Category: property tax levy

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Olympia Schools District Facts – Part 2

Part 1: https://blnnews.com/2025/06/18/olympia-school-district-facts-part-1/ By: Diane Benjamin The Olympia Schools superintendent sent 2 emails about the property tax error: . From Part 1 – enrollment is decreasing. According to this story the District has been deficit spending for a decade: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-05-21/olympia-school-district-frustrated-by-error-that-led-to-incorrect-mclean-county-tax-bills With 110 fewer students since 2018, why do they have deficits? According to Illinois Report […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Olympia School District facts – Part 1

Part 2: https://blnnews.com/2025/06/18/olympia-schools-district-facts-part-2/ By: Diane Benjamin This story has facts needed for the NEXT story. If you want the best possible chance of fleecing taxpayers you put a referendum to increase taxes on the Primary ballot where few people bother to vote. The Mclean County schools did that on April 1st to get a 1% […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Historical Taxing of Farmland

By: Diane Benjamin Below are the property taxes assessed on farmland in McLean County. This is a small parcel – 45.63 acres. Also shown is the percentage increase over various 5 year time frames: See this website for historical prices of corn and soybeans: https://www.fcsamerica.com/insurance/resources/crop-price-history Corn: . Soybeans: . One thing is clear: Taxes only […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Property Tax Scam – Part 2 (Corrected)

By: Diane Benjamin All of the information on local properties was found on the County Property Tax Inquiry website: https://mcleanil.devnetwedge.com/ Tax rates in Bloomington depend on whether the house is in Unit 5 or District 87. All of Normal is Unit 5. Correction to previous versions: . The houses below were chosen to represent various […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Property Taxes Scam – Part 1

By: Diane Benjamin I’ve been looking at property tax bills since Friday. The results will be printed tomorrow, I want time to review it one last time. Meanwhile, these two links will give you a preview. Both are also in tomorrow’s story: https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/why-property-tax-illegal https://constructioncoverage.com/research/average-property-tax-by-state-county-city

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

3 Things you need to know

By: Diane Benjamin 1) Bloomington (and Normal) placed 20th on a list of worst places to live in Illinois for retirees: https://consumergravity.com/worst-towns-retirees-illinois/ Two reasons are listed. Healthcare costs are higher than the national average and you have to travel to get specialized care. The second reason given is Public Transportation that doesn’t fully meet the […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Will District 87 property tax bills go down?

By: Diane Benjamin See this WGLT article: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-04-24/d87-optimistic-but-acknowledges-challenges-of-banning-cell-phones-at-bhs District 87 is planning to lower their property tax grab by $2 million, which is 1/3 of a revenue estimate they plan to receive from the 1% Sales Tax. Don’t expect your property taxes to go down. Your assessed values will be going up. If District 87 […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Assessed values going up again

By: Diane Benjamin I heard from a reliable source yesterday Assessed Values will increase another 8-9% this year. Your property taxes will increase even if the 1% sales tax passes. Schools drool over rising property values, as does every taxing body listed on your property tax bill. The assessor will be blamed instead of the […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

How much have property values increased?

By: Diane Benjamin This website recaps how much property values have increased in the last 5 years. https://stacker.com/illinois/bloomingtonil/cities-fastest-growing-home-prices-bloomington-illinois-metro-area-0 The ranking order doesn’t make any sense to me since the link states they are listing cities with the most expensive homes. Most of the local governments listed on your property tax bill had dollar signs dancing […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Almost Every Unit of Local Government plans to steal from you

By: Diane Benjamin Most local units of government will be on the April 1st ballot. Most of registered voters won’t both to vote. That makes theft easy. How are they stealing your money? By taxing you on unrealized gains through property taxes. The value of your house has increased but you will never see that […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington’s “Structural Deficit”

By: Diane Benjamin The below was sent to City of Bloomington employees by City Manager Jeff Jurgens before the November 18th Council meeting. (Yes I’ve got a stockpile of things I haven’t gotten around to writing about!) Expect “structural deficit” to raise it’s ugly head again. That was Tari Renner’s excuse for raising taxes. Under […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Unit 5 bought 5 Electric buses

By: Diane Benjamin While ZERO of Connect transit electric buses are operational, last night Unit 5 bough 5 electric buses and 5 charging stations with $2,076,015 of your money. Austin Texas has 46 electric buses parked. Same manufacturer as Connect’s: https://www.fox7austin.com/news/capmetro-new-electric-buses-shelved Central States isn’t the manufacturer. Usually the Feds hand out grants to buy electric, […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Tri Valley: Need some laughs?

By: Diane Benjamin Read this story: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-11-18/tri-valley-district-will-have-contested-school-board-races?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook Excerpt: Maybe this Ben: https://blnnews.com/2024/09/20/tri-valley-incident/ Numerous kids report they saw a gun. The way this incident was handled had 6 parents speak at the September Board meeting according to the minutes. Other parents present didn’t speak. Maybe transparency is a better option than Mouser’s “don’t tell your parents”? […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington property tax festivities

By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington staff wanted to raise your property taxes, the Council complied for the library. They didn’t increase their own share. Maybe a public comment from a guy who stated property taxes are driving him out of his home had an impact. I don’t know if the spelling is correct, but he was […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington jumps on the raise property taxes band wagon

By: Diane Benjamin Tonight’s meeting got changed from a Committee of the Whole to a Special Meeting. Besides the below there is a presentation on Community Development Block Grant spending. https://d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/cityblm/75de54c5ef363097fbab4d251ab6c43a0.pdf Of course funding pensions is the reason (always) for raising property taxes. Government knows they are required to fund the lavish Illinois pensions but […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

County Board Democrats lowered your property taxes? Really?

By: Diane Benjamin First of all, the Assessor sets property tax rates, not the County Board. . The levy is the total amount the County wants to collect in property taxes. Explain this if the levy was decreased 3.5%. November 14, 2023: PDF page 176 https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/9855 November 11, 2024: PDF page 180 https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/10531 Isn’t $49 […]