By: Diane Benjamin A non-profit called Truth In Accounting rated every state in a report called Financial State of the States: Top and bottom states: . Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri all received a “B” rating. Illinois got an “F”. A “B” rating means those states have a budget surplus. An “F” means an unbalanced […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just living in Illinois means citizens are required to fund pension without asking any questions. You should at least know how the funds are performing. Normal’s last year wasn’t great. These numbers are as of 3/31/2024 which is Normal’s year end. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) will require higher contributions since it […]
From Truth in Accounting – each of you owes $49,500 because the wrong Constitutional Amendment is on the ballot. Fixing unfunded pension liability isn’t as important as giving unions more taxing power. Vote NO to Amendment 1 and NO to the people who did this to you:
By: Diane Benjamin http://normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/17188/CAFR20-FINAL-DOC From Normal’s just issued financial statements as of 3/31/2020: Note the Long-Term total debt – $224,909,947. It increased more than $25 million in 1 year. What makes up that debt? $84,320,000 is bond debt, the IEPA loan doesn’t have interest expense. PDF page 31 Below is a chart showing the biggest […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below are the same charts I used in the Bloomington Debt story: https://blnnews.com/2019/12/31/bloomington-debt-2/ Liabilities – Government Activities – Due beyond one year: Source 3/31/19 – $183,410,936 3/31/18 – $171,607,747 3/31/17 – 173,618,828 As of March 31, 2019 Source IMRF pension liability : $ 20,832,186 Police pension liability; $ 35,840,310 Fire pension […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington has finally posted the 4/30/19 financial statement. OPEB = Other Post Employment Benefits Both Bloomington and Normal are in more debt now because of pensions and OPEB. Bloomington has almost $231,000,000 in long term debt and growing Normal has more than $186,000,000 in long term debt and growing. Illinois isn’t even […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve heard from numerous sources State Farm is not done downsizing their workforce. If local governments don’t tighten their belts, the flight of residents will do it for them. These numbers were complied from what Normal reported to the Comptroller’s office: Source: Normal – Warehouse Note the number of employees. Remember […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader asked me yesterday what the debt for the City of Bloomington looks like since Tari Renner became mayor. Another reader did the research for me. Below are two tables he sent to me: Source: PDF page 36 http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=12330 . Source: PDF page 33 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=7479 The biggest difference between the two […]
