By: Diane Benjamin

What causes deficits? What causes “structural deficits”? Duh! Spending more money than you take in.

Bloomington has a spending problem!

Every budget includes spending every penny they expect to receive in taxes. That allows them to “cry” when they don’t receive what they feel entitled to. (Just like you right?) Every budget contains spending that was never discussed during the budget process – like turning downtown Bloomington in the entertainment destination of Central Illinois. The Coliseum and the BCPA have been sucking the life out of budgets for decades. The “Downtown of Everyone” streetscape is billed as mostly an infrastructure project. A part of it is yet another attempt to force you downtown.

I know the City receives email newsletters from ICMA. Yesterday’s contained this story: https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/local/207/colby-college-david-greene-downtown-waterville/97-91d2af33-61ba-4c88-89ca-bd4923a628f0

A private college that sounds a lot like IWU led downtown revitalization efforts in a Maine town. They actually succeeded.

Excerpts:

Colby kickstarted its plan to transform the downtown in 2014. Unlike many urban revitalization projects, this one has succeeded.

Greene’s hope, though, is that Colby has shown that nonprofit institutions can really make a difference in lifting up economically challenged areas of the state outside of Portland and affluent coastal towns.

Colby College used THEIR money, they didn’t drain taxpayers.

Using their own money led to better research and therefore better decisions. How many decades is Bloomington allowed to fail before a Council is elected to stop pretending a mere $100 million more will create prosperity?

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The meeting video below is cued to 2 public comments you need to see. The first one is Gary Lambert, the second is Misty Metroz. (Sorry if the name is misspelled Misty). She said what you are all thinking about the 1% Grocery tax. Great job Misty.

Gary revealed East Oakland has a stretch of homes without access to City sewers. This is not the area at the east end of Oakland in the news of late that should be receiving a grant to fund connecting to City services. Gary also suggested the Washington bike lane be renamed: Deposit yard waste here.

The grocery tax discussion was very long. It starts at 47:00. It went on for close to an hour. The 1% tax finally passed with only 3 aldermen voting no: Montney, Danenberger, and Ward.

The rest of the Council fell for the needs of the City are more important than yours. This is not a new tax, it merely continues the tax the State won’t be collecting for them. The City had the opportunity to offer a little tax relief and failed because of the other 6 council members.

The estimated $3 million the City thinks this tax will generate, they aren’t sure, won’t fund the huge plans they have. It will cover the smaller spending you will never hear about. The Council could restore some trust by reducing how much the City Manager can spend without Council approval. $50,000 is a ridiculous amount!

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The expansion of video gaming licenses also passed. Montney and Ward were the only votes against. See Sheila’s comments at 1:50:30. She stated that in the last 5 years gambling losses amounted to $121,343,000 locally. She also stated 30% of the tax goes to the State of Illinois, only 5% stays locally. More money leaves the community through gaming than stays. No one knows if more gaming locations will redistribute the amount already spent or increase it. Montney did call for financial audits of every location. The last time the City did those some licenses holders surrendered theirs instead agreeing to the audit.

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Downtown businesses affected by construction will be getting tax rebates. If downtown turns into a glorious success, and therefore their businesses, will taxpayers be reimbursed for their investment?

Duh, no.