By: Diane Benjamin I’m up to page 202 of 924 in my latest FOIA! The comment below was submitted on-line to the Normal Town Council. I don’t know who Victoria is but I bet many of you will agree with her comments. (It likely aggravated some Trustees ♥)
By: Diane Benjamin This won’t be the last story, stay tuned. BNWRD is the Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District. Whatever you flush they process. Homes connected to the sanitary sewer system should be charged on the water bill AND on the property tax bill. This is the same principle as Bloomington billing you for water […]
By: Diane Benjamin The charts below are from the Illinois Comptroller’s office – this is information Bloomington reported to them. Government Activity is the column to look at, especially liabilities due beyond one year. Since it is hard to read: Source: Liabilities 2018 – $221,260,896 2017 – $198,984,845 2016 – $216,297,608 What is this HUGE […]
By: Diane Benjamin Sometimes I can put puzzle pieces together on my own, sometimes I can’t. It takes you readers filling in the missing pieces! Many have, it is much appreciated. The underpass has MANY puzzle pieces! Frequently I forget what I have written and what has happened at Council meetings – I am a […]
By: Diane Benjamin When David Hales was still City Manager, the Council held a meeting to look at every program the City has. They couldn’t come up with a thing to cut. They failed because a conversation on the role of government is never allowed to take place. Instead Bloomington has been allowed to grow […]
by: Diane Benjamin According to the City mouthpiece, Bloomington will double the local gas tax to $.08 for every gallon: https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/road-weary-city-officials-eye-doubling-local-motor-fuel-tax/article_258321e6-928b-57d7-a1c0-ad250fb8e18b.html#tracking-source=home-breaking Another prediction: Somebody will say it’s only a few bucks. Quote: Here is what the mouthpiece forgot to add to the story: The $.04 a gallon Motor Fuel Tax was passed […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/years-after-debt-free-milestone-normal-stands-by-uptown-spending/article_3fc56076-8d9b-5367-9899-4af94445ed20.html#tracking-source=home-top-story The Pantagraph ran this cute story about Normal on Tuesday. Quote from the article: Question: Does Normal not know how much debt they are in, or is the Pantagraph making up numbers? Town of Normal – Comptroller This is the debt reported as of March 31, 2018 to the Illinois Comptroller’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this article posted on the WGLT website: New-Poverty-Report-Puts-Mclean-County-Watch-List The article doesn’t cover everything in the report by Heartland Alliance. See the complete report HERE Did you ever think McLean County would make a Well-Being Watch List? The reason is obvious – except to local government: Sales Tax was increased 1% in 2015. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington will NEVER have enough of your money. Complete control of the local economy means your money is theirs and they are free to take it at will. Monday night they will discuss taking more for their vision. http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15904 Want your roads fixed? Even though Tari Renner and […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=15344 This statement is in a letter to Mayor Renner delivering the completed financial statements as of April 30, 2017: The letter is signed by David Hales and Patti-Lynn Silva. Director of Finance. Since Hales is gone, Patti-Lynn needs to explain why the financial statements weren’t released until December – 8 months […]
By: Diane Benjamin It looks like Bloomington has to be destroyed by government spending before people realize local elections matter. Or, maybe only the people who can’t move will be left paying the bills which are about to get much bigger. Monday night the Bloomington will see the results of doing “Wants” before Needs. MANY […]
By: Diane Benjamin When you pick progressives to run your City you will pay more in taxes. You picked their vision to “keep moving Bloomington forward”. Fiscal responsibility and Needs before Wants aren’t ever discussed. Send this article to the local leftists so they know what progress looks like: Why Are Liberal Cities So Unaffordable Alderman […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council meeting last night was conducted without the mayor and without any accusations against citizens like “crazy”, “nasty”, and “small vocal minority”. Renner did hold another edition of his media blitz earlier in the day, but Karen Schmidt only announced he wasn’t there. According to media reports of the […]
This article was just published by the Illinois Policy Institute: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/grand-bargain-redux-brady-plan-the-next-in-a-long-list-of-failed-compromises-for-illinoisans/ Bill Brady proves once again why the IL GOP is useless: Only in Illinois could a budget deal that hits struggling Illinoisans with billions in new taxes be called a “grand bargain.” Excerpts: State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, has proposed what he hopes may […]
By: Diane Benjamin The ballot will say Sue Feldkamp or Jamie Mathy for Bloomington’s Ward 1. Mathy owns two businesses downtown, but I’ve heard he claims Bloomington’s attorney Jeff Jurgens doesn’t see a problem with him voting on downtown issues. I bet the taxpayers will have a problem with him voting to enrich himself! Conflict […]
By: Diane Benjamin I get delicious free water from a well. You folks in town have to pay for it. I bet you think your government priced that water according to what it cost them to bring it to your house. You might even be okay if they added a little to the price to […]
By: Diane Benjamin I started this project to show how much David Hales has increased spending on Administration. The 2017 budget numbers could be immaterial since spending over budget could be happening. The 4/30/2016 financial statements are still a secret, the 2017 statements won’t be available until at least October. All of the page numbers […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos has been mayor of Normal since 2003. Voters claim to want term limits – isn’t 14 years enough time to enact one? More reasons exist to dump Koos though. At the end of FY 2016, the Town was $99,974,191 in debt! Almost $100 MILLION! The population reported to the State […]
By: Diane Benjamin It was a pretty boring meeting except for the guy who probably showed up high and started verbally attacking an alderman. I say “high” because he has admitted in previous comments to being “high” and the police harassing him for no reason at all. He has also called himself from Mars. He […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner is claiming this: Tari forgot to say the City borrowed $10,000,000, imposed a .04 per gallon gas tax, and a .25% Sales Tax increase to do it. Aren’t streets and infrastructure maintenance what citizens expect from government? Previous Councils spent money recklessly on pet projects instead of essential services, Tari […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington Macy’s store is closing while the Champaign store isn’t. The Internet is NOT the reason. If the Bloomington store was profitable, it wouldn’t be closing. Champaign is a lot like Bloomington (Champaign is a little bigger), but they don’t have a zoo, 3 golf courses, a Coliseum, a Pepsi Ice […]
By: Diane Benjamin Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11625 The minutes from the last Committee of the Whole meeting are on the agenda for approval. This is from those minutes: Bloomington will never have enough of your money with this Council and City Manager! Don’t forget all the taxes they have created or […]
By: Diane Benjamin Note: I could keep posting links – but I’m severely bored. Besides, it’s obvious from the ones I have linked who votes to fleece taxpayers! Note #2: One name is missing from every Yes vote: Kevin Lower See this story from yesterday: https://blnnews.com/2016/10/02/renner-vrs-lower-vrs-hauman/ Below is the list from yesterday’s story. The nice […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last November a vote by the County Board resulted in a property tax increase when a vote to dip into LARGE reserves was defeated. Matt Sorensen voted NO to break a tie: https://blnnews.com/2016/03/24/county-50000000-in-reserves/ The financial statements as of 12/31/2015 have been issued (CAFR). I’ve barely begun reviewing the 221 pages, but this […]
By: Diane Benjamin Renner isn’t responding to the market, he’s trying to create one. Just like he claims bike paths and buses are the future, he continues to claim Bloomington’s future is downtown. Decades of massive spending haven’t been enough. Here’s a little Renner history. Not included are the Downtown Streetscape Plan and the Downtown […]
By: Diane Benjamin I found this story today about personal income from 2014. http://www.lanereport.com/65176/2016/07/real-personal-income-rose-by-an-average-of-2-9-in-2014/ Personal income in Bloomington went down in 2014 3.2%, but Illinois was up a very slow 1%. When did Illinois ever perform better than Bloomington? In this national survey Bloomington was second among metropolitan areas with the greatest decline: What happened […]
By: Diane Benjamin Earlier this week I recapped all the taxes you probably didn’t know about: https://blnnews.com/2016/05/31/taxes-you-probably-didnt-know-about/ I’m taking the same list and adding the Budget from 2013: FY 2013-10010 Non Departmental 2017 has a line that transfers $1,504,300 out of the total, so the real difference from 2013 to 2017 is $19,503,030. Some of […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader asked me yesterday to list all the taxes Bloomington charges, so I will. http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=142 The current total local sales tax rate in Bloomington, IL is 8.750%. Sales Tax Breakdown District Rate Illinois State 6.250% McLean County 0.000% Bloomington 2.500% Total 8.750% Sales tax was increase 1% as of January 1st […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Total Budget Tari inherited in 2013: $167 million http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=7074 Tari’s first budget – 2014: $169.4 million http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=7073 2015 Budget: $180.4 million http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=6501 2016 Budget: $186.3 million http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=8220 Proposed 2017 Budget: 206.9 million (Evidently the stacked Council is going to pass it as is) http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=9844 Spending increased $39.9 million in 4 years! […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember when I wrote about the County Board raising your property taxes? http://blnnews.com/2016/03/10/zero-transparency-mclean-county/ Before the vote another vote was taken that would have mandated using some of the reserves instead of raising taxes. The comments by some Board members to protect their “savings account” show how little respect they have for taxpayers. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Today’s story: Chamber of Commerce declares “There Are Jobs Out There”. Sure. Fast food, retail, and jobs with 10 years experience required doing things nobody has every heard of. The average family income isn’t dropping because opportunities abound! http://blnnews.com/2016/03/14/bloomington-what-citizens-need-to-know/ McLean County – Median household income 2014: $60,460 2000: $67,873 Percent change: -11% […]
By: Diane Benjamin Watch this short campaign video Tari made in 2013 while running for office. Very close to the end he claims infrastructure can be improved without raising taxes. Funny how he stumbled over the proper words though. Since Tari became Mayor, $10,000,000 has been borrowed for roads with plans to borrow A LOT […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari talking points: The big picture on the budget is that: 1) we are not doing anything that the city didn’t do three, four or five years ago 2) our revenues were flat and our costs keep going up a little over 2% each year How much truth is in Tari’s statements? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Congrats to the citizens of Bloomington who showed up at last night’s Council meeting. I hear the room was packed – all the way back to the windows. I occasionally heard some soft applause when an alderman stood up for you. Aldermen David Sage and Karen Schmidt were DYING for a way […]
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 See this post from earlier today: http://blnnews.com/2015/06/16/its-simple-econ-tari/ In just NEW taxes, Tari took $3,680,714 away from taxpayers. What that number doesn’t reflect is the Velocity of Money (Google it) If taxpayers had kept that money, they would have spent it. Much of it would have been spent at local stores. Those businesses would have […]
By: Diane Benjamin Instead of enjoying Christmas with family and friends, Mayor Renner has been busy re-writing history through emails. Here is his latest edition: My comments are in red From: Tari Renner <[email protected]> To: Dennis REDACTED Cc: City Council and Mayor <[email protected]>; Tari Renner <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 26, 2014 7:20 PM Subject: Re: […]
By: Diane Benjamin So far the residents of Normal haven’t cared that Koos is stealing more money from them every year to so he can finish his vision. Will you care this time? These 2 emails were received under the Freedom of Information Act – Bloomington is getting slightly better at complying with the law, […]
by: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner BELIEVES he can raise your taxes anytime he wants. He just doesn’t want you to remember he did. Sorry Tari, just because the Pantagraph and WJBC won’t remember or report, I will. The votes on the 3 new taxes for the City of Bloomington are shown below. The Aldermen who […]
by: Diane Benjamin MANY government agencies in Bloominton-Normal want to raise your taxes. There is talk about raising Sales Taxes, Utility Taxes, and Gas Taxes. Some people have compared the Utility tax in Bloomington to other area cities and found it to be lower – so let’s raise it. Maybe they should consider something else: […]
