By: Diane Benjamin https://illinoiscomptroller.gov Data Bloomington submitted I’m using Bloomington’s numbers they sent to the Controller’s office: Population: 2023: 78,864 2024: 78,587 2025: 78,680 Number of Employees 2023: Full time: 665 Part time: 542 2024: Fill time: 687 Part time: 569 2025: Full time: 678 Part time: 1,111 Salary Paid to All Employees: 2023: $58,611,055 […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Jeff Fritzen’s case against the Town of Normal and High Haven for how the special use permit was approved got tossed out of court: https://www.25newsnow.com/2024/01/04/judge-throws-out-ex-normal-town-councilmans-cannabis-dispensary-lawsuit/?outputType=amp Hilarious quote from the judge: Judge Foley wrote: “Case law is clear that a home rule municipality is not bound by its own procedures, unless in doing so the […]
By: Diane Benjamin In case you didn’t know, the Town of Normal took $81,018 out of the Water Enterprise Fund to buy snow plow equipment. The plows could have easily been paid for out of general reserves, but the Town chose to use the money you pay for the delivery of water instead. https://blnnews.com/2022/03/11/3-things-normal-doesnt-understand-but-citizens-must/ The […]
By: Diane Benjamin Mailboxes in Normal are being flooded with fancy large mailers supporting Scott Preston, Kevin McCarthy, and Chris Koos urging votes for the incumbents on the Normal Town Council. The Illinois Realtor Fund Super PAC is paying for them. This group must not know what they are supporting: https://illinoissunshine.org/committees/25064/ Illinois Sunshine not only […]
By: Diane Benjamin Moodys doesn’t have Normal at a AAA credit rating. Their rating is still really good – AA1. (Bloomington is AA2). I can’t post link because an account needs to be created, you can create on for free at moodys.com Fitch rating services have a different story – Their rating for Normal is […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington and the Town of Normal gets by with throwing away your money because they are HOME RULE. They both need their HOME RULE status revoked! All it takes is a referendum. Yes, these are $909.00 cookies for City employees for St Patrick’s Day! See […]
By: Diane Benjamin If the Comptroller’s office ever does their job, comprehensive TIF reports will be available. So far they don’t have the software completed to allow entry of information. Information from 3/13/17 for Normal and 4/30/17 for Bloomington isn’t complete. Normal’s 3/31/17 financial statements: http://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/12750 PDF page 30: The Uptown TIF Fund reported a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Fitch hasn’t changed Bloomington’s credit rating from AA+, but you need to understand why. See the story here: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fitch-affirms-bloomington-ils-gos-182900665.html They seem to have miss the local RISING unemployment rate, even though the story does mention Mitsubishi closing. The article has much more information. I’m sure Mayor Renner will tout his great management. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari was on WJBC again this morning: Tari Renner Bloomington Mayor 8-10-16 Starting around 12:40 Tari discusses the Liquor Commission yet again. Kudos to Scott Laughlin for questioning some of Tari’s statements. Tari is trying to justify the Open Meetings Act violations by using State Law. He seems to forget Bloomington is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last week Governor Rauner signed the Local Government Travel Expense Control Act. See it here: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=88&GA=99&DocTypeId=HB&DocNum=4379&GAID=13&LegID=93136&SpecSess=&Session= Here are some highlights: One problem: It doesn’t apply to Home Rule cities – Both Bloomington and Normal are Home Rule. Heartland and the local schools will have to comply. If Bloomington and Normal cared about […]
By: Diane Benjamin January 1st the local Sales TAX is going up 1%, just because. Maybe this chart from the Bloomington financial statements explains it: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9336 Page 175 Tax receipts have been declining for two years. Instead of spending less money to compensate for an obvious economy in decline, the City of Bloomington raised the […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader found this in the Illinois Municipal Code: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?DocName=006500050HArt.+11+Div.+67&ActID=802&ChapterID=14&SeqStart=200000000&SeqEnd=201100000 (65 ILCS 5/11-67-1) (from Ch. 24, par. 11-67-1) Sec. 11-67-1. Subject to a referendum vote, any municipality having a population of 75,000 or less, may acquire, construct, manage, control, maintain, and operate within its corporate limits a municipal coliseum with all necessary […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last July I compared taxes in Bloomington to Champaign: http://blnnews.com/2015/07/30/taxes-how-about-the-truth/ Champaign doesn’t tax everything possible like Bloomington. Here is Peoria: http://www.peoriagov.org/content/uploads/2012/11/Tax_Rate_Schedule.pdf Peoria, Illinois 1.50% County of Peoria, Illinois .50% Infrastructure Maintenance Fee 1% Gas & LP: Peoria, Illinois 1.50% County of Peoria, Illinois .50% City of Peoria MF (remitted directly to City) […]
