By: Diane Benjamin If you live in Bloomington and haven’t reviewed the proposed budget, now would be a good time: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/32355/639074561303430000 PDF page 21: . Every chart in the budget would be more informative with a ten year history instead of just a comparison with the previous budget. First note: The population isn’t changing. What […]
By: Diane Benjamin A 97 year old lady asked the Council to pass an ethics ordinance. She didn’t mention any specific reason other than it will install TRUST in government. Novel idea! Of course City Code is meaningless, an ethics ordinance would be ignored too. Trust is lost when there are penalties for peons and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4113/files/agenda/12437 From the Consent Agenda: . Bloomington will approve hiring this firm to make the Sign Code make sense. Meanwhile, the first item on the Regular Agenda makes a change to the Sign Code: . The only other item is a first look at the budget. . Historic Total! . Of […]
By: Diane Benjamin The video below was played at Monday’s Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting. It shows what the priorities were in 2025: Downtown. That priority hasn’t changed in decades. The video is a little over 3 minutes long. Downtown got a about half of it. The slide at 3:00 say 28 lane miles […]
By: Diane Benjamin I don’t know the guy who wrote this, but I do know Jeanne Ives – former State representative: . Bloomington staff has complained about this one forever. The Illinois Municipal League has a good explanation of FGDF on their website: https://www.iml.org/file.cfm?key=15419 Bloomington used to receive 10% of all income taxes the State […]
By: Diane Benjamin Matt Burgess, Home Sweet Home Ministries, gave a presentation on how the first month operating The Bridge is going. He gave an honest report that is worth listening to. 4 people have already been kicked out. 2 others left voluntarily. Others had difficulty adjusting to living indoors. Matt has also seen people […]
By: Diane Benjamin WGLT is not allowed to sell advertising. What did The Town of Normal pay WGLT to do? (2025 data isn’t available yet) https://www.openthebooks.com/search-results/details/?n=Wglt-Normal&e=73583&t=c&burl=%2Fsearch-results%2F%3Ft%3Dc%26F_Name_S%3DWGLT%26F_State%3DIllinois%26F_Year%3D0 . Has WGLT applied for State of Illinois money? If you don’t know about the plan Springfield passed to subsidize media, read up on it: https://dceo.illinois.gov/expandrelocate/incentives/taxassistance/new-journalism-tax-incentive-program.html Yes, non-profit media […]
I wrote the story in 2018: https://blnnews.com/2018/07/07/bloomington-is-at-war-thanks-to-tari/ It got a LOT of reads in 2018, but it has been read to varying degrees every year since. A month and a half into 2026 and it already has more reads than it had in 2018. Nothing in that article should be a surprise if you were […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City calls this meeting COW themselves. Since that amuses me, I use it whenever it fits. The Bloomington Committee of the Whole won’t meet until tomorrow night since today is a Federal Holiday. Even though Columbus Day is also a Federal Holiday but they met anyway, some are Federal Holidays are […]
By: Diane Benjamin I write and research stories based on: This story was spurred by a reader. They wanted to know how much water Rivian used since we are in a drought. My first thought was Rivian uses Normal’s water since the plant is in Normal. I decided to ask Bloomington anyway since the reader […]
By: Diane Benjamin City Manager Jeff Jurgens STRONGLY urged residents to conserve even more water. Of course the below isn’t all that happened last night, just what I thought was notable. Last night’s Bloomington City Council meeting was tortuously long. Two items were pulled from the Consent Agenda. Both serve as a lesson in government […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) If you are white, don’t apply for a teaching job at District 87. Superintendent Dr. Mouser’s will openly discriminate against you: ‘”Operationally and organizationally, the district remains stable and progressing forward. We have successfully negotiated three collective bargaining agreements and continue to maintain excellent relationships with all of our bargaining units. […]
By: Diane Benjamin This item is one Monday’s Bloomington City Council agenda: . Bloomington must be desperate for new businesses! Right fit? See that part about payment in full to McLean County? This is a screen shot of Aaron Francis’ record: , See all those *Cs? They are there because the County sent all the […]
By: Diane Benjamin There was a long list of emailed Public Comments, a FOIA would be needed to find out what position they were taking. There was also a long line of in-person and phone Public Comments. A few people spoke about IDOT’s plan to add a sidewalk to the north side of Route 9 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4112/files/agenda/9284 Up to $50,000 for an audit of your sales tax mental health spending? Since the money has been stockpiling instead of being spent, $50,000? Money is meaningless to government because they aren’t spending their own. Why doesn’t this include 2025? . The only item on the regular agenda is: . […]
By: Diane Benjamin One more thing happened at last Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting. City Manager Jeff Jurgens called again for water conservation. If you are letting faucets drip so your pipes don’t freeze, make sure nobody knows. This is part of slide Jurgens showed, the rest is fuzzy: . In 131 years Bloomington […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since some Federal Holidays are more important than others, the Bloomington City Council is delaying the Committee of the Whole meeting until tomorrow night. Remember when they met on Columbus day? https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4125/files/agenda/9240 The Council held a retreat in November to set priorities. Of course there is no video since it wasn’t held […]
By: Diane Benjamin City Manager Jeff Jurgen wants citizens to conserve water because we are still in a drought: Screenshot from the meeting video: . Meanwhile, BNWRD is buying properties because increased precipitation is increasing flooding: https://blnnews.com/2026/01/10/werent-we-told-there-is-a-drought-and-water-needs-conserved/ . Makes perfect sense in Illinois 🤦♀️
By: Diane Benjamin The meeting was short! Nothing was even slightly controversial until comments by aldermen. More on that in a minute. The only agenda item concerned swinging doors downtown hitting pedestrians. This downtown picture is from the slide show presentation: Businesses like Windy City Wieners want more indoor floor space, so they want the […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/32213 Some city employees are still spiking pensions. They rack up leave/sick days, cash out a lump sum at retirement, and use it to substantially boost their pensions. State law changed in 2012 to let IMRF (Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund) bill local governments for those spiked pensions—ones the governments never funded extra […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yes! https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/watch-live-drought-causes-voluntary-water-conservation-in-bloomington/ BNWRD didn’t get the same message which is why they are buying land along Sugar Creek: See the January packet – https://blnnews.com/bnwrd-docs/ PDF page 37: . BNWRD will not be buying the third property now that I wrote about here: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/31/bnwrd-story-6/ The title to the third is still trying to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington has alluded to State cuts before but they have never provided actual numbers (that I remember). Cities across Illinois used to receive 10% of the money the State collected in local income taxes. Lawmakers reduced that to 7% in 2012. This story allows people to see how much that has cost […]
By: Diane Benjamin Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is the opposite of meritocracy. Most people believe success has to be earned, not handed out to fill self-imposed quotas. Judging people on the color of their skin is evil. Most people used to know that. The YWCA doesn’t know that. https://www.ywcamclean.org/education-advocacy/ FREE DEI Education The YWCA does […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last Monday City Manager Jeff Jurgen announced there was plenty of parking downtown – Just hit Play: . Mayor Brady is quoted in this WGLT story stating the opposite: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-12-16/bloomington-considers-downtown-trolley-service-during-parking-crunch Brady wants a trolley service when big events are going on because parking near the places holding events is limited. Which is […]
By: Diane Benjamin The 7-2 vote last Monday to massively raise property taxes made housing even more unaffordable. Numerous people running for office claim they will lower your taxes. Monday’s vote proved that lying is how you win elections. Bloomington aldermen aren’t the only taxing body grabbing for your wallet. Below is Dan Brady’s campaign […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Council voted 7-2 to increase property taxes 13.4% last night. The library increased taxes by almost 2%. After a Who’s on First like re-enactment, discussions took place by the Council both during the Public Hearing and before the vote. 7 members swallowed whatever staff fed them, only Alderman Sheila Montney […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington voted in July to suspend payments to the County for the Behavioral Health Action Plan starting July 1, 2025: Shared Sales Tax suspended Why is this payment listed on Bills and Payroll if payments are suspended? Bills and Payroll 12-15-2025 I’d ask but getting an answer is evidently […]
By: Diane Benjamin Story on Bloomington’s water and contaminates: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/10/bloomington-water-quality-2024-report/ Don’t forget this fact: What is in Normal’s water? https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=IL1130900 . See more details at the EWG website which includes recommended filters to remove these chemicals. Did you notice how many cause cancer but have no legal limit? How much are you paying for water? […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is a link to the 2024 Water Quality report on Bloomington’s website: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/24534/638878274396400000 It shows no violations for contaminants detected. This is a more comprehensive report from 2024 on Bloomington’s water quality. It was published by Environmental Working Group (EWG) in Washington DC. https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=IL1130200 That reports also shows no direct violations, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Everything passed last night. The Convenience Center will be closing. City Manager Jurgens stated it could be relocated but getting permits might be a problem. Hum, who issues permits for City owned property? Are residents dropping off hazardous waste? The CCC has to relocate because of the detention pond they are building […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City finally perfected picking up bulk waste twice a year, so staff needs it changed. Instead of preventing local contractors and landlords from dumping bulk waste at the convenience center, the City wants to close it. That means going back to picking up bulk every two weeks instead of twice a […]
By: Diane Benjamin This can easily turn authoritarian since Bloomington has their own Administrative Court. Of course aldermen who break City code aren’t dragged into court, just you peons. You are expected to forget Bloomington practices selective prosecution: https://blnnews.com/2025/03/25/cody-hendricks-chief-cheater/ Staff is going to drive around town looking for violators? Can anyone think of a better […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is the playbook the far left uses to win elections. Show up everywhere, act like you are everybody’s best friend, pretend being elected isn’t about obtaining power, and saying whatever you have to for votes. See Abby Scott: https://blnnews.com/2025/11/25/bloomington-%f0%9f%a4%a6%e2%99%80%ef%b8%8f/ Of course Abby and her husband Corey Beirne are friends of Krystle’s. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since October numbers weren’t available when I did this story: https://blnnews.com/2025/11/24/before-bloomington-raises-property-taxes-ask-them-to-explain-this/ Let’s look at them! In that story, for 5 months, Bloomington had already collected $2,434,698 more than in 2024. Half way through the fiscal year, they are already over $3 million more. . Your property taxes and grocery tax HAD to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Next May Bloomington water bills go up to make the trifecta of 100% increase in 3 years complete. All other fees go up 3% every year without a vote. Your property tax bills, courtesy of the City and Library, are also going up. There was an election in April of 2025. Cody […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Library didn’t get the memo. A $200,000 house last year isn’t assessed at $200,000 this years. They expect you to believe your library tax is going down: . The City of Bloomington was smart enough not to pull that scam: https://blnnews.com/2025/11/22/bloomington-flunked-the-transparency-test/ The City claims that $200,000 house last year is […]
By: Diane Benjamin If corporations kept 2 sets of books, the leaders would be in jail. Bloomington is doing that: https://blnnews.com/2025/11/22/bloomington-flunked-the-transparency-test/ Did you know Bloomington is only paying interest in the Coliseum bonds? If it ever gets paid off the real cost will likely be close to twice what the original cost was. 1 year […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember this post with REAL profit from a show at the BCPA? The show was Adam Wainwright. The event report originally displayed was posted by mistake. That event report actually showed how much he got paid to appear and therefore the TRUE profit. Now go to this page to see the “revised” […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://illinoiscomptroller.gov Data Bloomington submitted I’m using Bloomington’s numbers they sent to the Controller’s office: Population: 2023: 78,864 2024: 78,587 2025: 78,680 Number of Employees 2023: Full time: 665 Part time: 542 2024: Fill time: 687 Part time: 569 2025: Full time: 678 Part time: 1,111 Salary Paid to All Employees: 2023: $58,611,055 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Instead of a Committee of the Whole meeting, the Bloomington City Council is holding a retreat tonight: Agenda: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4096/files/agenda/8026 Since it is being held at the library, no video will be produced. . If citizens want to know what is being planned they have to attend. See the agenda for details.
