By: Diane Benjamin Illinois government not only collects a Gas Tax per gallon, they also get Sales Tax. They really hate when the price of gas drops because their revenue drops too. Gas tax: $0.483 per gallon https://tax.illinois.gov/research/taxrates/motorfuel.html In case you forgot what this tax used to be: . That is an 87% in 6 years. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night’s meeting will take at least one more story. I don’t know when I will get to another story, so stay tuned. Bloomington voted unanimously to suspend payment of the 0.25% sales tax to the county for at least one year, intended for mental health services—primarily because the county holds more […]
by: Diane Benjamin Hudson Il on Sunday: 20 miles north of the Illinois border – Clinton Wisconsin Friday: Belvidere Il – Sunday. Unleaded $3.95 (south of the above) Costco was by far the winner: Other area stations were at $3.389. We didn’t see any gas over $3.60 anywhere in Wisconsin. Both the Wisconsin Sales Tax […]
By: Diane Benjamin It was nice to see everyone back in the same room last night and not mumbling through masks! While inflation is raging and gas prices are wiping out disposable income, Jeff Crabill sees increased revenues to the City as a pot of gold. He claims there were things they couldn’t do in […]
By: Diane Benjamin DON’T buy a vehicle now if your trade-in is worth more than $10,000. Update to this 2019 story: https://blnnews.com/2019/07/19/new-illinois-vehicle-tax-is-class-warfare/ As of January 1, 2020 most vehicles traded in worth more than $10,000 didn’t get to use the entire trade value to reduces sales tax on the purchased vehicle. On January 1, 2022 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Maybe they should at least pass a common sense test before subjecting us to their less than thought out plans. Here’s an example from Jesse White’s Secretary of State Office: If you bought a car and applied for plates you used to get a cardboard plate that was screwed on until your […]
By: Diane Benjamin Other items from Monday’s meeting could be covered, but I won’t! Links to all previous stories are here: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/08/story-6-normal-monday/ Isaac Thorne and Julie Hile made a presentation. Start with this screen shot: Thorne proved Pritzker’s budget is a joke by relying on a $5 billion bailout from the Feds AND the citizens […]
By: Diane Benjamin I asked District 87 for missing receipts. Asking is a waste of time – they evidently don’t exist. One policy I’ve had from the beginning, screw with me and I will post what I have. I don’t care if the offenders have an explanation, District 87 had a chance to comply and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Start on page 69 Same procedure as the previous article, if you missed it read it first. You won’t want to miss how much Barry Reilly spends on coffee: https://blnnews.com/2019/06/13/district-87-how-about-some-current-spending/ See what was received by FOIA for this month: 04-2019 Buying local doesn’t apply to District 87. Some of these charges do […]
By: Diane Benjamin Back in 2015 I did a story with this screen shot from the City website: https://blnnews.com/2015/05/13/karch-what-used-to-be-on-the-website/ Who was Mayor in 2000 when ZERO was spent on roads? Judy Markowitz. Mike Matejka was on the Council, and Tom Hamilton was City Manager. Minutes are not available on the City website. Of course the […]
By: Diane Benjamin I attended the Atlanta Public Library Board meeting last night. One thing is clear, the Board needs replaced and every vestige of Bill Thomas needs eliminated. Keep in mind, the crowd opposing this board stopped them from paying Bill Thomas (BOARD MEMBER) $200,000 for Union Hall. The have every right to watch […]
By: Diane Benjamin In 2015 both Bloomington and Normal increased the local Sales Tax 1%. The people least able to pay more, the poor, were attacked again with more taxes. Part of the reason given was to give money to the County for Mental Health Services, actually it was to pay for the jail expansion. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Every once in a while I have to clean up some files. I found a FOIA request I received in December of 2015. It clearly shows that John Butler and CIAM pretended they had no responsibility to the City of Bloomington and the taxpayers forced to cover their losses. I remember filing […]
By: Diane Benjamin We used to get lots of interesting information in the City Manager’s monthly reports. The City Manager quit doing them because the reports showed information the City didn’t want you to know – like monthly tax receipts and library traffic. The financial statements the City just got around to releasing from almost […]
By: Diane Benjamin Atlanta Illinois Is cash missing or are Sales Taxes just underpaid? An investigation was done by an Atlanta resident based on information she received under the Freedom of Information Act. From April 2016 through October 2017 she found Cash Register Sales were higher by $36,646 than what was reported to the State […]
By: Diane Benjamin If I hadn’t been out of town this weekend, I would have written A LOT more on the Pantagraph story that attempted to make you believe the Bloomington roads are getting better. It’s really difficult to compose story on a cell phone, so I left a lot of details to readers: https://blnnews.com/2017/09/24/more-pantagraph-conspires-with-city/ […]
By: Diane Benjamin Source: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14181 The 2017 year ended for the City of Bloomington last April 30th. We are most likely MONTHS away from seeing real financial statements, late is what governments do and the private sector would never tolerate. I did find a glimpse into what they will say – see the link above. […]
Evidently WJBC isn’t doing podcasts today – no Karch interview available. By: Diane Benjamin Kevin Lower ran for mayor on fixing the streets. Tari did too but, but unlike Lower – Tari wasn’t telling you the truth. This morning, Public Works director Jim Karch was on WJBC. The ONLY money Bloomington is spending on streets […]
By: Diane Benjamin I heard Chris Koos and company went to DC A DAY EARLY for the One Voice trip. Why did they go a day early? To get grants for themselves? The rest of the group DIDN’T know, didn’t that destroy the unity purpose! (ONE VOICE – nope, just a bunch of voices wanting […]
By: Diane Benjamin The anonymous editorial writer at the Pantagraph jumped in this week to proclaim the greatness of Bloomington and Normal sharing Sales Tax. Citizens are being set up! Normal has 5 TIF districts that are costing them A LOT of money because revenues generated aren’t paying the interest and principle on all the […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you don’t pay attention to how Normal and Bloomington operate, once they start talking publicly about anything it’s already a done deal. Both Councils are stacked, so Renner and Koos can easily talk them into the latest declared “best practice”. Independent thoughts are too rare matter. Have some lunch. Here’s what […]
By: Diane Benjamin If your bank charged you an almost 100% penalty for paying late, what would government do? Payday loans have capped interest rates to protect borrowers. Not so much for government A family I know bought a vehicle out of town in September. A few weeks ago they got a Sales Tax bill […]
By: Diane Benjamin If residents think they can save money on sales tax by buying a car from a small town dealer, they are wrong. The City of Bloomington (and Normal) will find you and send you a bill for the additional tax. Even if you don’t live in the City limits, Bloomington is still […]
By: Diane Benjamin If the Council is stupid enough to pass tax increases tonight based on lies from Renner and Hales, I am forced to do their job for them. The reason for the vote tonight is so it can be filed before October 1st and go into effect January 1st. The Council just hired […]
Note: Share this post with your friends. The media isn’t going to tell them the truth! By: Diane Benjamin Poor Mayor Koos. Normal can’t steal more money from you unless Bloomington votes to steal more too. The media is allowing Renner to lie to you! Hey Tari: Why are tax receipts to date UP 3.9% […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is a letter sent to the Normal Council before they voted for the 1% Sales Tax increase. It didn’t receive a response, Normal raised the Sales Tax anyway. Emails and letters aren’t going to stop Bloomington – only a room full of angry citizens will get their attention! Here’s the letter: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Instead of raising PRIVATE money for a soccer complex – Illinois fusion expects single mothers, the elderly, people on fixed incomes, and students, to pay for their complex. They have known for years that the FAA was throwing them off the airport property. They have done nothing to raise money to build […]
By: Diane Benjamin City officials for decades have justified spending by calling it Quality of Life. Frequently cited is “people and businesses will move here”, it was just used to justify flamingos. With State Farm and Mitsubishi leaving, how’s that working for you? Quality of Life is why the Coliseum was built. That’s why the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Steve Vogel doesn’t think he needs to disclose EVERY TIME he writes about the City of Bloomington that he is Renner’s Campaign Daddy. His DAUGHTER ran 2 campaigns for Renner, but I’m positive he isn’t the slightest bit corrupted by his baby’s allegiances. Just like Lisa Madigan doesn’t take any direction on […]
By: Diane Benjamin Alderman Kevin Lower and TEA Board member Ron Ulmer will be talking taxes tonight at the monthly TEA Party meeting: 6:30, The Launch Pad – 315 E Front Bloomington. Both Bloomington and Normal REALLY WANT a 1% Sales Tax increase. Fight now, move, or get your wallet out. TEA stands for Taxed […]
By: Diane Benjamin First the good news: Pantagraph writer Steve Vogel has temporarily learned that telling elected officials to ignore citizens (check your email instead) speaking during Public Comment was foolish. He also learned that using 50+ people to describe how many attended Alderman Lower’s Town Hall was deceptive on the bird-cage liners part, so […]
by: Diane Benjamin Since there are discussions about raising sales tax, it is worth comparing Bloomington – Normal to surrounding cities. Then, since sales taxes aren’t the only taxes, let’s compare property taxes. Not only does a group of developers expect you to fund soccer fields and a Community Center, the local school districts are […]
