By: Diane Benjamin
2 things from last night’s Bloomington Committee of the Whole meeting prove government doesn’t operate with the same mentality as the private sector:
1)
.
Donna Boelen resigned on December 23rd and was replaced last Monday by Michael Mosley. It must be too difficult to update slides used at Council meetings. (See 18:32)
2)
The City is holding a Housing Resource Fair on March 19th. That is a Wednesday. Lots a representatives will be present to provide information on many aspects of housing. The people that won’t be present are the ones needing that information. They are likely working. See the list of vendors at 36:28 on the video.
Other meeting note:
If you know a veteran struggling with home repairs, paying property taxes, etc watch the Public Comment by Art Rodriquez at 19:21. Money is available to help them!
The Director of Community Impact & Enhancement, Melissa Hon, got lured away from Bloomington by former City Manager Tim Gleason – Decatur. Evidently Decatur and Bloomington will keep exchanging employees. Gleason stole some of theirs when he was City Manager here.
Hon gave a final presentation last night on proposed housing initiatives. See 26:50. I found it interesting who qualifies for assistance. AMI is Area Medium Income. The first number is for single, the second is family:
Of course neither number is close to minimum wage. If a family of four can’t pay their own bills on $115,500 either the cost of living in Bloomington is way too high or conservative family budgeting is fiction.
The City has plans for a Community Impact Week. See 33:08. Volunteers will be doing minor repairs and maintenance for select homeowners.
Melissa Hon used a 2023 number from some acronym group that reported 929 abandoned properties in Bloomington. I never heard anyone say those are HOUSES. There are many empty buildings, see downtown. Molly Ward demanded details. She even called herself crabby. She was last night.
The budget preview slides start at 1:07:33. The TOTAL budge is $21 million less than last year. Projects are being delayed. The capital projects spending started exploding in 2020 and more than doubled by this year’s budget. They decrease some in the new budget. See 1:09:53.
Breeze through the slides. Revenues are down in some key line items. More proof of government inefficiency is the Replacement Tax distributed by the State to local governments. They way overpaid that amount a few years ago and have now decreased payments to claw back their error.
See 1:16:33. $18 million will be borrowed to remove lead pipes.
The whole budget presentation was meant to give an overview. Details will be more clear at coming meetings where everything isn’t in 1 presentation. The City is trimming Full Time Equivalent staff. Molly Ward claimed work in her Ward is already suffering. Sound familiar?