By: Diane Benjamin If you thought Unit 5 was bad, wait for the City of Bloomington! They are projecting ending the year with $51 million in reserves. Inflation has been devastating to citizens, credit card debt is record high. Government is fine, you aren’t. If Tim Gleason didn’t have the votes for this it wouldn’t […]
by: Diane Benjamin Evidently the City Council was told they can’t discuss approving the second pot dispensary or they might get sued. The State legalized it, the State handed a license to guys who mostly (if not all) live in California , the Zoning Board of Appeals approved the location, so the Council was expected […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1119&Inline=True Bloomington won’t be voting on the changes to your garbage service presented last Monday. It didn’t make the agenda, actually not much made the agenda. The Council will still be meeting virtually but most of the Local Emergency Ordinance is being cancelled. See PDF page 179 and following. Of course the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Spending priorities at the City of Bloomington have ZERO to do with what citizens expect them to fund: Police, Fire, Water, Sewer, Storm Water, Roads. If they could get by with taxing you for calling 911 they would. The City of Bloomington created Enterprise Funds to make it easier to take more […]
By: Diane Benjamin It wasn’t a smart move by the City of Bloomington to pretend to deny my FOIA request for the event recap of the Naked Magicians show because it was posted on the website. As I reported, no event reports between February 2018 and November 2018 have been posted – just the one […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal has done the same thing with Enterprise Funds that Bloomington did. Segregate funds, like water, and then insist the fund pays for itself. These essential services were formally funded by taxes you already paid. You continue to pay all the old taxes, but new taxes are levied for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin More than one story will be needed to cover the meetings. First some unusual items: Karen Schmidt motioned at the beginning of the meeting to take hiring the development manager for the BCPA off the agenda and move it to a Committee of the Whole meeting or Work Session. Alderman Bray pulled […]
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/ […]
By: Diane Benjamin When you pick progressives to run your City you will pay more in taxes. You picked their vision to “keep moving Bloomington forward”. Fiscal responsibility and Needs before Wants aren’t ever discussed. Send this article to the local leftists so they know what progress looks like: Why Are Liberal Cities So Unaffordable Alderman […]
By: Diane Benjamin I get delicious free water from a well. You folks in town have to pay for it. I bet you think your government priced that water according to what it cost them to bring it to your house. You might even be okay if they added a little to the price to […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this post from earlier today: https://blnnews.com/2017/02/23/administration-and-robbing-enterprise-funds/ The City is using money you pay for essential services as their own personal piggy bank. Taking this money allows them to spend it on pet projects, it’s not going to roads. Remember the Council authorized David Hales to spend up to $50,000 without Council […]
By: Diane Benjamin I started this project to show how much David Hales has increased spending on Administration. The 2017 budget numbers could be immaterial since spending over budget could be happening. The 4/30/2016 financial statements are still a secret, the 2017 statements won’t be available until at least October. All of the page numbers […]
By: Diane Benjamin See Part 1 here: https://blnnews.com/2016/08/03/finally-some-data/ The below is from data posted on the City of Bloomington website by the Finance Department. From Page 9: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=10958 Sewer and Storm water fees will be your next tax increase. You could get a garbage increase too. A summary of Sewer and Storm Water operations is […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the detailed budget here: FY 2017 Budget Detail The document can be searched – if you want more information on any item Click Edit – Find and type the exact words in the Search Box. This looks like more signs pointing downtown: Wayfinding signage – adding $100,000 More consultants: Downtown Parking […]
By: Diane Benjamin Monday night the Council is holding a Work Session to hear the results of the Fee study. See the packet information here: Fee Study Enterprise Funds were created to raise taxes. Solid waste pickup was included in the taxes you already paid just 10 short years ago. Monday night the Council will […]
By: Diane Benjamin Sick of hearing about Solid Waste funding yet? The Council has been discussing it since at least 2013! Don’t worry, it will end soon when fees are raised again. The neighbor wars are going to be great. Somebody dumps junk in front of your house and you get the bill. You […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has the following Enterprise Funds: Water, Solid Waste, Sewer, Coliseum, Stormwater Management, & Golf/Parking. Enterprise Funds were established to break even – meaning citizens pay for the services they use. It’s not working out that way. http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9336 Page 52: These numbers are the actual Net Cash reported for […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Coliseum has been borrowing money from the City. You pay more for water than it costs the City, so excess money is sitting in that fund. At least some of it has gone to cover the losses at the Coliseum. These numbers are straight from the City Financial Statements at the […]
