By: Diane Benjamin
The Town used the same tax scam recapped in the previous story: https://blnnews.com/2025/11/20/property-tax-scams/
WGLT gladly played along: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-11-18/normal-town-council-discusses-2025-tax-levy-during-sometimes-tense-meeting
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That $280,000 home isn’t $280,000 now. Your Town of Normal property tax bill will increase MORE than $48. It would have been nice if Trustee Preston had mentioned that, he didn’t.
Worse, they played this scam:
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The effect is leaving the $500,000 in the General Fund to spend elsewhere! It does nothing but rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. Everyone fell for this scam or expected YOU to fall for the scam?
The actual purpose of this story is this item:
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This is the same fitness project the Council passed in 2022 and never built. The documentation doesn’t mention that: PDF page 74 https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/5433
2022 story: https://blnnews.com/2022/01/23/more-info-and-summary-of-the-national-fitness-champaign-scam/
Another 2022 story: https://blnnews.com/2022/03/20/normal-is-damery-still-employed/
What is different now?
Doug Damery isn’t on the Board of the Illinois Parks and Recreation Association who made money off municipalities who bought the equipment.
The “grant” from National Fitness that was $25,000 is now $60,000.
The cost which was $180,000 is now $285,000 – 58% increase.
Cost after “grant” in 2022: $155,000
Cost after “grant” in 2025: $225,000
45% increase – way above the inflation rate.
Town Code requires competitive bidding. That didn’t happen in 2022 or 2025.
In 2022 National Fitness took back the “grant” which killed the project the Council passed. There was WAY too much controversy around them to continue.
In 2022 the Town had a sponsor, I remember it being BroMenn. In 2025 Damery hasn’t gotten around to asking anyone. Asking about sponsors was the only time the 2022 vote was mentioned.
Did you know the playground equipment at Rosa Park will be removed for this? Damery called it a “park refresh”.
I watched that part of the meeting with no sound. You can too, just hit play. Lorenz was the only NO vote. She never mentioned the 2022 vote, just future maintenance costs and liability.
Here ya go: https://www.nationalfitnesscampaign.com/fitness-court
The fitness court is a slab of concrete with blocks and a few pieces of fixed exercise equipment. Nothing new, just another plan to rip off the tax payer and pad the pockets of scumbag friends of government. Outside of the location, slab of concrete, I could easily custom build the exercise equipment for under $10,000.00 and have some change left over. Not to mention the fact that in central Illinois, in rain and snow, cold weather, people are not going to use it.
We need to halt these narrow‑use ventures until our leaders rediscover fiscal discipline and stop treating taxpayer dollars like their personal piggy bank.
Obviously the citizens of Normal love this stuff, the same people get elected over and over. Last April nobody but Town approved candidates bothered to run.
Another hard surface, concrete no less for fitness. Not necessary. Give me good old grass and dirt. Much safer if I fall. Whole lot cheaper. Dumb. The council is just so dumb. There’s gotta be scammers and kickbacks involved.