By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington and Normal used to have an understanding both cities needed to have the same tax rates (except property tax). Bloomington Budget – Book 1 PDF page 90: I blacked out the other cities so you only see Bloomington and Normal: This chart is already updated for the Normal increases going into […]
By: Diane Benjamin Andrew Franson responded to this story on his Facebook page: https://blnnews.com/2026/02/02/5-things-you-need-to-know-11/ I hope ISU is proud of this student with no grasp of the English language. Maybe he’s aiming for a job in Illinois government: . Franson did send a pictures of people standing in front of the BCPA. They could have […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the link below for BCPA event reports. This event is the only one listed in this new format. I hope they all use this format in the future. Surprise! Artist fees are included. More surprises, it made money! I hope this wasn’t posted by accident! Transparency is essential. Good start Bloomington. […]
By: Diane Benjamin I don’t track every artist fee anymore. At some point I might just FOIA all them. If people only look at event reports they would think the BCPA makes money. Listing actual expenses must be too difficult and too transparent. The first payment was a deposit, total artist fees for this show […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington will swear in newly elected officials on May 1. Since the ceremony is at the BCPA, it probably won’t be live-streamed. Will it be recorded? In 2017, elected officials were sworn in with an incorrect oath that omitted mention of the Constitution. Tari Renner claimed the wrong oath was pulled from […]
By: Diane Benjamin Evidently it isn’t City staff: PDF page 94: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/30664/638610666168900000
By: Diane Benjamin The City is developing a nasty habit of not posting event reports for the arena or BCPA until I FOIA them. No reports had been posted since a 5/17 performance to the BCPA site: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-2105#docan2735_6873_64 The Arena shows nothing since March 15th: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-2104#docan2735_6873_64 There are still many event reports missing, evidently keeping […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is on the website for the BCPA: https://www.artsblooming.org/about/history I guarantee this tax won’t expire in 2025. The sales tax passed to fix the “structural deficit” will never expire either even though the deficit was gone years ago. See this document: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/Home/ShowDocument?id=6644 It shows all the tax increases to balance the 2015 […]
By: Diane Benjamin BCPA event reports: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-2097#docan2735_6873_64 Note the attendance at each show. Loss: $4,091.79 Profit: $21,933.02 Loss: $3,861.88 This one isn’t on the BCPA calendar: https://www.artsblooming.org/events/all-events-list-view/-toggle-allpast Loss: $18.56 This one took place on 2/8 – not 2/7 Loss: $6,468.96 Profit: $2,525.50 Embarrassing loss: $5,130.61
By: Diane Benjamin The Council will take the final vote on raising your property taxes. Tis the season . . . The Finance Director will give his monthly report – he should present it before the property tax vote but won’t. The City has plans for your money. You aren’t allowed to keep and spend […]
By: Diane Benjamin That is the sound of your tax dollars disappearing – $25,120. Figure out government isn’t capable of “business type” activities? Losses don’t matter because it isn’t their money. Loss: $5,423.36 Loss: $9,967.73 I hope that wasn’t paid twice – it is listed on page 145 and again on 151: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/29818 Loss: $14,131.85 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Where are the Event Reports for Coliseum events? Anybody have a problem with government entertainment? Instead of capitalism determining what people want, tax dollars are used to promote what government employees want. No event reports other than ISU hockey have been posted since September on the City website: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-2063#docan2735_6873_64 There was a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Shows are heading in the right direction. How many years did it take? Profit: $15,783.33 See the description of the show below: https://www.artsblooming.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/16140/762?toggle=allpast I’m not sure this show had any artist fees:
By: Diane Benjamin Profit: $1,687.90 Profit: $6,321.60 Loss: $6,083.84 Not sure what this cost is, but it is labeled RAIN: Loods like it added to the loss.
By: Diane Benjamin Nick Leroy had a short-lived venue called The Stable in downtown Bloomington. Hopefully he knows shows that make money instead of subsidized entertaining for the elites. When is the City going to admit the Coliseum isn’t The Grossinger Motors Arena anymore? Too hard to take the sign down? In case you missed […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two new BCPA reports below – of course the Performance Fee aren’t included. Did they quit reporting attendance because it’s embarrassing? The performance fees are hard to decipher because they aren’t marked correctly on Bills and Payroll reports. There wasn’t an event on 4/23, did they mean 4/20? Then there are these […]
By: Diane Benjamin I had to file a FOIA request to get this reports posted. Some dates of performance fees don’t match any performance dates. Loss: $206.84 Loss: $7,932.72 Loss: $6,854.53 Here’s where report dates don’t match event reports: There wasn’t an event on 2/23/2023. https://www.artsblooming.org/events/calendar?cury=2023&curm=2&curd=28&curview=month Three performance fees are listed as 3/23/2023, there were […]
By: Diane Benjamin Proof COVID is over, Bloomington employees are back to traveling: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/27940/637884879474800000 Go to PDF page 130 and following see for yourself. Don’t miss this one: $6754.00 for ONE Conference. I could say I hope more than one person went for that price, but then I’d have to ask why more than one […]
By: Diane Benjamin Recap: Grant Walch was appointed Ward 1 Alderman – Jeff Crabill and Julie Emig voted against him. Evidently they didn’t like replacing a self-identified progressive alderman with a more conservative one. Road funding isn’t close to what it needs to be. The $7 million was increased to $9 million, factor in inflation […]
By: Diane Benjamin Making budget cuts isn’t a matter of cutting BIG things. It a myriad of small things that add up to big bucks. Here’s one example: This pic is from Normal’s budget: Normal will be handing over $109,250 to the CVB and $100,000 to the EDC. Why is Bloomington also giving the EDC […]
By: Diane Benjamin’ I think the Grossinger Motors naming rights expire next year. It was a 5 year agreement in June of 2017. Expect something really original like Bloomington Arena to replace it. Of course that means new signage. Maybe the City can just paint the name on the building instead (don’t hold your breath). […]
By: Diane Benjamin Agenda for Monday: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1150&Inline=True Bloomington wants to rehab these two water tanks off Fort Jesse. The NEVER used water tower in the same area isn’t mentioned: https://blnnews.com/2015/08/04/more-ineptness/ Money was budgeted for this project – WAY more than what the project will cost: PDF page 185 Monday they are already spending what they […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-114 No BCPA event reports have been posted to the City website. Evidently I have to FOIA all of them. From this year’s budget: $1,700,000 of the Revenue is from Home Rule Sales Tax. Of that $840,206 goes to bond payments. See the complete BCPA presentation in the budget starting on PDF […]
By: Diane Benjamin Council is meeting tonight at 6:00 to clear the rest of December for Christmas. None of the event reports at the BCPA have been posted on line: https://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-114 Evidently I have to FOIA all shows. Is the City afraid to tell citizens how much is lost to subsidized entertainment for the well […]
By: Diane Benjamin Three more Performance Fees at the BCPA are on Bills and Payroll tonight: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/27250/637727480979430000 On 11/12/21 there was only 1 show: The Brubeck Brothers Quartet The 11/17/21 was Shake & Holla Only two items are on the Regular Agenda: FY2021 ended 4/30/2021. Seven months later the Financial Statements are released. I wonder […]
By: Diane Benjamin I had to FOIA the event reports for all BCPA shows, they still aren’t posted to the City website. Below are 6 shows, every one of them lost money. The performance fee is not on the reports because the BCPA thinks other acts will want more money if they see what some […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two performance fee bills were paid last night for the BCPA: 9/29 was: Escape to Margaritaville 10/8 was: When Disco Was King Two other events were held earlier in September. Meanwhile, an events tab hasn’t even been created yet on the Bloomington website: https://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-114 In previous years I had to FOIA these […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/26917/637667133834300000 Payroll shows 887 employees. Remember when Renner constantly reminded us the City only had 650 employees? Some of those 887 are seasonal and maybe part time employees. Below is what the City of Bloomington reported to the Illinois Comptroller as of 4/30/2020. Updated information as of 4/30/2021 should be available in […]
By: Diane Benjamin The event calendar for the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts is mostly blank. They do have one event scheduled for October. Unfortunately it is a fund raiser for themselves: https://www.artsblooming.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/13308/762 Remember the grand plans for the Creativity Center? Details here: https://blnnews.com/2019/01/26/what-no-one-in-bloomington-talks-about/ The City even hired a fundraiser for the Friends of […]
In case you don’t see the comments on BlnNews.com, here’s one that might epitomize Jackie Gunderson supporters. To vote for a socialist brain cells have to be missing. I do know who made this comment, usually I just file his filth for future reference. This one was too much fun though. My response: Thanks for […]
By: Diane Benjamin I heard Jenn Carrillo handed out candy bars to buy votes two years ago. Now it’s pizza. Maybe in two years they will have to move up to ribeye steaks. At least they provided a partial list of candidates who do not believe voters are intelligent enough to know socialism fails every […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and payroll 7-13-2020 A total of $12,599,344.25 will be approved tonight. Unlike Normal, payroll is actually listed. $5,216,642.14 of that amount is employees. $1,633,607.61 is Wire transfers listed at the end, not enough details is available to know what most of them are. I don’t remember the last time somebody asked about […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington City Manger Tim Gleason didn’t answer my email from yesterday: The “Sorry, no hello” is an insider joke. Tim Gleason has always been straight forward with me, this time I don’t see it. What the whole “parade” shenanigans amounts to is City employees do not understand your tax dollars aren’t their […]
Renner’s open house will be by phone today: I can’t imagine what you could ask Tari, – oh maybe why the BCPA is not transparent? Wasn’t Renner Mayor Transparency? https://blnnews.com/2020/03/20/bcpa-resorts-to-deception/ How about telling Tari to scrap the $738,000 STUDY for O’Neil Park! They can no longer afford it!
By: Diane Benjamin Since the BCPA is shut down, staff had time to do event reports. Well, they sort of did reports. To disguise how much money they are losing, most of the reports below don’t show any REVENUE. Of course the Artist Fees aren’t on the reports either. You are looking at the reason […]
By: Diane Benjamin Events all over Bloomington-Normal are cancelled because of the Wuhan Corona Virus. The BCPA cancelled shows through August 12th. Taxpayers are likely cheering that one, months of no money losing shows! Are the employees going to be laid off until then? WEEK compiled a Bloomington list: https://week.com/2020/03/12/bloomington-shuts-down-bcpa-calls-off-arena-events-due-to-covid-19/ Connect Transit still transports people […]
A reader located the missing artist fees. The BCPA should know by now they will lose money paying more than $10,000 for an artist! Only 1 show made money! By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-1784 A lot of reports were recently posted. None of them have the artist fee. I added a few that I could quickly […]
By: Diane Benjamin Source: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23753 Looks impressive, RIGHT? Not so fast, see below. The artist fees are blank again! (see previous stories) https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23691 Obviously this show lost money just like most of the others. See the event as promoted here: https://www.artsblooming.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/10963/710?curdate=12-13-2019&curm=12&cury=2019
By: Diane Benjamin Jamie Mathy urged citizens to look at the upcoming shows at the BCPA during Aldermen comments at last night’s Council meeting. He claimed a show that costs $100 in Chicago could be only $30 here. See upcoming events: https://www.artsblooming.org/events/calendar Meanwhile, the last event report posted for the BCPA was a show held […]
By: Diane Benjamin No bills were approved at the last council meeting since it was held off-schedule for the holidays. Monday night $14,244,476.43 is up for approval. https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23691 As always, there was extensive travel. A lot of it is in the PCard spending, see PDF page 271 and following. 2020 starts where previous years […]
