By: Diane Benjamin Jeff Jurgens needs to take his show on the road. The City of Bloomington has BOUGHT the Springfield law firm now, so any opinions he offers are obviously going to be the answer the City wants to hear. Keep in mind the City sends Sorling Northup Hanna around $60,000 every month. A […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight’s Bloomington Council packet contains this statement on PDF page 4: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12802 Now jump to the Bills and Payroll for tonight: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12794 PDF page 107 The City if THROWING away money by allowing employees to spike their pensions! This payment of $64,859.95 brings the total to $1,877,252.40 since the law was changed in […]
By: Diane Benjamin This isn’t the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last for the City of Bloomington employees to not care about the law. Lavish salary and benefits frequently make people think they aren’t answerable to the people who make both happen. Bloomington employees feel entitled to secrecy and therefore do […]
By: Diane Benjamin The real story of Bloomington is it is in a steep decline. We felt it, Moody’s confirmed months ago that Bloomington-Normal is in a recession. Here’s more proof: http://247wallst.com/special-report/2016/09/22/cities-with-the-fastest-growing-and-shrinking-economies-2/7/ Bloomington was named the NUMBER ONE city in the country with a shrinking economy! Note: this is 2015 – 2016 was worse! Also […]
By: Diane Benjamin If anybody still reads the Pantagraph, they have what looks more like a hit piece against the City of Bloomington than reporting: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/trespass-some-lake-residents-may-lose-their-boat-docks/article_3263bf43-a08b-5c85-90d3-5314b7417024.html Some of the people making comments on the Pantagraph site are clueless! Homeowners on Lake Bloomington are leasing the land – Bloomington owns it. They are paying property taxes […]
By: Diane Benjamin The number of riders in Champaign-Urbana has been declining since 2012 – see PDF page 17 https://www.cumtd.com/about-us/getfile/?fileid=7773 Below is the March snapshot – note they have MANY more riders than Bloomington-Normal, but note who they are: Taxpayers pay for the University of Illinois, then U of I gives some of that […]
By: Diane Benjamin I sent this FOIA request to the City of Bloomington on March 27th: I am requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information Act: The following documents have disappeared from the website. They consist of Agendas and Packets: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11528 10/24/16 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11527 10/24/16 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11529 10/24/16 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11530 10/24/16 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11477 10/17/16 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11476 10/17/16 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11443 […]
By: Diane Benjamin A few notes that never made the news: Those 4 parking lots the City purchased from Frontier so the BCPA has more parking: What was the cost? To find out you have to dig deep in the packet – the cost isn’t on the agenda: Page 530 of the packet: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12738 The […]
Writing articles at night is never a good idea for me – I’m a morning person! Spending so much time at the Peoria hospital makes writing difficult though. Hubby continues to improve slowly! I need to correct a few things in this post. Riders for March were 220,804 up for the first time I remember […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jim Fruin proved economics is way beyond his abilities last night. In his farewell statement Jim said he plans to attend Council meetings, but only sit by positive people. Some people are positive Bloomington needs to keep making ‘progress’. Others are positive we are witnessing the destruction of the jewel Bloomington used […]
Today’s medical update: The doctors are amazed at my husband’s progress the last 48 hours. He is wide awake, off the ventilator and only on Tylenol for pain. He knows who we are and is trying to talk – even though he isn’t suppose to yet. Three days ago the medical staff wasn’t sure he […]
By: Diane Benjamin First a medical update: Prayer does work! My husband has had people all over the globe praying for his recovery. Today he woke up, opened his eyes and responded to our voices and commands from the medical staff. He had a brain aneurysm that burst on Good Friday. The ICU neurology staff […]
By: Diane Benjamin Go ahead and pretend you have a mandate. 4644 people voted AGAINST Tari Renner Jamie Mathy only won by 319 votes, more than that voted against him. Close to half the people in Ward 3 voted AGAINST Mboka Mwilambwe Joni Painter only won by 97 votes The guy ineligible to serve from […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night the Bloomington City Council approved this: In case you forgot, the Council approved this payment at the March 27th meeting – PDF Page 253 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12448 The documentation for this meeting states the YWCA needs to money to continue operations until the end of their fiscal year. They are transporting people […]
By: Diane Benjamin I will be on Cities 92.9 today at 3:30 with Ben Yount to discuss the future of BlnNews. Now for last night’s Bloomington City Council meeting: Bring in the CLOWNS! Oops, they were already there! Starting at 1:05, and ending 45 minutes later, the Council droned on about spending $300,000 at The […]
By: Diane Benjamin All the City of Bloomington had to do to prevent paying the penalties below was change when accumulated sick and vacation got paid to employees. David Hales, Steve Stockton, and Tari Renner refused to change their policies, so the below was paid as a penalty. These employees were allowed to spike their […]
By: Diane Benjamin The ballot will say Sue Feldkamp or Jamie Mathy for Bloomington’s Ward 1. Mathy owns two businesses downtown, but I’ve heard he claims Bloomington’s attorney Jeff Jurgens doesn’t see a problem with him voting on downtown issues. I bet the taxpayers will have a problem with him voting to enrich himself! Conflict […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this story from yesterday: Why City Councils Don’t Listen After writing more than 4000 stories, I had forgotten I wrote about the Julie Crowe case when she won the lawsuit: Julie Crowe Defeats the City of Bloomington That story contains a link to the original Council vote denying her the Vehicle-For-Hire […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight Bloomington is holding a public hearing on the budget for the year that starts May 1st. All you need to know is Bloomington is planning on hiring 4 more employees which will make the pension liability even higher and, to balance the budget, they are robbing the Enterprise Funds: I guess […]
By: Diane Benjamin Connect Transit is the biggest FRAUD ever perpetrated on the citizens forced to pay their bills! Before I show you the offensive February financial statements, see these notes included in the packet: http://www.connect-transit.com/documents/March%2021,%202017%20Regular%20Board%20Meeting%20Binder1.pdf See PDF page 17 of the link above. The General Manager can spend up to $50,000 without Board approval. […]
By: Diane Benjamin On the agenda for Monday night: Packet PDF page 124 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12448 The City is planning to donate a van to the YWCA – value is between $3,414 -$5,115 What State statute gives the City the right to give away a taxpayer owned asset to a non-profit? Aren’t they discriminating against every other […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois Open Meetings Act Law: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=84&ChapterID=2 Monday night the Bloomington City Council is approving minutes dated between 1998 and 2009. http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12450 Not approving minutes as required by law isn’t just something the City did a long time ago. Here is another example from April 11, 2016: September 21, 2015 just happens to […]
By: Diane Benjamin From the Packet: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12448 The minutes from the last Council meeting are up for approval. This statement is included. I hope it’s just worded poorly because an investigation happening is the ONLY public information. The minutes from the Budget Workshop are also up for approval. Remember, the meeting was held at the […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Monday’s Bills and Payroll: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12446 Employees are still allowed to SPIKE their pensions by getting paid for accumulated sick and vacation days. TWO courts have recently ruled that employers do not have to allow this, of course the rules haven’t been changed. It just cost you another $32,106.66. The City is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Cities 92.9 held a debate last night between mayoral candidates Kevin Lower and Tari Renner. Listen to it HERE The picture below is the back side of a mailer sent by Tari Renner. I’ve been holding it for a couple of days because I knew he would use these talking points during […]
By: Diane Benjamin Everything is scripted in the City of Bloomington to make sure citizens only know what the City wants them to know. Unlike Tari Renner’s claims of transparency, very little exists. Try filing a FOIA request and see how long it takes, what is denied, and how much is redacted. It has gotten […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader asked me yesterday what the debt for the City of Bloomington looks like since Tari Renner became mayor. Another reader did the research for me. Below are two tables he sent to me: Source: PDF page 36 http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=12330 . Source: PDF page 33 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=7479 The biggest difference between the two […]
By: Diane Benjamin The below is from last years financial statements. It is reflected on two pages (197 and 198) making it impossible to read, so I retyped the info. Original link: http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=12330 The financial statements were from 4/30/2016, so the 2016 data won’t be available for a LONG time. Traffic at the library is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Local CPA Carl Woodward injects himself occasionally in local government when he sees something everyone is missing. You should know he supported and funded Tari Renner 4 years ago, he no longer supports him. (I tried to talk sense to him, he didn’t listen) Within the past week or two he has […]
By: Diane Benjamin Obviously nothing happened at the Bloomington City Council meeting last night to change the pension spiking policies that have cost taxpayer’s millions. Policies can’t be changed close to an election, so the gravy train for government employees continues. According to the nearly year old financial statements that were just released, employees can […]
By: Diane Benjamin I filed yet another Request for Review with the Attorney General’s office asking them to investigated the Executive Session where the Council decided to disband Metro Zone. The conversations should have taken place in public, not behind closed doors. The City claimed “Probably Litigation” as the excuse for holding a secret meeting […]
By: Diane Benjamin CLEAN audits mean nothing! Dixon Illinois got taken for $50,000,000 with CLEAN audits. Forensic Audits find fraud, regular yearly audits only mean the numbers are in the right columns. Thanks Pantagraph for printing what you were told. Why were the Bloomington financial statements released REALLY late? Tonight the Council will hear information […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal spent $100,000,000+ on Uptown and they aren’t done spending money. See this story: http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/illinois/small-town-downtowns-il/ 9 Small Towns In Illinois Where Downtown Is The Place To Be Normal isn’t on the list and it isn’t a downtown destination, unless you like the taxpayer-funded free events. These 9 cities used existing buildings. Quaint […]
By: Diane Benjamin Thanks to Steve Vogel who today mentioned in his weekly column that Bloomington is in a recession. Moody’s Analytics reported that in January (and so did I), but the media has been ignoring it. Anyone who attended the Bloomington “Budget Workshop” today would have seen Bloomington is also ignoring that fact. If […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington finally released the financial statements for April 30, 2016. The TIF report still hasn’t been released and neither has a separate audited statement on the Coliseum. Maybe another year? Two? At this point, what difference does it make? It’s much easier to read the information from the Comptroller’s site. Total Full […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner’s claims to now be protecting the taxpayers of Bloomington in the Metro Zone flap are a joke. Why? Besides the fact that 5 Aldermen put Metro Zone on the agenda, not Renner – what happened to the letters Tari received at Rosie’s from citizens about their health insurance costs? We […]
By: Diane Benjamin Coliseum Quarterly reports are now on-line: http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-526 Last years reports for the year ended 4/30/2016 are still a secret. VenuWorks has been managing the Coliseum for all three of the quarters listed at the link above. 1st quarter revenue: $770,839.87 2nd quarter revenue: $275,590.46 3rd quarter revenue: $677,924.52 Don’t get excited – […]
By: Diane Benjamin I get delicious free water from a well. You folks in town have to pay for it. I bet you think your government priced that water according to what it cost them to bring it to your house. You might even be okay if they added a little to the price to […]
Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll for Monday night: For almost 4 years Tari Renner spouts “There are no free lunches”. Unless your name is Tari Renner: Page 107 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12212 I’m sure these were strictly business, especially the ones with nobody listed but Tari! Was the public invited and I missed it? My personal favorite: PCard […]
By: Diane Benjamin The budget Tari Renner inherited when he became mayor was $167 million. (2014) Page 3 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=5104 2015 budget was $180.4 million Page 3 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=7075 This took 13.4 million out of the local economy 2016 budget was 186.3 million Page 15 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=9210 This took another 6.3 out of the local economy for a […]
