Oct. 11, 2025: Bloomington budget, solar panels, football

Weather Talk

Based on the National Weather Service forecast in text and charts here’s some advice.

Monday: Slow down—for two reasons. First, there’s going to be patchy fog in the morning. Second, we’re approaching the time of year when the deer get frisky and start chasing each other around, with little heed to fences and roadways. Slow down. Put on a light wrap to ward off the morning chill, but you don’t need rain protection. Skies will be sunny. The high will be around 75F°.

Tuesday: Rinse, repeat from Monday with a slightly warmer high of 77F°.

Practice your weather talk. Try this as an opening gambit: “Are the leaves ever going to turn this year?” If someone springs that one on you, say: “Every day they stay on the trees, that’s another day I don’t have to rake ’em.”

Sign up for weather alerts: Monroe County emergency alert system.

Roundup of recent articles

• Monroe County property transfers through Oct. 8, 2025.  This report includes new property transfers in Monroe County that haven’t previously been reported by The B Square, with dates ranging from Sept. 19 to Oct. 8, 2025. The data in this report comes from Beacon, the county’s online geographic information system for property and parcel data.
• Sunday Funnies: Hawk v. Fish.  Hawk: Did you ever swim in a Bloomington city councilmember’s stream of consciousness? What does Fish say in reply?
• Bloomington South stays unbeaten with 38-7 win over Brebeuf.  The Bloomington South Panthers will take an 8-0 record into their final game, at home against Center Grove next week. They took care of the Braves 38-7 at Brebeuf on Friday night. Documenting the action for The B Square was photog Dave Quick.
• Bloomington North rallies late to outlast Columbus North, 31–28.  Bloomington North carried its mid-season turnaround into Friday’s home game against Columbus North, outlasting the Bull Dogs 31-28. The Cougars never faltered, even when they trailed, which was several times during the game.
• $163M budget for 2026 OK’d by Bloomington councilmembers, 2 dissent citing lack of trust.  At its Wednesday meeting, Bloomington’s city council approved the city’s $163-million budget for 2026 on a 7–2 tally, with councilmembers Matt Flaherty and Kate Rosenbarger casting the dissenting votes. The total includes planned expenditures from the general fund of about $65.1 million.
• Bloomington neighborhood site of 50th Indiana Solar for All project.  Last Saturday, Indiana Solar for All marked its 50th installation of free residential solar panels. Saturday’s installation was in one of Bloomington’s Habitat neighborhoods, on West Moravec Way—across the railroad tracks north of The Rev. Ernest D. Butler Park, south of the B-Line Trail.
• Longevity pay for 2026 restored by Monroe County council after pushback from employees.  At a special meeting held on Wednesday (Oct. 8), the Monroe County council voted 5–2 to reinstate longevity pay for county employees in 2026, reversing a unanimous decision made just one week earlier, which provoked strong objections from several employees of the county government.

Quick notes

Survey: Public health services. Yes, I know there’s a certain fatigue for surveys—there’s just so many of them. But when your local government asks for your feedback on your own own perspective, I think it’s worth considering. This one is from the Monroe County health department on your view of public health services. For example, how important do you think access to vaccinations is? How about access to free blood pressure screenings? Here’s the link: public health services survey.

High School football. Sectional pairings were announced on Sunday night. In the first round, Bloomington North and Bloomington South both play at home, against different opponents. Edgewood has to travel to Scottburg. More on that when the games get closer on the calendar.

On the calendar

Indigenous Peoples’ Day. On Monday (Oct. 13), government offices will be closed for Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Monroe County 2026 budget adoption. On the 5 p.m. Tuesday (Oct. 14) agenda for the Monroe County council is the adoption of the 2026 budget. There was still a big shortfall last week, when the council met, but more cuts were made and money was appropriated from a revenue source that was previously untapped—the economic development local income tax. On Tuesday night, the council could have more work to do on the budget before it is adopted.

And there’s way more on the county council’s agenda besides adoption of the budget. The health department has requested the creation of new positions to deal with the termination of a contract with IU Health to provide public health services.

The council will also be asked to approve a $6 million general obligation bond.

It’s also possible that the council could have a preliminary discussion of the anticipated request from county commissioners for the appropriation to make the actual purchase of land in North Park for a new jail and justice center complex. That request could come as soon as the council’s meeting on Oct. 28. The purchase agreement has been in place for almost a year. Even if there’s not a full council discussion, it could get a mention from individual councilors during their chance for remarks.

Convention center expansion update. On the 3 p.m. Wednesday (Oct. 15) agenda for Monroe County’s capital improvement board (CIB) are several updates, including one on the hotel that is eventually supposed to be built on the former Bunger & Robertson property at 2nd Street and College Avenue.

No land deal has yet been struck between the city of Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC), which is the owner of the real estate, and the CIB’s preferred hotelier, which is Dora Hospitality. It was a full year ago when the CIB voted to make Dora the preferred hotelier and set the stage for city government to negotiate the real estate deal.

One sign that a deal could finally be close is the fact that the CIB has an executive session scheduled for Wednesday, before its regular 3 p.m. meeting to talk about a real estate deal, which is one of the reasons a governing agency can hold an executive session, closed to the public, under Indiana’s Open Door Law.

Historic preservation. Bloomington’s city council has a work session scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (Oct. 15) to talk about historic preservation with the city’s historic preservation commission. For B Square background on the general topic, through the lens of a current initiative by a group of residents to establish another historic preservation district, see Historic protections sought for area between 10th, 12th streets in central Bloomington.

Hoosier Hills Food Bank Community Book Fair: Oct 16. Hoosier Hills Food Bank will present the 41st Annual Community Book Fair from October 16-21, 2025 at the Monroe County Fairgrounds. The event will feature a wide selection of two buildings worth of books, games, puzzles, movies and music at bargain prices to support the food bank’s hunger relief programs.

Pumpkin Launch: Oct 25. The city of Bloomington hosts a competition every year involving the construction of a contraption to fling a pumpkin as far as possible. It’s Pumpkin Launch! The deadline for entry is Oct. 15. The competition itself takes place on Oct. 25. For past B Square coverage of Pumpkin Launch: Photos: Cold rain can’t squash Pumpkin Launch 2021

Little 500 fall racing series: Nov. 1, Nov. 2. Mark your calendar for Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 for cyclocross and street sprints.

Meet Ragnar!

This very, very good boy is a mix of German shepherd and husky. Here’s what the shelter staff have written about Ragnar:

Ragnar is a happy, wiggly young guy who loves human affection. If he could make friends with everyone on the planet, he probably would! This sweet, energetic GSD/husky mix will make a great family pup, and is housetrained, good with kids, and good with cats.

Photo Finish: Kinser Pike & Winding Way

The Photo Finish items are drawn from the B There section of the B Square website.

Thanks for reading. I hope your week is off to a great start!

Dave Askins
734-645-2633
dave@bsquarebulletin.com