By: Diane Benjamin

Last night’s meeting will take at least one more story. I don’t know when I will get to another story, so stay tuned.

Bloomington voted unanimously to suspend payment of the 0.25% sales tax to the county for at least one year, intended for mental health services—primarily because the county holds more than $20 million in reserves.

Mollie Ward went on a diatribe praising the now Democrat led County Board and vilifying the past Republican leadership for temporarily suspended how mental health dollars were spent. The suspension was to reorganize since the old system was not getting money where it needed to go. Details, details.

Mollie went on to claim The Bridge cabins in downtown Bloomington could have been built a year earlier even though Home Sweet Home didn’t own the property until June of 2025. HSH didn’t have the money to build it until recently and are still trying to raise more money. More details Ward left out.

Mollie did manage to put the City of Bloomington in the mental health business by adding an amendment that requires the City to spend the money not sent to the County on some unknown mental health treatment initiatives. She put the City in competition with the County for who can throw the most money at a problem government has been spending local tax dollars on for almost 10 years. Mental health issues have only become worse since government decided to fix it.

This money amounts to around $300,000 a month. I wonder what non-governmental unit (NGO) Mollie will suggest funding. That is a lot of money. Who does Mollie think is qualified at the City to bring forth qualified organizations? Her?

Bleeding heart ideology isn’t governing. It led Mollie to convey half truths (at best) to disparage anyone who prefers common sense to her insanity. Changing the language means Bloomington didn’t pass the same thing Normal passed. Does that void the whole thing unless it goes back to Normal who already voted against what Mollie managed to add?

Expect the grocery tax to return. This money could have helped transition the City away from it. Bloomington hasn’t come up with a way to replace that lost money – around $3 million.

Just hit play to hear Mollie read her speech, then jump to 1:37:00 to hear a question by Sheila Montney and the answer by City Manager Jeff Jurgens. The City has a long list of projects needing money. Just the usual for Illinois where government believes they create prosperity instead of destroy it through taxes.