By: Diane Benjamin Unlike Normal who only spends one day presenting the budget, Bloomington is rolling their’s out. Last Monday was the first look. You can see see the slides on the video or at this link: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/27448/637786270147270000 See 1:28:40 on the video below. The City of Bloomington anticipates having a General Fund Balance of […]
By: Dian e Benjamin Tari Renner has repeatedly said Bloomington cut staff. He doesn’t mention in 2013 they changed how employees are counted. See the footnote at the bottom of the employees list. What we do know is the budget vastly expanded since 2013 and the number of employees has crept up while the population […]
By: Diane Benjamin Watch the Pledge of Allegiance at 1:55:00. The only part where Jenn’s lips move is “Liberty and Justice for All”. She obviously has no clue where liberty comes from, she must think government grants freedom, of course government must also give justice for her hommies too. Two years ago I did a […]
By: Diane Benjamin On December 20th, during the day and at the BCPA, the City of Bloomington held a budget meeting. The camera angle didn’t allow the charts on the wall to be seen, but a person who was there sent me some of them. If you forgot this meeting – see this story: https://blnnews.com/2017/12/22/budget-meeting-the-video/ The […]
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 Can $20 million be cut from Bloomington’s budget? David Hales thinks disaster would strike Bloomington if the tax increases were rolled back. (The media happily reports it!) Here’s a better question: The 2012 TOTAL budget was $165.3 million (Pre Tari) The 2013 TOTAL budget was $167 million (Pre Tari) That 2017 TOTAL […]
By: Diane Benjamin This fiscal year Bloomington began issuing monthly financial recaps. See this link: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=9043. September is the last statement posted, yes this is December. The chart below is from pages 11 and 12 of the September report. Enterprise Funds are not included since they are not part of the General Fund. (Solid […]
By: Diane Benjamin Want to balance Bloomington’s budget? First, cut the planned spending at the Coliseum: $2,510,000 http://blnnews.com/2015/02/27/coliseum-2510000/ (Funny how the Flex has videos on their Facebook page from the equipment the City claims can’t be fixed!) The Zoo is a great place, but subsidizing it for $667,324 isn’t prioritizing spending. Do you want the […]
by: Diane Benjamin All of the following emails were received under the Freedom of Information Act. I still hear people say “Why isn’t the Bloomington Council be more like Normal’s?” Did you ever tell the kids to just go away for a while and be quiet? You needed time, space, whatever – so the kids needed […]
by: Diane Benjamin This email was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act Below is an email sent by Tari Renner to Karen Schmidt and David Sage after they had breakfast together. It was written February 28th. Tari implied in one radio appearance, I think WJBC, that he wasn’t for the 17 new hires. He actually […]
By: Diane Benjamin This week both Mayor Renner and Alderwoman Stearns were interviewed on WGLT. The 2 points of view are very different. Listen to both, then comment below. Mayor Renner: http://wglt.org/wireready/news/2014/03/09381_03-31rennerqa_web_154436.shtml Alderwoman Stearns: http://wglt.org/wireready/news/2014/04/09397_04-01stearnsqaWEB_102634.shtml
by: Diane Benjamin The following is from Book 1 of the Proposed budget – the one that was $11 Million higher than last year. See pages 48-49. Click on either picture to enlarge. The City is anticipating a decrease in revenue of $14,008,375! The City has budgeted for a decrease in expenses of $22,683,662! First, […]
by: Diane Benjamin Click on the picture to enlarge. The below is from Book 1 of the Bloomington Budget: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=6393 Other Public Works has no explanation. How did parks go up to 62 in 2008, then down to 46 in 2013? Baseball fields, Basketball courts, and Tennis courts are great, but the maintenance money is always […]
by: Diane Benjamin I hope the residents of Bloomington took the time to watch the Council meeting on-line tonight. You can’t really tell what they are thinking unless you watch it. It will be available here if you missed it tonight: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=61 Bring coffee, it’s long. There was a presentation of the budget – $180,000,000 […]
