By: Diane Benjamin Ever heard “Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves”? The Town of Normal is not only not “watching the pennies”, they aren’t watching dollars either. (YOUR DOLLARS) These bills are “presented” for Monday night – nobody is suppose to ask questions. Start with the One Uptown Circle Rent. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal has 5 TIF (Tax Increment Financing) districts. The theory is economic development can be spurred by government investing money and then using the increased tax receipts to repay bonds. It’s gambling with your money because if development doesn’t happen at high enough rates to repay what is borrowed, taxpayers get the […]
By: Diane Benjamin We live in a capitalist country. It’s called individual freedom to succeed or fail. The individual is the most important factor in success, the “collective” has no part in capitalism. Individuals must be free to make their own decisions. Capitalism doesn’t see genders, race, sexual orientation or any other tags used to […]
By: Diane Benjamin Would you prefer an adequate number of Lifeguards on duty when you take your kids to the pool, or a historic building benefiting one lady? If the taxpayers in Normal knew all the facts concerning the “historic” property at 305 Pine St, they might consider it a waste of their money. Let’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin The One Normal Plaza TIF began 10/19/2009. Luckily, all the TIF reports are on-line. To make it easy, I posted them all here: 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 The purpose of a TIF is to cure blighted areas. The Town gets to keep any increases in property taxes in the […]
