By: Diane Benjamin Last school year Unit 5 has over 1000 fewer students than they had in 2018: As of October 1 of 2021 enrollment was 12,499. I FOIA’d it but was told is was still changing daily. The above number for 2021 is for school year 2020-2021. Whatever the current number is, Unit 5 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Watch a Normal Council meeting. Kathleen Lorenz will attempt at least one to convey that Stan Nord has no idea what he’s doing. In emails she is even worse. Below are a few choice picks – from FOIA: Response from Kathleen: This issue isn’t dead, I’m just waiting for more information. How […]
By: Diane Benjamin As of 3/31/18 Normal had total debt of $89,823,286. $88,125,000 won’t be paid off until 2041. Interest rates range from 2.00% to 6.30%. Source As of 4/30/18 Bloomington had total debt of $242,010,034. $57,095,000 won’t be paid off until 2035. The interest rates aren’t listed. $173,646,119 is liabilities for pensions and associated […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last year the Town of Normal gave away $50,000 and called it Harmon Arts Grants. They are currently taking applications for this year: http://www.normal.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1739 The announcement says the decisions will be made by the Harmon Arts Grant Committee. There is nothing on the Town website saying who is on the committee, so […]
See this story too: https://blnnews.com/2018/02/23/they-had-to-have-bought-all-new-phones/ _____________ Internet is provided from CIRBN and not included in the below. CIRBN was paid on the last bills and payroll: Library 420.33, City 2725.01 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15822 By: Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15938 I used to have to examine all the free lunches on PCards, those day are mostly over since Renner’s PCard got […]
By: Diane Benjamin Both Bloomington and Normal have been governed for many years by people who want to build monuments to themselves and call it Quality of Life. Roads are too boring to fund, so are pensions. Valuable tax dollars can’t be used for what isn’t their priority. Instead they raise taxes to fund them […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since the biggest expense the City of Bloomington has is employees, I took a look at the employees in 2012 and four years later – 2016. The payroll was $6,196,593 higher in 2016 than 2012. But why? Total compensation per year is on the City website: http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-170 2017 is really for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s way past time for adults to be running the City of Bloomington! We are tired of the lies and the abuse of taxpayers by pretending the city doesn’t have enough money because taxpayers aren’t paying enough. End the charade. Cancel the court jesters. It’s OVER! They just don’t know it yet. […]
By: Diane Benjamin From time to time even I am shocked by what comes out of the mouths of Aldermen during a City Council meeting. I’m awarding TWO “Seriously?” awards from last night’s party. Since the Special Meeting started at 5:00, I bet food was served. It used to be announced, but it wasn’t listed […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two Council meetings ago one person complemented the Council (during public comment) on how much better they are at working together. Just hit play: . The Council “working together” has gotten taxpayers huge deficit spending and a 1% Sales tax increase. Expect more increases soon. Is their job to “work together” or […]
By: Diane Benjamin Union employees at Mitsubishi Motors accepted a pay cut years ago. Why can’t City employees? This link shows the salary and benefits for 2014: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8482 Comparable to the private sector? Since payroll is a LARGE part of City expenses, how badly do the current employees NOT want to be on the chopping block? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Does anybody else laugh at the New York state commercials? You know, the ones promising new businesses will pay no taxes for 10 years if they move or start a business in New York. Evidently Democrats (NY is run by Democrats) really do know low taxes increase economic activity and create jobs. […]
