By: Diane Benjamin Same property as previous stories – picked at random. https://blnnews.com/2026/04/30/congrats-how-much-is-stolen-from-you-is-posted/ For context on the airport tax: Bloomington and Normal properties are still being taxed by the airport — see Central Il Reg Airport Auth. In 2025, it appeared on bills as “BLM-Nrm Airport Auth.” This year’s 2026 in-town bills now show $0.00 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Obviously the City of Bloomington is not going to hold elected officials or the City Manager accountable for violating City code. In case you forgot: https://blnnews.com/2025/07/11/the-latest-people-bloomington-prosecuted-for-violating-city-code/ Add City Manager Jeff Jurgens to that story. He is allowed by code to spend $50,000 (needs reduced!) without Council approval. He exceeded that amount with […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Cody changed his endorsements, perhaps after years in office when he finally read the city code and realized he had violated it by claiming the McLean County Democrats endorsed him. He replaced it with an endorsement from Alderman Jenna Kearns, who violated the same code in the same way Cody did. […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) The McLean County Sheriff’s office is investigating what appears to be a conspiracy among McLean County Schools Districts to convince you to vote for the Sales Tax increase. The investigation won’t be done before the election. I know more details, but I’ll let the investigation play out. 2) Click this link: […]
by: Diane Benjamin A 1% local Sales Tax increase went into effect in 2016. At least part of that was billed as money for “mental health”. It was really to pay for the jail addition. Since Illinois re-wrote criminal justice laws making holding offenders more difficult, is that new addition you are still paying for […]
By: Diane Benjamin Anyone think schools are pushing too hard for the 1% Sales Tax increase? https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-03-05/retired-educator-barry-reilly-leads-campaign-to-support-sales-tax-for-mclean-county-schools Former District 87 superintendent Barry Reilly is heading a committee to convince you to agree to higher taxes. You need to know Reilly is collecting a HUGE MONTHLY pension: https://www.openthebooks.com/members/employer-detail/?Id=70989&tab=2&F_Name_P=Reilly&Year_P=0 He is collecting more than $205,000 a year […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois is already a high tax state. Add another 1% Sales Tax and we might make it to number ONE! The 1% Sales Tax isn’t just a penny – it’s another penny added to all the other pennies you already pay. https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494 From Wallet Hub: . Click the link to see all […]
By: Diane Benjamin No wonder trust in government is at an all time low among people who expect Public Servants to actually work for the public. Oaths of office are now meaningless. Did you know the County isn’t going to produce a report on the fundraising at the County to abolish the Auditor until March? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Few people probably know the McLean County Treasurer’s website has years of payments to every taxing district they collect property taxes for: https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/590/Taxing-Dist-Distribution-Settlement-Shee Someday if I really want a huge project I could compile tax payments to EVERY unit of government on your tax bill. If someone wants this project, or at […]
By: Diane Benjamin Read the agenda: https://go.boarddocs.com/il/trivalley3/Board.nsf/vpublic?open Property taxes are going up because nobody represents taxpayers. The board will also pass a resolution to get the 1% Sales Tax increase on the April 1st ballot. The only bright spot is you have people running for School Board who do care. All that is required is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Maybe schools wouldn’t need more funding if they weren’t required to educate illegal alien kids that only the far left think have a right to be here. We are forced to pay for illegal immigration without a vote. https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-09-05/mclean-county-school-administrators-ponder-a-countywide-sales-tax-after-failed-effort-in-2014 Read the article. Public schools are now horrendous. School administrators want a 1% […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when the Local Sales Tax Rate increased back on 1/1/2016? This is what Bloomington residents were told it was for: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/9197/636130888246430000 PDF Page 2: This year the City of Bloomington budgeted $7.2 million for streets and sidewalks: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/26008/637508827017530000 The Local Motor Fuel Tax projected revenue this year is $4.1 million. https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/28561/638022024003730000 […]
By: Diane Benjamin According to a report by WMDB TV, there are around 250 homeless people in Bloomington-Normal. See their report here: http://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/homeless-in-central-illinois/856395912 Safe Harbor and Home Sweet Home Mission are the only two emergency shelters in town, according to the story. Both are constantly at full or almost full capacity. Bloomington raised the Sales Tax […]
By: Diane Benjamin Joni Painter proved she isn’t fit to serve on the Council. During alderman comments she read a statement about changing the speed limits on Hershey Road. Hit play below. Painter said she started talking about the speed issue in May 2014. It took her almost three years to get a Council vote […]
By: Diane Benjamin Even though the Open Meetings Act calls for approving and posting minutes within 30 days, Bloomington finally has approving the minutes from 9/21/2015 on Monday’s agenda. Law: Why was the law not followed? Maybe because this is the meeting where the 1% Sales tax increase was rushed through. Maybe they don’t want […]
By: Diane Benjamin David Hales finally finished the January 2016 City Managers Report: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=9539 Attendance at the BCPA was dismal, but I guess that can be expected for January: The most interesting part of the report is tax receipts – see page 19. Except for Auto Rental, all other taxes are above projections. The additional […]
By: Diane Benjamin January 1st the local Sales TAX is going up 1%, just because. Maybe this chart from the Bloomington financial statements explains it: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9336 Page 175 Tax receipts have been declining for two years. Instead of spending less money to compensate for an obvious economy in decline, the City of Bloomington raised the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night the Council will hear that almost every tax received is higher than budgeted. That must make citizens wonder why the Sales tax increase was rammed through! What’s the truth? The City of Bloomington LOWERED most expected receipts compared to what was budgeted last year: Maybe now they can pretend the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Is Halloween early this year? The bird-cage liner appears to be playing trick-or-treat with today’s editorial. Too bad it wasn’t written BEFORE both Bloomington and Normal passed the 1% Sales tax increase. Better-late-then-never doesn’t really work since neither city is now going to give the money back. I RARELY link to one […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two council meetings ago Renner rushed through a 1% Sales Tax increase. .25% is going to the County, the rest was passed because Tari wanted it. There was no specific purpose mentioned other than his “structural deficit”. All that means is the City spends more than they take in. Monday night the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The vote to raise the Sales Tax was rushed through the Bloomington City Council on purpose. Normal wanted more money, so Tari fixed the vote for Chris Koos. The reason given was the County’s year-end – they had to have their 1/4% fast. Instead of voting on just the 1/4% increase requested […]
By: Diane Benjamin Filed on the City of Bloomington website – under Staff Responses – was this letter from the McLean County Chamber of Commerce: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9176 Yes – they supported it. I didn’t realize the Chamber was part of the staff. From the Chamber of Commerce website: http://mcleancochamber.org/advocacy The McLean County Chamber of Commerce is […]
How did I forget? 5 years ago Tari, Bloomington wasn’t sending around $50,000 PER MONTH to Springfield for legal! By: Diane Benjamin Renner on WJBC: http://cdn.stationcaster.com/stations/wjbc/media/mpeg/Tari_Renner__Bloomington_mayor-1442412227.mp3 Renner on WGLT: http://wglt.org/wireready/news/2015/09/01831_09-15Renner_070330.shtml Tari Renner: We aren’t doing anything today that we weren’t doing 5 years ago. Inflation is causing the need for tax increases. 5 years ago […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington is so “blessed” to be run by people who have no interest in good government. All they want is money, more money, and control. The video failed to capture the beginning of the meeting. I wonder if that was so Tari shuffling the comment cards wasn’t shown. Public Comment was over […]
by: Diane Benjamin I asked Unit 5 how much Common Core was costing them. Them claim ZERO. Unit 5 and District 87 were test sites, so maybe they haven’t incurred costs – YET. Here’s a little history: The Common Core State Standards, meant to guide K-12 instruction in math and language arts, were written by nonprofit education […]
by: Diane Benjamin Below is an email sent from Unit 5 trying to get YES votes on the 1% Sales Tax. They appear to be really worried, because now they are making promises they CAN NOT KEEP. Actions by the current school board are NOT binding on future school boards. This board can say they […]
by: Diane Benjamin If the purpose of the 1% Sales Tax was to give property tax relief, the people pushing for it would have put that fact front and center! Property tax relief is now being pulled out as a last resort. They have seen the opposition. Now desperate for a big never-ending payday, they […]
March 9, 2014 by Drew Meiner Source: http://www.championnews.net/?p=132570 McLean County voters have to decide whether or not they support a new 1% sales tax when they go to the polls, March 18th. Tucked away on the back side of the March primary ballot is a proposition that reads, “Shall a retailers’ occupation tax and a service occupation […]
Maria – your article in today’s (March 8, 2014) Pantagraph regarding Unit 5 Sales Tax Referendum seems to contradict prior Pantagraph reporting. Just wanted to point out these to you. From today’s article… Only 10 days before the sales tax referendum vote, Unit 5 is now ‘pledging’ to return the first $3 million dollars […]
by: Diane Benjamin Today the Pantagraph supported the 1% Sales Tax for schools. Here’s the actual wording that will be on the ballot: Shall a retailers’ occupation tax and a service occupation tax (commonly referred to as a “sales tax”) be imposed in The County of McLean, Illinois, at a rate of 1% to be […]
Today this guy has a Letter to the Editor supporting the 1% Sales Tax increase. I hear he is also a partner at Farnsworth & Wylie! The schools want more money the build and remodel. Why would Farnsworth care? I think this explains it: http://www.f-w.com/bio.php?id=4
by: Diane Benjamin Every McLean County resident will be asked to approve a 1% SALES TAX increase for schools. You do NOT need to choose a Democrat or Republican ballot to vote on this issue. Just ask for a non-partisan ballot. Here is why you should Vote NO 1) This is a permanent tax. Your Property […]
by: Diane Benjamin Just like the Modified Ward referendum, the schools decided to put an important vote to raise Sales Taxes on a PRIMARY ELECTION ballot. Primaries have low voter turnout, one has to wonder why they picked this election. With 2 important ballot initiatives, I doubt voter turn out will be as low as […]
