Tag: 2022 budget

From poison ivy, to public transit, to parks bond money, Bloomington 2022 budget hearings prompt question: Whose job is it?

Poison ivy plant in the tree pit at 6th and Lincoln streets in Bloomington. (Dave Askins/Beacon)
Electric bus acquired by Bloomington Transit July 2021
Looking south on Lower Cascades Road (April 25, 2021).

Wednesday’s city council hearings on the administration’s proposed 2022 budget featured presentations from four different city of Bloomington departments—housing and neighborhood development (HAND),  economic and sustainable development (ESD), community and family resources (CFRD), and parks and recreation.

Also a part of the mix on Wednesday was a presentation from the Bloomington Housing Authority, and the city clerk’s office.

One of the common themes that cut across comments about the presentations—from councilmembers and the public—could be reduced to the question: Whose job is it?

Whose job is it to clear poison ivy from places where it has overgrown a sidewalk? Whose job is it to staff the front desk in the combined council-clerk office?

Whose job is it to decide whether a parks bonds can be used for a traffic calming project instead of a non-motorized trail? Whose job is it within the administration to advocate for public transit?

The issue of advocacy for public transit led to a chippy exchange between deputy mayor Don Griffin and councilmember Steve Volan—who’s in his 18th year of service on the city council.

Griffin asked Volan a pointed question: “How long have you been in government?” Continue reading “From poison ivy, to public transit, to parks bond money, Bloomington 2022 budget hearings prompt question: Whose job is it?” →

Bloomington city council critical on first night of 2022 budget hearings: police, parking, sidewalks

On Monday, the first night of departmental hearings on Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s proposed 2022 budget, several city councilmembers conveyed their dissatisfaction about one or more aspects of next year’s financial plan.

Those points of friction included police officer compensation, a parking cashout program for city employees, and alternative transportation funding.

Even though Tuesday is the night scheduled for public safety budgets, Hamilton fielded sharp questions on Monday from councilmembers Dave Rollo and Susan Sandberg about the adequacy of compensation for Bloomington police officers.

Rollo even floated the idea that the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the police union could be reopened to provide higher compensation. The current CBA, approved in late 2019, runs through 2022.

Rollo and Sandberg have concerns about recruitment and retention of police officers. Bloomington currently has 92 sworn officers, which is 13 fewer than the 105 that are authorized.

Rollo doesn’t see the $250,000 pool of retention and recruitment funds in the 2022 budget as adequate.

At one point during Monday’s meeting, Sandberg asked Hamilton, “Do you feel the same sense of urgency that some of us do from having talked to our officers that are currently stressed to a point that I think is almost bordering on a crisis?”

The topic of police staffing levels is certain to be a highlight of Tuesday’s budget hearing, when police chief Mike Diekhoff presents his department’s budget.

Unlike the individual departmental budget presentations, Hamilton’s overview of the budget on Monday was not subjected to an informal straw poll.

The dissatisfaction expressed by the council at Monday’s meeting was not confined to the mayor’s overview.

If the city council’s straw polls had any legal significance, only two of the six departmental budgets presented on Monday would have been approved. The tallies on the straw polls (yes-no-abstain) were: human resources (3–1–5); legal (8–0–1); information technology (4–0–5); council office (6–2–1); controller (4–4–1); and mayor’s office (5–0–4). Continue reading “Bloomington city council critical on first night of 2022 budget hearings: police, parking, sidewalks” →

Bloomington 2022 budget revenues: Property tax levy up, local income tax down

Bar Chart for PROPERTY TAX Aug 23 2021 article
Better2 Bar Chart for Bloomington Certified Shares Income Tax Aug 23 2021 article

Last Friday, Bloomington mayor John Hamilton released his proposed 2022 budget.

Compared to the 2021 budget, the combination of local income tax distributions and the general fund property tax levy nets out to about zero change for 2022 revenues.

There’s an increase in the general fund property tax levy (based on a 4.3-percent growth quotient)—from $24.43 million to $25.48 million, or an increase of $1.05 million.

But Bloomington’s certified share of local income taxes is expected to drop 7.8 percent, from $13.65 million in 2021 to $12.56 million in 2022, for a difference of $1.09 million.

So the $1.05 million gain in property tax levy is erased by the $1.09 million loss in local income tax revenues.

Still, the overall proposed budget for the city of Bloomington in 2022—not including Bloomington Transit, Bloomington Utilities, and the Bloomington Housing Authority—will increase by ​​about $11.5 million compared to 2021, making the total for 2022 about $106.6 million.

The revenue to cover the $11.5-million increase is coming from the two federal pandemic relief packages—the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

According to Bloomington’s 2022 proposed budget document, the $106.6 million budget will tap  Bloomington’s CARES Act funding for $1 million and the ARPA for $9.735 million.

Unlike the 2021 budget, which relied on a $2-million transfer from the rainy day fund, the 2022 budget does  not make any transfers out of the rainy day fund.

Continue reading “Bloomington 2022 budget revenues: Property tax levy up, local income tax down” →

Column | Bingo: If you want help listening to every last word during Bloomington’s 2022 budget hearings

Monday begins a series of four city council meetings on Bloomington’s proposed budget for 2022.

Image links to .pdf with 30 different budget bingo cards.

It was last Friday when the proposed 2022 budget was released publicly by Bloomington mayor John Hamilton.

City councilmembers will convene meetings on four successive nights, Monday through Thursday. Each meeting will start at 6 p.m. That’s a half hour earlier than the normal start time for city council meetings.

Based on past practice, what can the public expect to see?

Each department head will present their budget for next year, starting with basic background on why the department exists. The material for those representations is already public, in the form of the budget document, which weighs in at 340 pages.

Even if it’s possible to get up to speed on each department’s budget presentation just by reading the budget document, that’s a bit of a slog. In past years, the slide decks for the presentations have been posted on the city’s budget webpage at some point before the meeting starts. Continue reading “Column | Bingo: If you want help listening to every last word during Bloomington’s 2022 budget hearings” →

2022 Bloomington budget released same day as encampment clearance, includes 6 new on-the-ground, non-sworn public safety positions

Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021
Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021
Friday, Aug. 20, 2021
Friday, Aug. 20, 2021

Early in the day on Friday, an encampment of people experiencing homelessness under the B-Line bridge at Grimes Lane was cleared by Bloomington city workers.

That was expected, based on Tuesday’s posting of notices near the encampment, with a Friday deadline for vacating.

Later on Friday, Bloomington mayor John Hamilton briefed the press on the proposed 2022 budget that his administration had earlier released to city councilmembers.

The city council will receive presentations from department heads over the course of four meetings next week.  The final budget will be presented to the council in September, with a final vote in October.

Hamilton was asked during the press briefing if there was anything in his 2022 budget to increase resources to help people as soon as they resorted to camping under a bridge, to avoid repeating the pattern of larger encampments followed eventually by a clearance.

Hamilton replied by citing the millions of dollars in the budget for trying to help those who are facing homelessness, or challenges to success in a workplace or educational environment.

Hamilton added, “There’s a lot of investment that we are proposing to help support the housing insecurity task force.” The task force is led by United Way of Monroe County, Community Foundation of Monroe County and the South Central Housing Network, and released a report in July that outlines a plan to make homelessness “rare, brief and non-repeating.” Continue reading “2022 Bloomington budget released same day as encampment clearance, includes 6 new on-the-ground, non-sworn public safety positions” →

Draft 2022 Bloomington Transit budget would bump pay by 3 percent, recruitment of drivers a worry

R Output Monthly BT ridership for COVID reportJuly 20 2020 OUTPUT
Revenue Single Bar Barchart of Bloomington Transit July 26 2021 article

At just a smidgen over $15 million, Bloomington Transit’s preliminary budget for 2022 is about 3.7 percent more than last year’s approved total amount.

That’s the number that Bloomington Transit’s general manager Lew May presented to BT’s five-member board at its meeting last Tuesday.

Some of that increase is due to an increase in employee compensation. The preliminary budget is based on a 3-percent increase in wages. How much the increase actually turns out to be will depend on the outcome of negotiations with the drivers, who are represented by AFSCME Local 613.

Those negotiations will need to take place over the next few months, because BT’s labor agreement ends on Dec. 31, 2021.

The timing for the back-and-forth between BT and drivers will coincide broadly with BT’s transition from May’s leadership, who has served 22 years as general manager, to John Connell’s, who was the board’s pick last week to succeed May. Connell is now operations manager for the Greater Lafayette Public Transportation Corporation.

BT’s board will likely vote on the final budget at its August meeting. The budget will then be presented to Bloomington’s city council for review and approval, in a separate vote from the city’s own budget.

The collective bargaining agreement could be a factor in addressing BT’s current shortage of drivers. A June job fair attracted no new applicants to fill the 12 positions that BT is currently short. Continue reading “Draft 2022 Bloomington Transit budget would bump pay by 3 percent, recruitment of drivers a worry” →

Bloomington budget advance session swapped out for talk about American Rescue Plan, same time as separate county meeting

Historically, April’s annual “budget advance” for Bloomington’s city council has been an occasion when councilmembers sketch out their aspirations for the next budget year.

The idea is to try to influence the mayor’s budget proposal, which is presented in August.

Based on “city council” by Thomas Deckert from the Noun Project

This year’s budget advance was set for April 27 at 6 p.m., when the city council adopted its calendar for the year.

Now, instead of using that slot on the next week’s calendar for the budget advance, Bloomington’s city council will use the time to get an initial briefing from mayor Hamilton’s administration on the city’s estimated $22-million share of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) .

Also on Tuesday (April 27), the county council and the county commissioners are convening a joint work session about ARPA  funding. The county’s meeting starts at 5:30 p.m.

The estimated Monroe County share of the total $1.9-trillion federal package is about $29 million.

The announcement about the change in topic for next Tuesday’s city council session came from council administrator/attorney Stephen Lucas towards the end of Wednesday’s regular city council meeting. Continue reading “Bloomington budget advance session swapped out for talk about American Rescue Plan, same time as separate county meeting” →