I know Bloomington has at least 2 good board members. I know Normal and Unit 5 will have some good options in April. Normal would actually be run responsibly right now if the ‘friends of Chris Koos’ hadn’t outspent ‘the Stan Nord contingent’ by about 10 to 1. If each of the votes we received had been preceded by $25, we could have had spending parity. Sadly, if you want to save on taxes, you need to put some of that money towards supporting the honest candidates.
(Numbers are estimates from memory, so no guarantees they’re super-accurate…)