Monday night kicks off a four-day week of budget presentations in front of Bloomington’s city council. After Mayor John Hamilton’s address scheduled for 6 p.m., the council will hear from Human Resources, City Clerk, Legal, Information and Technology Services, City Council, Controller, and the Office of the Mayor.
A couple of highlights include: $350,000 for the replacement of wired Ethernet network; and a proposed 13.5-percent increase for city councilmember salaries, from $16,127 to $18,307.
The proposed 2020 budget of $98.6 million is 36 percent bigger than the last budget approved for Hamilton’s predecessor, in 2016. Of the four basic categories in the budget—personnel, supplies, other services, and capital outlays—the biggest difference between the proposed 2020 budget and the one adopted in 2016 is in capital outlays. The $8.6 million for 2020 is almost three and a half times the $2.5 million in 2016.
For most departments presenting on Monday night, capital outlays are not a big factor. For ITS, however, the 2020 proposal reflects one of the larger capital outlays in the budget: $350,000 for the replacement of wired ethernet network hardware and wireless Wi-Fi network hardware. It’s the same amount budgeted for a Kirkwood Avenue street project. (The Planning and Transportation Department presents its proposal on Thursday. Jump to a table with 2020 capital outlays, sorted by cost.)
Three departments worth of elected officials will be presenting on Monday—city clerk, mayor, and city council. Such departments are not typically associated with intensive capital outlays. But because the city council directly oversees a fund for sidewalk and traffic calming projects, there’s $324,000 worth of capital outlays in the city council’s 2020 budget associated with that fund.
The city council’s 2020 budget proposal is different from that of the other two elected officials in another way. Instead of the basic 2 percent increase in compensation for non-union employees that underlies the overall budget, the request from the city council is for a 13.5-percent increase.
According to the memo accompanying the request, a salary study of compensation in comparable organizations for 2017 concluded that Bloomington’s city councilmembers were paid $1,822 below the average. Councilmembers are paid $16,127 in 2019.
The proposal for 2020 is that councilmembers be paid $18,307. The difference between the proposed increase and a 2-percent increase works out to a total for all nine councilmembers of about $16,500.
The last time city councilmembers received an increase in compensation that was not an incremental increase was between 1999 and 2000, when the compensation was increased from $7,620 to $10,500, which was 38 percent.
The council’s vote to adopt the budget is scheduled for Oct. 10 after getting a first reading on Sept. 25.
Below are three charts with the salary history of city elected officials and a table of proposed capital outlays for the 2020 budget, sorted by cost.
Clerk
Mayor
Councilmember
Capital outlays in proposed 2020 budget, sorted by amount
| FUND | Department | Transaction | Amount |
| PS LIT | Fire Department | 75-100 Ft Aerial Ladder (T2) | $1,150,000 |
| CCD | Planning/Transportation | Sare Road Intersection and Multiuse Path | $672,308 |
| PS LIT | Fire Department | Engine/Pumper (E1) | $560,000 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Vehicles – Patrol & Administration | $505,000 |
| Vehicle Replacement | Various | Vehicle & Equipment Replacements | $500,500 |
| Telecom | ITS | Ethernet Network Update | $350,000 |
| Local Roads & Street | Street | Kirkwood Project | $350,000 |
| General Fund | Public Works Admin | Capital and land acquisition costs | $337,500 |
| Alternative Transportation | Council | City Council Sidewalk | $324,000 |
| Alternative Transportation | Planning/Transportation | Greenways | $319,000 |
| General Fund | Planning/Transportation | Street, Intersection & Sidewalk projects | $312,000 |
| General Fund | Facilities | City Hall HVAC cooling tower | $250,000 |
| Motor Vehicle Highway | Street | Downtown Alley Project | $150,000 |
| Motor Vehicle Highway | Street | Bush Hog w/22ft Boom | $137,000 |
| CCD | Street | Pavement Marking Contract | $135,000 |
| Parking Meter | Parking | Repair Kirkwood Intersections | $126,000 |
| General Fund | Animal | Incinerator Replacement | $125,000 |
| PS LIT | Fire Department | Extrication Tools | $120,000 |
| Motor Vehicle Highway | Street | Signal Boom Truck | $120,000 |
| Telecom | ITS | Capital Replacement – Laptops/Scanners/Printers | $115,000 |
| PS LIT | Fire Department | Station 1 Repairs (urgent) | $100,000 |
| PS LIT | Fire Department | Station 2 Repairs (urgent) | $100,000 |
| General Fund | Facilities | City Hall exterior masonry repairs | $100,000 |
| PS LIT | Fire Department | Fire Fighting Gear | $90,000 |
| Fleet Maintenance | Fleet | Shop Service truck | $84,000 |
| Parks General | Parks | Backhoe | $79,000 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Training Simulator | $75,000 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Body Worn Cameras | $70,000 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Radios | $60,000 |
| Motor Vehicle Highway | Street | Pickup 3/4 ton with plow | $59,502 |
| PS LIT | Fire Department | Full Sized SUV (P1) | $55,000 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Enhanced Technology (License Plate Reader & Other) | $50,000 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Alternative Transportation (Electric, ATV, Motorcycle) | $50,000 |
| General Fund | Hand | Trucks for inspectors | $50,000 |
| General Fund | ITS | Helpdesk, Software Mgmt, Inventory | $45,000 |
| Vehicle Replacement | Parks | Wide Truck Dingo | $45,000 |
| Fleet Maintenance | Fleet | Shop Truck PM Service truck | $45,000 |
| PS LIT | Fire Department | Sedan (Pool) | $35,000 |
| Motor Vehicle Highway | Street | Asphalt Roller 3 ton | $35,000 |
| Fleet Maintenance | Fleet | Tire Machine | $34,000 |
| Telecom | ITS | Council Chambers & Meeting Room Equipment | $30,000 |
| Vehicle Replacement | Parks | Golf Turf Sprayer | $30,000 |
| Parks General | Parks | SUV for Ops Director | $28,000 |
| Parks General | Parks | SUV for Urban Forester | $28,000 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Large Evidence Storage/Training/Range Complex | $25,000 |
| Fleet Maintenance | Fleet | Heavy Duty Truck Tire Machine | $25,000 |
| Fleet Maintenance | Fleet | Tire Balancer | $22,000 |
| General Fund | Animal | Adoption Center improvements: flooring, lobby | $20,000 |
| General Fund | Animal | Parking improvements, handicap access | $20,000 |
| Fleet Maintenance | Fleet | XY123 Freon Machine | $20,000 |
| Parks General | Parks | Tow-behind Air Compressor | $18,000 |
| Telecom | ITS | Stand Alone Servers | $16,000 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | K9 (Dog and Equipment minus vehicle) | $15,000 |
| Vehicle Replacement | Parks | Turf Roller | $14,000 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Patrol Body Armor | $13,000 |
| Vehicle Replacement | Parks | Hurricane Bio Vac | $13,000 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Air Purifying Respirators / Gas Masks | $12,500 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Critical Incident Response Team Body Armor | $12,000 |
| Telecom | ITS | Server Room improvements | $10,000 |
| Parking Facilities | Parking | T2 Online Permits $30k | $10,000 |
| Alternative Transportation | Parking | T2 Online Permits $30k | $10,000 |
| Parking Meter | Parking | T2 Online Permits $30k | $10,000 |
| Fleet Maintenance | Fleet | Start All | $10,000 |
| Telecom | ITS | ITS Plotter Replacement | $6,500 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Less Lethal Rounds (Ex: Bean Bags/Sponge) | $6,000 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Automatic External Defibulators | $5,000 |
| Fleet Maintenance | Fleet | Air Bumper Jack | $4,500 |
| General Fund | ITS | UAVs | $4,000 |
| PS LIT | Police Department | Rifles | $2,500 |
| Parking Meter | Parking | Computer Capital Replacement | $1,230 |
Note that a significant source of revenue, the Public Safety Local Income Tax, was not adopted in Monroe County until 2016. This money is used for capital expenditures for Police and Fire, as well as to fund Central 911 Dispatch.