By: Diane Benjamin Committee of the Whole was switched to special meeting because one item needs a vote: Remember when BNWRD tried to buy 3 properties and one showed it was owned by the City of Bloomington and not the guy BNWRD thought they were buying it from? https://blnnews.com/2025/12/31/bnwrd-story-6/ Tonight: https://bloomingtonil.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4376/files/attachment/8566 Bloomington is Quit Claiming […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) If you are white, don’t apply for a teaching job at District 87. Superintendent Dr. Mouser’s will openly discriminate against you: ‘”Operationally and organizationally, the district remains stable and progressing forward. We have successfully negotiated three collective bargaining agreements and continue to maintain excellent relationships with all of our bargaining units. […]
By: Diane Benjamin City Manager Jeff Jurgen wants citizens to conserve water because we are still in a drought: Screenshot from the meeting video: . Meanwhile, BNWRD is buying properties because increased precipitation is increasing flooding: https://blnnews.com/2026/01/10/werent-we-told-there-is-a-drought-and-water-needs-conserved/ . Makes perfect sense in Illinois 🤦♀️
By: Diane Benjamin Yes! https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/watch-live-drought-causes-voluntary-water-conservation-in-bloomington/ BNWRD didn’t get the same message which is why they are buying land along Sugar Creek: See the January packet – https://blnnews.com/bnwrd-docs/ PDF page 37: . BNWRD will not be buying the third property now that I wrote about here: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/31/bnwrd-story-6/ The title to the third is still trying to […]
By: Diane Benjamin All previous BNWRD stories linked here: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/20/bnwrd-property-purchase-update/ Just to review, BNWRD is buying these 3 properties: (Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District) . The first property should have been 21-06 instead of 21-08. It was severely under assessed for property taxes at $27,082 x 3 = $81,246 total value vrs a sales price […]
By: Diane Benjamin All previous stories are linked in this one: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/16/bloomington-township-assessor-its-not-my-fault/ Just to recap, The BNWRD packet for December had three properties listed they were buying. Two of them had problems. First: Pin #21-05-154-020 This property was listed on the County website as owned by the City of Bloomington. I finally got an answer […]
I contacted the Assessor’s office to find out who the assessor is for PIN #21-06-278-031. They told me the guy listed below. I sent him another email on 12/17/2025. By: Diane Benjamin All previous stories: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/13/bnwrd-continued-and-did-unit-5-get-screwed/ At the end of that story I stated I was going to ask the Bloomington Township Assessor about the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington voted in July to suspend payments to the County for the Behavioral Health Action Plan starting July 1, 2025: Shared Sales Tax suspended Why is this payment listed on Bills and Payroll if payments are suspended? Bills and Payroll 12-15-2025 I’d ask but getting an answer is evidently […]
By: Diane Benjamin I sent BNWRD another FOIA yesterday, it was answered the same day. Thanks Tim Erwin. See the 2 previous stories here: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/12/more-on-the-bnwrd-property-purchase/ I still haven’t received a response from the Bloomington City Attorney pertaining to the property listed in the County records as owned by the City: PIN #21-05-154-020. More on that […]
By: Diane Benjamin Original story: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/09/bnwrd-bought-what/ I had to ask twice to get a response, Tim Irwin told me his wife had surgery which delayed his response. Packet for the December 8, 2025 meeting: https://blnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/December-2025-Board-Packet.pdf In the original story I showed the PIN #’s for three properties. 21-08-278-031 didn’t exist in the County property database. […]
By: Diane Benjamin BNWRD is the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District. They tax everyone in Bloomington-Normal. The documentation for the yesterday’s BNWRD meeting is on this page: https://blnnews.com/bnwrd-docs/ This jumped off the page, especially since last month BNWRD bought 1.734 acres for $90,639. https://blnnews.com/2025/11/11/i-need-a-realtor-to-explain-this-one/ PDF page 3: The contract for sale starts on PDF page 109 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday buying a 1.734 acres was on the BNWRD Agenda. This property is undeveloped according to the pictures, but it does have Goose Creek. It appears BNWRD wants to control that creek since it drains into Sugar Creek. I’m just wondering why it cost $90,639? Can anyone explain it? $52,272 an acre […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District (BNWRD) documents weren’t publicly posted, I start this page in 2023: https://blnnews.com/bnwrd-docs/ Last week I received a packet for an emergency repair meeting which involves the sewer by Autozone in Normal. The sewer in this area was built in 1900. The homeless encampment had to be […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) I was notified by a reader the BNWRD owns the tent city property in Normal. That’s the Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District. Illinois law prevents them from removing the campers. It doesn’t prevent them from demanding they CLEAN up their mess. 2) I was also notified that ISU is planning for […]
By: Diane Benjamin As inflation eats your prosperity government is of course obliged to contribute to your demise. Their costs go up too. The only difference is all they have to is raise your taxes and fees to compensate. Try that with your boss. BNWRD is the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District. At the April 8th […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the Menu at the top of BlnNews.com – I added a tab for BNWRD docs. Since the Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District doesn’t have a website, you won’t see the docs anywhere else. The Board is meeting today. Of note is an RFP they will issue for solar. See PDF page 95. SPPA stands […]
By: Diane Benjamin The BNWRD meeting is tomorrow: From the doc below: You couldn’t wait until the appraisal is done to put buying this property on the agenda? The Public never attends BNWRD meetings. The taxable value of this property payable in 2023 was $21,900 meaning the value is around $65,700. It has a 2160 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below are 3 charts from financial statements. The first one is BNWRD, then Bloomington, then Normal. All 3 show Per Capita Income obtained from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. If you’ve never heard of that office, it was founded by a Republican: Richard Nixon. Home page: https://www.bea.gov/ Look close at the reports. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday I found these two charts that are problematic: I cut the sources off the next one so I can make it bigger: (See them here: https://blnnews.com/2023/11/24/notice-anything-wrong-with-this-chart/) Both of these are from the documentation for the November 13, 2023 BNWARD meeting. You won’t find it on-line, they email it to me every […]
By: Diane Benjamin According to this website, EAC has a fiscal year that ends on 6/30. The return as of 6/30/2021 is available: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/371157100/download990pdf_03_2022_prefixes_36-43%2F371157100_202106_990_2022030919708158 Revenue was way down last year. The only reason I thought to look at this is because the Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District paid them labeled Customer relations: That payment is […]
By: Diane Benjamin BNWRD (Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District) is holding a meeting on Monday. They send their packet to me every month since documents aren’t on line. I have NEVER seen mention in the minutes of a citizen making Public Comment. That isn’t stopping them from making their policy legal however. Maybe McLean County […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District has a Board meeting today. BNWRD sends me their Board packet every month. Citizens of Bloomington and Normal are billed with your water bill and as a line item on your property tax bill. The June 26th flooding did create a sewage overflow event that required […]
By: Diane Benjamin Too often blanket salary increases are given for government employees, even for non-union. The best employees aren’t rewarded while the worst employees are. Union members have no incentive to work harder or do a better job when salary increases are negotiated for all equally. One local government agency incentivizes their employees: Every […]
By: Diane Benjamin The second installment of your property taxes are due on 9/17. The check you will be writing is higher because of many things, but a BIG one is Tax Increment Financing. TIF’s The Uptown TIF is Normal’s huge one. The 2020 comprehensive report isn’t available yet, so I have to use the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District (BNWRD) Board is holding a meeting on April 13. The agenda does not reflect any changes to how the meeting will take place because of social distancing. On the agenda: BNWRD Brd Packet 4-13-20 BNWRD charges appear monthly on the water bills of any residence […]
By: Diane Benjamin BNWRD is the Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District. Just once I’d like to see something different in their minutes than: If somebody has been dying to attend (and probably scare them!) details and Agenda for the 4:00 March 9, 2020 meeting can be seen here: BNWRD March meeting The reason I started […]
By: Diane Benjamin When I talked to Randy Stein and Tim Irvin they provided more information I haven’t written yet. See this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/01/30/sewage-talk/ Randy told me at some point, nobody knows when, the IEPA is going to require updates to the plant on West Oakland. He has no idea what the exact cost will […]
By: Diane Benjamin Everybody likes to talk sewage! Sure, let’s call it BNWRD instead: Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District. The first plant opened in 1920, prior to that sewage was dumped in Sugar Creek. That came from a discussion I had yesterday with Randy Stein the Executive Director and Tim Ervin the Asst Executive Director/Admin […]
By: Diane Benjamin This won’t be the last story, stay tuned. BNWRD is the Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District. Whatever you flush they process. Homes connected to the sanitary sewer system should be charged on the water bill AND on the property tax bill. This is the same principle as Bloomington billing you for water […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the previous story: https://blnnews.com/2020/01/16/what-stan-warned-about-happened/ Stan Nord warned about local property rights because he got a bill that should have been paid by owners of his property years before. The Town of Normal didn’t care that failure to collect was THEIR fault. He paid the bill in protest. In the previous story […]
By: Diane Benjamin Think you own your property? Keep reading! Think back almost a year ago. The Town of Normal tried to collect sewer tap-on fees from Stan for his property on West College. The property was connected when Stan bought it, and when the previous owner bought it, and the one before that one! […]
