By: Diane Benjamin More on this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/03/11/sharon-chung-screws-normal-taxpayers/. Normal declared war on it’s citizens and uses their money to take them out! The above story shows the people who supported Chung’s bill to legalize Normal’s illegal operation. Since you knew nothing about this bill you couldn’t object. The only reason we know about it now […]
By: Diane Benjamin This pic from the Illinois Municipal League says everything you need to know about them: https://www.iml.org/notices IML refuses to post required information on their website! Yes, they are hiding. They don’t file tax returns either even though their employees receive large pensions: https://blnnews.com/2016/03/29/the-iml-scam/ IML exists to represent government in Springfield, they don’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Check out the P-Card spending starting on PDF page 157: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/28645 Staff is back to traveling, two people went to the IML conference in Chicago. Somehow they didn’t spend as much as the Town of Normal people who went. HR is on an advertising spree for new employees. Currently that link shows […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when CIRBN employees were considered Town of Normal employees with all the same benefits? https://blnnews.com/2021/01/15/can-you-tell-elections-are-coming/ When “professional staff” is your best buddy, all kinds of perks are available! Another “arrangement” you are supposed to ignore: This one involves the Town purchasing insurance from MICA – no bid contract. Review this story […]
By: Diane Benjamin On April 22nd the Illinois House passed HB 2523 116 to 0. For once every Democrat and every Republican agreed: https://ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/102/house/10200HB2523_04222021_027000T.pdf What is HB 2523? This bill amends the language in the original bill that created the Police Officers Pension Investment Fund. Remember when pension funds were consolidated to hopefully perform better? […]
By: Diane Benjamin The only big controversy at the 7:00 meeting was this item: See PDF page 46 for details: https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3974 Stan Nord pulled this item from the Consent Agenda because this spending was not bid as required by code. In other words, Normal has been a member of the MICA pool for decades, therefore […]
By: Diane Benjamin For decades Voter ID laws have been blocked because opponents claim the minority vote would be negatively impacted. Either this isn’t true or the State of Illinois is now discriminating against minorities. January 1st everyone wanting to purchase legal cannabis in Illinois is required to show a government issued ID. Who is […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chemberly Cummings didn’t bother to attend, of course nobody said why. That led to some problems later with only 6 voting members. A tie vote would have meant an item failed. Numerous items were pulled from the Omnibus agenda – all these things used to sail through and were never questioned before […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night Stan Nord proved again why he was elected. His comments weren’t until the end of the Council meeting: 1:49:05. The Town of Normal has leases that do not benefit taxpayers. One of these leases is set to automatically renew in December. I believe he was talking about Wild Country, they […]
By: Diane Benjamin If the City Code doesn’t apply to the City, it doesn’t apply to you either. Right? https://blnnews.com/2019/10/13/bloomington-violates-their-own-code/ If they do meet tonight, here’s what’s on the agenda: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1039&Inline=True The City has already budgeted $100,489.40 for repairs to Oneil Pool. Tonight they are adding $24,900 for sidewalk repairs around the pool. This will […]
By: Diane Benjamin Source: https://www.pjstar.com/news/20190923/pekin-city-council-approves-3-cannabis-sales-tax Excerpts: The Pekin City Council approved an ordinance imposing a 3% sales tax on cannabis sales during Monday’s meeting. The tax will be in addition to other local sales taxes collected by the city. “Collection of municipal sales taxes on the sale of cannabis would not start until September 2020,” […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve written many stories about the Illinois Municipal League. This organization works for cities, not the people paying their bills. This is their latest plan: It all sounds wonderful until you look at the facts. All of these funding numbers come from the Comptroller’s website, the latest numbers for Bloomington and Normal […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve written about the Illinois Municipal league numerous times. If you don’t know much about them, start with this story from 2016: https://blnnews.com/2016/03/29/the-iml-scam/ IML is holding their annual conference in Chicago in September. Many local people will be attending at a cost of at least $310 each. From Bloomington, Tari Renner, Julie […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll: https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=22497 Indoctrination camps, the Illinois Municipal League represents cities, not taxpayers: The Coliseum continues to bleed taxpayers: This is year THREE for the Small Business Development Center. Is anybody asking what has been developed? https://blnnews.com/2018/01/03/knuckleheads/ Option 1 (50/50 split): That the Resolution approving the Small Business Development Center funding […]
By: Diane Benjamin It isn’t a surprise Illinois government wants to tell employers how to run their businesses. Illinois is not participating in the prosperity much of the rest of the country is experiencing because of Illinois government. Now with the legalization of cannabis, drug testing employees could get them sued. Employees have rights to […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Democrats in Springfield went on a taxing spree this spring. That’s what Democrats do, evidently the people of Illinois like being taxed to death. Here’s a tax that hasn’t been talked about much: Bloomington just spent a bunch of money on automatic fee machines, Normal already had them. If they really […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve written many times about the Illinois Municipal League. This story is from March of 2016: https://blnnews.com/2016/03/29/the-iml-scam/ A reader sends me the frequent newsletters sent by IML to government officials. The latest proves they are pro-government, anti-transparency, and anti-citizens. Both Bloomington and Normal love to spend tax dollars attending their events. […]
By: Diane Benjamin HB 0875 is working its way through the Illinois House. SB 0170 is working its way through the Senate. Both bills want the Treasurer is create a Financially Distressed Cities Fund. Both bills ignore Illinois can’t pay its bills. Both also ignore why cities are financially distressed. The biggest driver is pensions that can […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bill and Payroll for 10-18-2018 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=20190 Since the auditing bill is being approved, the financial statements are done. Of course, they aren’t being released yet. Coliseum continues to bleed taxpayers: More PCard fraud-should be easy to see where it happened: TRAVEL: ICMA (City Manager) $866.04 +685.00 and $777.61 last month = total […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal bills for Monday night: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/279242 When your property taxes go up Monday: You will be told the cost of other people’s retirements went up: The real reason is the debt Normal has incurred building utopia. . Look at all the INTEREST payments below in Monday’s packet. They total $1,628,761.92. It gets […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal Town Council tonight: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2745 More proof the Chamber of Commerce is working AGAINST citizens: This is the trip to explore building a sports complex here. Even if it brings tourism dollars to hotels, restaurants, and retail, these are LOW WAGE jobs. Guess who is going to pay for it! One person can’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Previous stories: https://blnnews.com/2017/07/30/do-we-have-a-prosecutor/ https://blnnews.com/2017/07/31/tari-responds/ The City of Bloomington pays a small fortune to be members of the IML (Illinois Municipal League) and attend their conferences. Tari and Jeff Jurgens even spoke last year about the “new media and watchdogs”. I’m sure they have seen this the below. It isn’t me accusing Tari […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night the Normal Town Council defied the Attorney General’s letter and made only minor changes to their Public Comment Policy. They relied on the opinion of their City Attorney Brian Day who formerly worked for the Illinois Municipal League. First, you need to understand what the IML is. See this story: […]
By: Diane Benjamin The agenda for Monday’s meeting was posted on Thursday. The agenda lists the total to be approved for payment in Bills and Payroll. Somehow, even though the City knew what the list was, it wasn’t posted until after 4:30 Friday. Anybody think they are hiding something? See the list HERE Actually a […]
By: Diane Benjamin A few weeks ago City Attorney Jeff Jurgens and Mayor Renner gave a talk at the Illinois Municipal League Conference. The topic was new media. I, of course, made sure I knew someone who would be in the room. The Edgar County Watchdogs and I were discussed at length. This is not […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Illinois Municipal League has a conference in September. The IML is an organization that hasn’t filed tax returns in decades, their top employees got themselves State pensions even though they aren’t State employees, and they lobby Springfield for local governments – and against the citizens paying the bills. See these two […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Bills and Payroll for Monday night: Page 113 http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11064 ADMIN City Council Exp IL Municipal League $ 310.00 07/13/16 IML Reg ‐ D.Hauman ADMIN City Council Exp IL Municipal League $ 165.00 07/13/16 IML Reg ‐ M. Mwilambwe ADMIN City Council Exp IL Municipal League $ 310.00 07/19/16 IML Reg ‐ […]
By: Diane Benjamin This story expands the previous post: https://blnnews.com/2016/06/27/tari-sees-objects-ripe-for-fleece/ I have emails from Aldermen Diana Hauman and Jim Fruin, Mayor Renner, and JAMES. I believe that JAMES is James Jordan, member of the Liquor Commission. I have MANY emails written by Jim Fruin over the past few years – none of them say JAMES. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner and David Hales love to tout the greatness of the Illinois Municipal League. From the IML website: The Illinois Municipal League is the formal voice for Illinois municipalities. The League was founded in 1913 and has worked continuously for the benefit of municipalities, promoting competence and integrity in administration of […]
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