Tag: CITY OF BLOOMINGTON

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Weren’t we told there is a drought and water needs conserved?

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 […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

What’s the real Ty Carlton story?

By: Diane Benjamin Remember this story? https://blnnews.com/2024/02/21/bloomington-police-sergeant-fired/ I filed more FOIA’s I didn’t write about. I got emails that said nothing, some pages were totally redacted. Some emails had the text redacted. I received text messages that were also hearvily redacted and didn’t say who was texting who. Re-reading them it appears Ty’s wife and […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

What really happened with PATH

By: Diane Benjamin I only got involved because the director of Recycling Furniture for Families contacted me since funding was cut off without a good explanation. Everyone was blaming PATH for failure to file grant applications. This resulted in loss of funding for numerous organizations and jobs at PATH when funding for hotline employees was […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington advertises a Demon

By: Diane Benjamin Is the City this desperate to get people downtown? I bet the City won’t be advertising any religious Christian activities – even if they are downtown. On Facebook: . Per Google search – they did the highlighting: See the irony in Krampus originating in Germany?

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Did the City of Bloomington make a campaign contribution?

By: Diane Benjamin Tax dollars, actually fake money that doesn’t really exist, was given out for this: I appreciate the local democrats publicly saying they got improvements with tax dollars. Your landlord invested in the PARTY? Taxpayers did but they never agreed! I hope the rent went up substantially. Do democrats know the Feds spent […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Property tax increases explained

By: Diane Benjamin Why are many local governments holding tax hearings? Here’s the legal reason: (35 ILCS 200/18-56)    Sec. 18-56. Legislative purpose. The purpose of this Law is to require taxing districts to disclose by publication and to hold a public hearing on their intention to adopt an aggregate levy in amounts more than 105% of the amount […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington Tax Hearing tonight!

By: Diane Benjamin PDF page 4 https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/28699/638052450340400000 Bloomington is projecting General Fund Reserves at the end of the year (4-30-2023) of: $34,494,213 PDF page 469: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1108&Inline=True In case that number shows up too small to read, the projected General Fund Balance less than a year ago (4-30-2022) was: $24,296,676 That represents an increase in Reserves […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington needs to explain this:

By: Diane Benjamin Yes, I received this list by FOIA. Below is a list of properties where water appears to be shut off because there aren’t any current bills, at least that’s the policy. They all show past due amounts over 120 days. If even the first 10 pages (49 per page) have water shut […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Disgusting Roads Bloomington!

By: Diane Benjamin I had to run into town this morning, the County roads have some snow pack but not slush. Bloomington’s roads are an adventure in survival. Prospect by Schnucks is inches of slush. I was only on main roads, I can’t say any of them were “cleared”. Just to top that: Gas was […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Clearing snow in Bloomington-trails first

By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington on-line map looks better this morning than it did last night, there was A LOT more gray yesterday: https://www.cityblm.org/services/snow-removal-status-map These pics are from yesterday, the homeowner lives on the east side. The trail is cleared, the street hasn’t been touched:

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

City of Bloomington and the jab

By: Diane Benjamin Why would any organization willing comply with tyranny? Follow the money! We used to be a country where individuals were allowed to make decisions for themselves, government is using COVID to forever change that to: Do What I Say. The City of Bloomington issued the below: When were HIPAA Laws repealed? Why […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Top local MONTHLY pensions

By: Diane Benjamin All Illinois government salaries and pensions can be found from this link: https://www.openthebooks.com/illinois/#School%20District Every time a unit of government hires additional staff or provides lavish salaries, the pension costs go up. They know it doesn’t matter because YOU will be forced to pay by law. Your “public servants”. This one is interesting, […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Where did this come from?

By: Diane Benjamin Veterans Parkway and Route 9: My FOIA Request: This statement was included: None of the documents I received have the name of who is inquiring with Prairie Signs to build these. Mostly what I received are drawings. Below is an example, it’s HUGE: Roads can’t get fixed, but you just might be […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Fly on the Wall: Bloomington

Is that the upper echelon of management at City of Bloomington in full panic mode? They just now found out there is an election next week? They just heard they should be prepared for chaos? Oops, this might be a secret. . . . . .

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington expects you to kneel

Below are the rules for restaurants and bars planning to open in Bloomington.  They are REQUIRED to REGISTER with the City.  Of course it includes threats too.  At Monday’s meeting this wasn’t going to be rushed, evidently they changed their mind. 

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington does comedy – AGAIN

By:  Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington likes to pretend they are transparent.  They even have a transparency portal on their website:  http://www.cityblm.org/government/transparency One of the items listed is: As I’ve written before, the BCPA documents are mostly non-existent unless I FOIA them.  https://blnnews.com/2019/02/14/it-a-secret-bcpa-creativity-center/ These are the event reports currently on the City website, there […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Part 3 – Nikita Richards

By:  Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Code has a section on ethics for employees, it is patterned after the State Ethics Act:   http://www.cityblm.org/government/codes-ordinances/city-code Excerpt: To find out what activities are prohibited, see the State Ethics law:     http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs5.asp?ActID=2529&ChapterID=2 This is the definition of Prohibited Political Activities from that link: There is more, but that’s enough […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Please explain why Nikita Richards has a job!

By:  Diane Benjamin Part 1 See Part 2 here:   https://blnnews.com/2018/08/30/part-2-nikita-richards/ See Part 3 here:  https://blnnews.com/2018/08/30/part-3-nikita-richards/ This was the job Nikita used to have, maybe still does: Nikita’s LinkedIn page shows NDR and Running for McLean County Clerk, but doesn’t mention she works for the City of Bloomington:   There is a description of what NDR Communications does […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

City Vending Machines – Is it party money?

By:  Diane Benjamin Earlier this month the City of Bloomington claimed the Public Works party was financed with employee money from vending machine profits:   https://blnnews.com/2018/06/04/party-at-public-works/ I FOIA’d the City vending machine contracts, of course my FOIA was extended.  Yesterday I received two contracts dated in 2004. This one is for vending machine products other than […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Guest Editorial – Report on candidates

Note:  The search firm used by Bloomington, GovHR, also found David Hales for Joliet.  They neglected to tell the Joliet Council about the pending Coliseum prosecutions that happened under Hales’ watch.  What are they not telling Bloomington about the two candidates they presented? _____________________________________________________________________ A quick review: Citizens were given the opportunity to meet the […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington’s Monday Food, Travel, and more

By:  Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll for 5/29/2018  http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=17800 See page 86-93.  All the NEGATIVE numbers mean they spent more than was budgeted for that area. It’s illegal to spend what isn’t budgeted without Council approval.  If I have time I may investigate further. Note:  Remember all Tari’s free lunches he claimed were for City business?  […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Is Renner delusional?

By:  Diane Benjamin Tari Renner was on WJBC this morning with Scott Laughlin.  Scott asked Tari about pension funding. Tari had to mention the pension funding award he accepted several years ago.  Pension funding was neglected for many years so Bloomington could do fun stuff like the BCPA and the Coliseum.  When Tari was elected […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Tossing Money – Bloomington

By:  Diane Benjamin Bloomington has done nothing to stop employees from “spiking” their pensions.  Besides collecting a higher pension for life at taxpayer expense, taxpayers are forced to pay penalties to cover the increased cost. The “spiking” comes from accumulating unused sick days.  Bloomington has changed the policy for new hires, but they refuse to […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Normal Township’s fuzzy math

See the comments, they borrowed money.  More debt!   By:  Diane Benjamin Continuing this story from yesterday:    https://blnnews.com/2018/04/30/townships-the-hidden-government/ The WAREHOUSE was created by the Illinois Comptroller’s office to give citizens access to local government financial information.  It is much easier to read than whatever local units of government call financial statements.  It would be a […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Surprises on Bloomington’s Agenda!

By:  Diane Benjamin The packet for Monday is 877 pages!  I’m sure the Council will read every word:   http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=16340 PDF page 294: Remember how Tari claimed he wasn’t interested in the west-side sports complex? Evidently Normal didn’t like paying the full cost of the study.  Since it won’t be downtown, maybe Tari wants the Council […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

What’s wrong with Bloomington?

By:  Diane Benjamin Everybody knows the streets aren’t being fixed.  Bloomington can’t even find money in the budget (that has skyrocketed under Tari Renner) to invest in infrastructure.   https://blnnews.com/2018/03/26/nice-pantagraph/ They will happily raise your taxes though to pay for a couple of roads.  Yesterday we learned there was a “disconnect” ordering tickets for the One […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Why City employees cost so much (revised)

By:  Diane Benjamin At tonight’s City Council meeting ratification of a contract for Sergeant and Lieutenants is on the consent agenda. They will be getting retroactive raises back to May 1, 2017: PDF page 92:   http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=16030 PDF page 142 shows the previous contract wage increases were 1.5%. PDF page 149 still has Sick Leave Buy Back! […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Your Tax Dollars at work

By:  Diane Benjamin More info at:  https://www.bnbiz.org/news/one-voice-projects-set-march-trip/ One Voice in Washington DC begging for money – $1,600 each plus other expenses:

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington Budget Workshop Saturday

By:  Diane Benjamin Source for below: https://blnnews.com/2017/03/11/the-budget-workshop-that-wasnt/ Tari Renner is the problem: Tari was elected in 2013.  That budget was already done. The Renner exploding budgets started in 2014. 2018 is the budget currently in place. Bloomington shows NO sign of understanding the local economy is declining.  They are planning to keep spending and fleecing. […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Pothole FAIL

By:  Diane Benjamin I was in town this morning dodging potholes because errands made me cross Veterans Parkway.  I try to never do that! Before any of my critics comment, I wasn’t driving when I shot this video – I was PARKED.   This is a City of Bloomington crew working on East Oakland Avenue. The guy […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Can the Council finally do their job?

By:  Diane Benjamin Five aldermen stopped the welcoming ordinance meeting for next week.  More important are the names of the aldermen who didn’t sign the request to stop the waste of time and money:  Scott Black, Amelia Buragas, Diana Hauman, and Jamie Mathy Maybe now the Council’s full attention can be working on the budget.  […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Admitting Guilt?

By:  Diane Benjamin All elected and appointed officials are required by law to file a Statement of Economic Interest.  They all have to file by May 1st of EVERY year.   Filing is not only required by law, it’s vital so citizens can see the people supposedly working for them don’t have undisclosed conflicts of interest. […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bond NOT being paid from road funds

By:  Diane Benjamin It has taken weeks to get an answer from the City, but we finally know the $10,000,000 bond payments for roads are not coming out of the Motor Fuel Tax or 1/4% Sales Tax that is dedicated to roads.  Payments are made from the General Fund: It doesn’t change the fact that […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington (questionable) spending

By:  Diane Benjamin Monday’s Bills and Payroll:  http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15550 More spiked pension expense: More Interest-Free loans? I don’t care how great the cause is, what statute allows the City to hand out your money to people they chose?  Most people call this vote-buying: More handouts:  I’m guessing the City if buying tickets to a Chamber event for […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

State Farm News!

By:  Diane Benjamin State Farm has an Employees Activities group, it sounds similar to the City of Bloomington except the activities aren’t during working hours.  One activity I know they organize is golf tournaments. This message was on the SFEA site today: The SFEA area is going through a redesign and all SFEA activities for […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Retreat: Part 2

By:  Diane Benjamin The second session of the retreat was 3 hours and 33 minutes.  I DID NOT LISTEN TO EVERY SECOND!  I jumped around and listened to more than half.  It was obvious Quality of Life is not going to be in proposed cuts.  The discussion involved real spending for the first time in […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Fun Facts (or not so fun facts)

By:  Diane Benjamin Bloomington population:  78,005 Normal Population:  54,264 Bloomington Total Budget:  $214,126,710 PDF Page 2:  http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=13155 Normal Total Budget:  $107,133,177 PDF Page 15   http://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/11571 Normal has 30% fewer citizens. Normal budgets 50% of what Bloomington does. Bloomington spends $2,745 for every citizens Normal spends $1,974 for every citizen Bloomington total debt 4/30/16:  270,629,828 http://warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com/ProcessSearchResults.cfm?DisplayMode=GETAFR&AFRDesiredData=Indebtedness&Code=064/025/30&CFY=2016&Menu=Yes&PrintIt=No 4/30/17 information […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

More on Bloomington Roads

By:  Diane Benjamin If I hadn’t been out of town this weekend, I would have written A LOT more on the Pantagraph story that attempted to make you believe the Bloomington roads are getting better.  It’s really difficult to compose story on a cell phone, so I left a lot of details to readers:  https://blnnews.com/2017/09/24/more-pantagraph-conspires-with-city/ […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

More Pantagraph conspires with City

By. Diane Benjamin Today the Pantagraph lauded the $3.8 million Bloomington is spending on streets.  Seems like rewriting history so people think the streets are getting better is the goal of both Bloomington and the so called press. Why?  Because both want downtown spending, not silly things citizens want like the roads fixed! See their […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

You can afford it!

By:  Diane Benjamin The Council is going to vote next Monday to raise your sewer and storm water rates much faster than originally presented.  After all, this Council is fixing what previous Councils ignored – essential services.  Even though voting on items not on the agenda isn’t allowed, the council took a “straw poll” on […]