By: Diane Benjamin Even though the Financial Statements (CAFR) have been finished for at least a month, they were finally presented last night. The data was uploaded to the Comptroller’s site many weeks ago, why the City couldn’t take the time to release the data is a mystery. The auditor stated Bloomington is overpaying into […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve written before about Trustee Karyn Smith stating at a Council meeting and in emails the Town of Normal has close to 450 miles of roads. She even compared it to driving to Cairo Il and back. Actually it’s 289 miles to Cairo, so that example is an exaggeration. Round trip would […]
by: Diane Benjamin First a little history. From the Pantagraph How Time Flies 1/21/2020: Have your property taxes gone down? Responsible adults know being able to make the payments is not a good philosophy to live by. If you want to make the neighbors jealous by living in a mansion with two expensive vehicles parked […]
By: Diane Benjamin Much of the meeting was spent talking about the 3/31/2020 financial statements and the financial trends report. Neither are on-line yet, so they aren’t worth discussing much here. Many accolades were thrown at staff for doing a good job preparing for the audit. I agree, but isn’t that what they get paid […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=15344 This statement is in a letter to Mayor Renner delivering the completed financial statements as of April 30, 2017: The letter is signed by David Hales and Patti-Lynn Silva. Director of Finance. Since Hales is gone, Patti-Lynn needs to explain why the financial statements weren’t released until December – 8 months […]
By: Diane Benjamin We used to get lots of interesting information in the City Manager’s monthly reports. The City Manager quit doing them because the reports showed information the City didn’t want you to know – like monthly tax receipts and library traffic. The financial statements the City just got around to releasing from almost […]
By: Diane Benjamin Correction – approving Bills and payroll isn’t on the agenda, so they have nothing to pay! Surprise! http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-500 Bills and Payroll is not posted for tonight’s meeting. The last time the City failed to post this days in advance of the meeting, a plane ticket for the mayor’s girlfriend was included. What […]
By: Diane Benjamin On Saturday I reported the 4/30/17 financial statements for the City of Bloomington still haven’t been released, but the City did submit them to the Comptroller’s office last October: https://blnnews.com/2017/12/09/transparent-illegal-all-of-the-above/ The Comptroller’s office now has them posted: See them HERE Tons of interesting easy to read info is available, including comparisons for 3 […]
By: Diane Benjamin When the new and re-elected members of the City Council were sworn it last May 1st, no agenda was posted: http://www.cityblm.org/government/advanced-components/documents/-folder-499/-npage-5 If you watch the video, Tari called the meeting to order anyway, see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfeOZOEU6xs This is the meeting where an illegal oath of office was given. Now that the City […]
By: Diane Benjamin CLEAN audits mean nothing! Dixon Illinois got taken for $50,000,000 with CLEAN audits. Forensic Audits find fraud, regular yearly audits only mean the numbers are in the right columns. Thanks Pantagraph for printing what you were told. Why were the Bloomington financial statements released REALLY late? Tonight the Council will hear information […]
By: Diane Benjamin All of the information below is from the Illinois Comptroller’s website. See it HERE Would you invest in a company that fails to issue Financial Reports? Why would anybody invest in Bloomington – they haven’t issued last year’s statements yet. Tonight there will be a presentation on how this year is going […]
See UPDATE: HERE By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington is required to file the Annual Report and TIF reports with the Illinois Comptroller’s office. See this message on the Comptroller’s website for Bloomington: Source The original due date was in October, the City filed for an extension until 12/26/2016. They missed the deadline and […]
By: Diane Benjamin The taxpayers of Bloomington have no idea how much the Coliseum LOST last year because the City doesn’t want you to know. The year-end for the Coliseum was April 30th, no income and expense information has been released. (normally it is released in October) The Coliseum was a mess, so the City […]
by Diane Benjamin From the Financial Statements – finally issued – 4/31/2012 Page 5: The City is governed by a City Council elected on a non-partisan basis composed of nine Council members and a Mayor. The City Council is responsible to enact ordinances, resolutions, and regulations which govern the City, adopt the annual budget, as […]
