By: Diane Benjamin Agenda for tonight: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/cityblm/65c0e1b9-7cc2-11ee-852f-0050569183fa-d969cfc2-89f9-4a31-922c-c0ff80c0370c-1700256371.pdf Remember being told local government units don’t set the Tax Rate? They don’t, but the documentation proves they know what it is going to be. Start reading on PDF page 21. Your taxes are going up to fund police and fire pensions. The rate will go down because […]
By: Diane Benjamin WGLT story on Unit 5 property taxes: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023-11-16/unit-5-proposes-151m-tax-levy-but-plans-to-lower-tax-rate Your property taxes are going up because Unit 5 needs the money. Below is a quote showing the mentality of the people you elected: People buy homes to live in. It doesn’t matter how much more your house is worth if you aren’t planning […]
By: Diane Benjamin The regular agenda had NOTHING on it, the Consent Agenda was passed without any discussion. Since the City doesn’t want controversy at meetings, the two on one meetings held before the Council meets are used to pacify objectors. The video of the meeting is slightly over an hour, half of that was […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council was back to meeting in the Government Center last night. The Committee of the Whole last week was also back. Initially the Council was to meet at the BCPA on July 24th and all 3 August meetings. Note the work wasn’t done until the 10/15 meeting. It appears […]
By: Diane Benjamin It was worth going to a few Tri-Valley School Board meetings to ask for more transparency. I hope someday they decide to live stream meetings! Of course District 87 still doesn’t. The new transparency Tri-Valley is doing is worthless unless people READ what’s being discussed. Evidently nobody read the September 20th Superintendent’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin Keep in mind voters were scared into giving Unit 5 the right to increase tax rates. The below is using the rate Unit 5 charged property owners in 2022. They now have the right to charge you much more regardless of how much the assessed value of your property increased. The below […]
See if you can figure out why: The author is Carl Hinshaw.
By: Diane Benjamin Get ready for your PTAX-228 Notice of Assessment Change. Sit down before you open it! Thanks to the housing shortage prices have been rising fast. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t selling your house – this notice will reflect the prices of other houses that sold for inflated prices. I hear you […]
By: Diane Benjamin McLean County has a new website. I haven’t explored it enough to have an opinion yet. I did notice meetings are listed at the bottom of the Main Menu but documents pertaining to the listed meetings aren’t linked from each announcement. The County has a lot of meetings because the majority of […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tax-Rates.org summarizes property taxes by state. Indiana property tax rates as a percentage of home value is less than half what Illinois is. Of course everyone knows schools drive Illinois property taxes. Indiana School Districts: The largest public school district in Indiana, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is an agile, innovative educational organization […]
By: Diane Benjamin I received a tip a few days ago about layoffs at State Farm. Employees were blindsighted in another department, not claims. It doesn’t matter how long they have been with the company, State Farm is picking who stays and who goes by skillsets. Retaining jobs in McLean County hasn’t been mentioned much […]
By: Diane Benjamin Watch the fresh meat tossed in the water – it’s YOU. City of Bloomington, District 87, and Unit 5 are all holding property tax hearings because they want more of your money! What do all 3 of these have in common? Easy. The people who represent the citizens for all 3 are […]
By: Diane Benjamin See Unit 5’s state report card here: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/District.aspx?source=trends&Districtid=17064005026 Graduation rate is 90% 35% need Community College remediation 30% of 8th Graders pass Algebra 1 26% are chronically truant (90% graduate?) Unit 5 is currently spending $12,000 per student. Unit 5 now wants a tax increase expected to raise $20,000,000. h/t a reader: […]
By: Diane Benjamin 3 HUGE issues you need to consider before you vote: (other issues later) 1) The SAFE-T act is a pro-criminal bill passed by Illinois Democrats and signed by Gov. Pritzker. It will increase crime across Illinois. Any candidates that don’t REJECT this bill don’t need your vote. A DEMOCRAT State’s Attorney has […]
By: Diane Benjamin You have to watch the Kathleen Lorenz video in this story to understand Chris Koos wasn’t listening: https://blnnews.com/2022/05/03/kathleen-now-hears-what-we-hear-when-watching-meetings/ Directly after Lorenz called for unity and better leadership Stan Nord made a Trustee comment. I hope Kathleen was paying attention to Chris Koos’ snide remark when Stan was finished. Kathleen: You saw first […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5 has held 2 events with citizens because they want a tax increase. The last one is virtual tonight: Question that needs answered: Why did salaries increase in 2020: https://blnnews.com/2022/04/01/unit-5-did-esser-funds-inflate-salaries/ The number of employees and students decreased from 2019 but salaries increased over 7%. Was that a planned increase to push […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was in the room yesterday when the 3 person McLean County Electoral Board issued their ruling. The first of the three members who gave her opinion was a Democrat – Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Koll. Koll was adamant that courts where there was clearly no fraud or intent to confuse voters […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just re-elected Normal Trustee Scott Preston has announced he wants to dump Normal for a higher office: He doesn’t live in the District now: Preston didn’t bother to tell voters last April he wasn’t planning on staying around if he wins. Worse, Preston claims to be a Republican while voting at least […]
By: Diane Benjamin Politicians love to hide how your property taxes keep going up. They even claim to keep the tax rate the same – that doesn’t keep your property taxes the same! You get a new assessment letter in the mail every year. Chances are pretty good it went up this year because the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Democrat Party of Illinois isn’t going to reform pensions with a Constitutional Amendment. Next year they do have a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot to hand unions even more power. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/press-releases/what-is-amendment-1-an-illinois-constitutional-amendment-on-the-ballot-next-november/ If local elected officials across the State demanded a Constitutional Amendment to reform pensions, they would prove they care about […]
By: Diane Benjamin Local property values are rising which means your property taxes will be going up based on the new value of your home. Units of government claiming they are keeping the rate the same as last year want you to believe they aren’t raising your taxes. When you bill comes in the mail […]
By: Diane Benjamin You need to see this data for the story I am going to do next. We know property taxes are going up again, but property values are also going up. This will be a double whammy to your bill next year. I picked a random house on Towanda Avenue in Normal: Tax […]
By: Diane Benjamin Three more Performance Fees at the BCPA are on Bills and Payroll tonight: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/27250/637727480979430000 On 11/12/21 there was only 1 show: The Brubeck Brothers Quartet The 11/17/21 was Shake & Holla Only two items are on the Regular Agenda: FY2021 ended 4/30/2021. Seven months later the Financial Statements are released. I wonder […]
By: Diane Benjamin I hope the people around Lexington weren’t told their taxes would go down if a wind farm is built. They won’t, the letter below proves plans are already being made to spend the additional $1.3 million in new taxes. I wonder if the writers know that wind farm money decreases over time. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Attention Mayor Mboka: You don’t have a right to limit speech! Read up, Urbana just paid attorney’s fees to settle a lawsuit against them for doing exactly what you did last night: https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2021/10/urbana-settled-open-meetings-public-comment-lawsuit/ The comment Mboka objected to starts at 25:29. The lady could be called clueless, combative, obnoxious, and probably other […]
By: Diane Benjamin The below information is from the Illinois Comptroller website: https://tinyurl.com/w25h7sk9 Start with the Total OPEB Liability. In TWO years it increased 42.86%. What is OPEB? Other Post Employment Benefits, in other word promises to retired employees other than a pension. The Town of Normal pays these costs as incurred. Unlike the private […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos announced last night the next meeting could be back to in person. Zoom was way more fun except for public comments that couldn’t connect and the “Can you hear me?” chorus. Stan Nord pulled several items from the Omnibus agenda. One was the bills. Koos didn’t want to hear about […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since Chris Koos, Kevin McCarthy, Scott Preston, and Chemberly Cummings want your vote April 6th, does this look like something they would do to get it? The Normal Council held a 9 hour budget session yesterday. Surprise! They aren’t going to raise property taxes this year. Instead they are rearranging money they […]
By: Diane Benjamin Only one Public Comment is worth listening to. Go to 39:40. A guy is upset the Bloomington police post pictures of people of interest on social media hoping the public can help locate or identify the person. Worth listening to for another perspective. This re-zoning got sent back to the Planning Commission. […]
This is Kiplinger, not some conservative outlet trying to play politics: https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/state-tax/601614/least-tax-friendly-states-for-middle-class-families?rid=EML-today&rmrecid=2482908579&utm_campaign=20210126-today&utm_medium=email&utm_source=today Before both Bloomington and Normal decide to raise property taxes, and Unit 5 does again – these were the rates: District 87: 5.144810 City of Bloomington: 1.090100 Unit 5: 5.355410 Town of Normal: 1.032630
By: Diane Benjamin Even though the Financial Statements (CAFR) have been finished for at least a month, they were finally presented last night. The data was uploaded to the Comptroller’s site many weeks ago, why the City couldn’t take the time to release the data is a mystery. The auditor stated Bloomington is overpaying into […]
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 The second installment of your property taxes are due on 9/17. The check you will be writing is higher because of many things, but a BIG one is Tax Increment Financing. TIF’s The Uptown TIF is Normal’s huge one. The 2020 comprehensive report isn’t available yet, so I have to use the […]
By: Diane Benjamin During Tuesday’s night Normal Town Council meeting much was made about the Financial Trends Reports and what a valuable tool it is. This year it isn’t. It recaps what happened from 4/1/2019 through 3/31/2020. Something happened around the time this report ends: Glance through the report. It contains little current information: http://normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/17189/Financial-Trend-and-Condition-Report-FY2019-20 […]
By:Â Diane Benjamin I wonder if Koos and Reece will admit the Executive Orders issued are now dead? Normal for Monday night:Â http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3683 Is this in addition to what taxpayers already pay? Misc: It appears the discussion of paying property taxes by the Town of Normal on property that should be exempt must continue: I […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the property taxes Normal paid Monday night that Pam Reece, Brian Day, and Chris Koos couldn’t explain – or didn’t want to? https://blnnews.com/2020/06/12/more-property-taxes-normal-doesnt-owe/ The parking lot at 100-104 Beaufort is part of the Trail East project. From the Trail East documentation: A link to the above is not included on purpose, […]
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 Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/05/06/pam-reece-needs-to-pay-this-herself/ On May 6th when that story was written both the Adelaide property and the empty lot on Ft. Jesse were labeled taxable on the McLean County Assessor’s website. Ft. Jesse still is, Adelaide has finally been changed. Evidently Normal will continue to pay property taxes on an […]
By: Diane Benjamin Hitler was elected. The people of Germany voted for a socialist because he promised to save them. Democratic Socialism.  Those wanting to re-write history don’t want you to know his party was called: National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Socialists always come to power promising equality and free stuff. It’s easy to get votes […]
By: Diane Benjamin For many years the Town of Normal has raised property taxes by telling you the increases were necessary to fund pensions. They left out one fact. All of the increased taxes for properties located in TIF Districts don’t go to pensions – they go to the TIF. Follow along: This isn’t complicated. […]
