By: Diane Benjamin Democrats have only been in complete control of the state for a short time. Already they have passed a $15 minimum wage which make Illinois even less competitive with all of the surrounding states. Other things being seriously considered: Removing all regulations including parental notification on abortion Allowing abortion up to birth […]
By: Diane Benjamin HB 0875 is working its way through the Illinois House. SB 0170 is working its way through the Senate. Both bills want the Treasurer is create a Financially Distressed Cities Fund. Both bills ignore Illinois can’t pay its bills. Both also ignore why cities are financially distressed. The biggest driver is pensions that can […]
By: Diane Benjamin As of 3/31/18 Normal had total debt of $89,823,286. $88,125,000 won’t be paid off until 2041. Interest rates range from 2.00% to 6.30%. Source As of 4/30/18 Bloomington had total debt of $242,010,034. $57,095,000 won’t be paid off until 2035. The interest rates aren’t listed. $173,646,119 is liabilities for pensions and associated […]
By: Diane Benjamin Open the Books has a new interactive map showing the salaries of government employees across the country. I highlighted Bloomington Normal. When you click on the link below you will see 4 “balloons” over BlONO. Make sure you click on all 4, the data is different on each. Want to know why […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and payroll for Bloomington Monday night: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=20474 I wonder who taxpayers will be handing gift cards to: Green Top’s taxpayer 3 month subsidy: Celebrate! Four more employees spiked their already high unaffordable pensions so they get an even more unaffordable retirement at your expense: Agenda: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=20488 Likely without discussion […]
By: Diane Benjamin Pepsi hasn’t paid for naming rights at the Ice Center for years. That doesn’t keep Bloomington from still giving them free advertising: PDF page 196 of the annual financial statements: http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=20281 “Pepsi” is also on PDF pages 32 and 33. Grossinger Motors does pay for naming rights of the former US […]
The Bloomington City Council meetings never start on time now that the time has been changed to 6:00 pm. The members that did show up are happily chatting away after 6:00: Last night Amelia Buragas, Scott Black, and Diana Hauman were no shows. Of course no explanation to the Wards they failed to represent. Kimberly […]
By: Diane Benjamin PDF page 336 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=20206 Sick Leave Buy Back and the resulting pension spiking is finally being addressed (years late) Monday night. The law changed in 2012 to allow IMRF to penalize municipalities who practice pension spiking. Without doing another FOIA to IMRF, I believe the penalties Bloomington has paid are nearing $2,000,000. […]
Information only. I’m posting this because I know two of the speakers, they are the good guys in Illinois! Speakers at this meeting will include Rep. Brad Halbrook of Shelbyville, Jim Marter, and Paul Preston, founder of New California. (New California is NOT the 3-way state split referendum that you may have heard about on […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/years-after-debt-free-milestone-normal-stands-by-uptown-spending/article_3fc56076-8d9b-5367-9899-4af94445ed20.html#tracking-source=home-top-story The Pantagraph ran this cute story about Normal on Tuesday. Quote from the article: Question: Does Normal not know how much debt they are in, or is the Pantagraph making up numbers? Town of Normal – Comptroller This is the debt reported as of March 31, 2018 to the Illinois Comptroller’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin He’s running again! At least on the WGLT website they noted RC is also the General Manager of the local National Public Radio station. http://www.wglt.org/post/mcbride-seeks-re-election-town-council So RC gets paid with taxpayer dollars and then he spends tax dollars serving on the Normal Town Council. He gets to MAKE news as a Trustee and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal is pretending pensions can only be funded with property taxes. They choose to fund them with property taxes and have increased property taxes 11 years in a year to fund them. The goal is to get to 90% funded by 2040. Will they achieve that goal? Not a chance! 2018 numbers […]
In January of 1776 Thomas Paine published a pamphlet titled “Common Sense.” In it, Paine advocated for the cause of what later that year became the American Revolution. Originally, Paine published “Common Sense” anonymously. And so it is that I come to my fellow residents of Normal as a concerned citizen and taxpayer with a […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3047 The financial statements for the year ended 3/31/2018 are being released tonight. Six month old data isn’t ideal and would never be tolerated in the private sector, but at least Normal didn’t hold the information the way Bloomington did last year. Since Bloomington’s year-end was April 30th, their financial statements should […]
By: Diane Benjamin Spiking pensions in Bloomington has cost taxpayers over $2,000,000 since 2012. Spiking a pension means collecting more in retirement than employees are entitled to. Your government “gifts” them more retirement at taxpayer expense. The IMRF retirement system started charging for spiking when they realized the pension funds would not remain viable if […]
By: Diane Benjamin If the new City Manager is able to sell his house in Decatur, maybe he can take David Hales’s house off his hands. It is still for sale, reduced AGAIN to $245,000. It started at $279,900 last November. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5-Conway-Cir-Bloomington-IL-61704/76972678_zpid/?fullpage=true Tari’s favorite non-profit, Illinois Policy Institute, wrote about Bloomington’s new City Manager, it’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll for 6/11/2018 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=18004 More Pension Spiking! 1200 hours of paid time @ $44.85 per hour. The second one doesn’t list the hours. More vote-buying with your money. They call it Community Relations to sound nice. Is Code Enforcement being outsourced now? Anybody want to FOIA? Huge Petty Cash at the BCPA has […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.ides.illinois.gov/LMI/Local%20Area%20Unemployment%20Statistics%20LAUS/PressRelease/Local/Blm-Peoria_Apr.pdf Compared to April of 2017, April of 2018 saw 600 fewer jobs in Bloomington-Normal: Decatur gained 200 The State Farm bloodbath is just beginning, but here’s worse news: 200 more bureaucrats are employed? That’s bad news for your wallet and the future of Bloomington-Normal. 200 more people dreaming up how to […]
By: Diane Benjamin “One of the best-funded pension plans in the country is the nearly 90 percent funded Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, which has long had the ability to enforce payments into the plan.” IMRF funding isn’t a problem. That’s why pension spiking penalties were enacted, the fund couldn’t afford to pay pensions for employees […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner was on WJBC this morning with Scott Laughlin. Scott asked Tari about pension funding. Tari had to mention the pension funding award he accepted several years ago. Pension funding was neglected for many years so Bloomington could do fun stuff like the BCPA and the Coliseum. When Tari was elected […]
By: Diane Benjamin The numbers below are from the Illinois Comptroller’s website: http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/ Normal’s budget has increased 33% in 6 years. 5.5% per year is much higher than the inflation rate. Last year Normal spent almost $36 million more than it did in 2012. Where is it? Roads? Population is estimated at 54,264. That spending […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Council meeting last night did not produce much to report. We did learn from a lady during public comment that Bloomington has an epidemic of at risk kids. Holly (didn’t catch the last name) volunteers many hours at the Boys and Girls Club. They currently serve almost 1000 kids and […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal has to pay into three pension funds: IMRF, Police, and Fire. The funding for IMRF isn’t horrible, Police and Fire are. What does that say about who the Town management and Council respect and who they don’t? I’m sure you remember property taxes being raised year after year […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington has done nothing to stop employees from “spiking” their pensions. Besides collecting a higher pension for life at taxpayer expense, taxpayers are forced to pay penalties to cover the increased cost. The “spiking” comes from accumulating unused sick days. Bloomington has changed the policy for new hires, but they refuse to […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you are so excited to see what your property taxes will be this year, the bills are now on-line: http://mcleanil.devnetwedge.com/ No surprise they are going up! The only way to fight back is to protest your assessed value. Maybe I will start a side business showing people how. When you look at […]
By: Diane Benjamin I haven’t looked at the entire Bills and Payroll yet – it just got posted late this afternoon. See the very last page: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=17440 They threw away $135,015 on spiked pensions: . . The City of Bloomington government exists only to scam YOU. . . . . .
By: Diane Benjamin At tonight’s City Council meeting ratification of a contract for Sergeant and Lieutenants is on the consent agenda. They will be getting retroactive raises back to May 1, 2017: PDF page 92: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=16030 PDF page 142 shows the previous contract wage increases were 1.5%. PDF page 149 still has Sick Leave Buy Back! […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal’s budget: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/budget-cuts-fee-hikes-monthly-water-bills-coming-to-normal/article_5a6c2b16-486f-5010-9330-9caafd2ebcc9.html Bloomington’s proposed budget: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/city-hikes-garbage-fee-reduces-bulky-waste-pickups/article_98969c25-05f0-5009-966f-737908b06f3d.html Normal is spending $1879.70 per resident. Bloomington is spending $2743.41 per resident Bloomington also has around twice as many employees with benefits and pensions that have to be funded. Which city will be filing for bankruptcy first? . . .
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington changed the pension spiking policy for all new hires after they became liable for the increased cost – that was in 2012. The policy has not been changed for existing employees. Why should any person be entitled to a pension they didn’t earn? Employees are getting paid months before they retire for […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since Alderman Hauman’s citizen budget group hasn’t been allowed to discuss their findings at a Council meeting, I want you to see their work. (moving the library and a Welcoming Ordinance for illegals are evidently more important) The group started with the items discussed at the November retreat. The retreat was the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Alderman Diana Hauman took it on herself to gather citizen input on the budget. She asked 6 people to look at the budget and look for savings. 2 had to drop off, but 4 with extensive business experience spent months looking at everything. Evidently they aren’t allowed to present their findings because […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington and Normal are the only cities doing their own garbage pickup in the area. According to the Pantagraph, Normal did their own investigation of rates. They declared NO money could be saved by privatizing garbage pickup. See the chart here: http://www.pantagraph.com/graphic-waste-collection-fees-services/pdf_a5d93a81-e7db-537c-b830-c5fafd8a34bc.html The Pantagraph must not have noticed some of those other cities […]
By: Diane Benjamin All you need to know about what happened at last nights extremely long Council meeting: Your gas tax is going to double to .08 per gallon because you want the roads fixed and they can’t find any money You will get an estimated $10 million aquatics center, no word whether it will […]
No discussion! Passed 9-0 along with the rest of the consent agenda. By: Diane Benjamin Citizens are OUTRAGED that City employees have been allowed to spike their pensions by accumulating sick days. The costs to taxpayers is close to $2 million. Tonight the Council will approve a new union contract, with a $200 signing […]
By: Diane Benjamin Saturday the Pantagraph cried in an editorial wanting to be relevant. Today they printed the City talking points. They don’t understand that regurgitating what government buddies want you to say doesn’t drive people to read! See: http://www.pantagraph.com/opinion/columnists/bechtel-daily-newspapers-worth-the-price/article_a10766c7-c709-5c81-b62f-519f8800ec01.html http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/city-staff-to-give-council-options-for-m-deficit/article_5e8cdbfc-3bf5-508b-9d97-f0307f5331e2.html The packet for tonight has very little information on the new budget – See […]
By: Diane Benjamin The story below appeared in the Pantagraph on October 21, 2003. It is available on microfiche at the Bloomington Public Library. Normal raised your property taxes this year by blaming pensions. They used the same excuse in 2003 and every year since. Instead of budgeting for expenses they have to pay, they […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal has to cover all these pensions every month. How much money would you have to pay into retirement to get these monthly benefits? This is only the first 50. As of 2016 124 former employees of the Town of Normal are collecting pensions. https://www.openthebooks.com/search/?PensionCode=1000&F_fiscalyear=2016&F_employernm=Town%20Of%20Normal&F_employeenm= MONTHLY!
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight: Town of Normal 7:00 p.m. Public Hearing on a proposed Property Tax Levy . I expect few citizens will show up to express outrage that their government is not capable of living within their means. The Council and the Mayor are counting on it. This hearing is required because the Town […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal bills for Monday night: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/279242 When your property taxes go up Monday: You will be told the cost of other people’s retirements went up: The real reason is the debt Normal has incurred building utopia. . Look at all the INTEREST payments below in Monday’s packet. They total $1,628,761.92. It gets […]
By: Diane Benjamin When the citizens aren’t paying attention to what their government is doing, you get the below. If you thought $100,000,000 was ridiculous for Uptown, be prepared for more folly. PDF page 59: http://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/7440 This statement is in the Town of Normal’s Annual Report: There is a good reason people want to work […]
