By: Diane Benjamin

Committee of the Whole was switched to special meeting because one item needs a vote:

Remember when BNWRD tried to buy 3 properties and one showed it was owned by the City of Bloomington and not the guy BNWRD thought they were buying it from? https://blnnews.com/2025/12/31/bnwrd-story-6/

Tonight: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4376/files/attachment/8566

Bloomington is Quit Claiming the deed to BNWRD.

We don’t know if Carl Thomas ever got paid by BNWRD for this property he thought he owned. I could research that but won’t. Thomas was not paying property taxes on 21-05-154-020 since it was listed as exempt because Bloomington owned it.

We also don’t know why the assessed value of one of the three properties was miles off. Everyone else pays more when the assessor is so far off.

The title problem would have been discovered by BNWRD and the City eventually. You would have never known it however since errors are never advertised. I just pointed it out before they found out.

We will never know how many other properties aren’t properly assessed however. Property owners only protest assessed values that are too high, nobody says I’m not charged enough!

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Also on the agenda is hearing from the department heads about budgeted spending on capital projects. The total budget is far higher than can be justified because of these capital projects. If every budget for decades had included only needs instead of progressive wants, huge capital projects wouldn’t be on tonight’s agenda.

I could say “vote better,” but most city voters don’t bother—which is why the budget is what it is. Progressivism requires uninformed citizens. Those who know the agenda have moved out.

Entire agenda: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4376/files/agenda/12494