Tag: contract approval

Analysis: Bloomington’s living wage to hit $16.22 an hour in 2025, but work like video services is left out

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In 2025, Bloomington’s “living wage” will reach $16.22 an hour.

Of that $16.22, up to $2.43 can be in the form of health insurance offered to a covered employee.

The increase in 2025 will boost Bloomington’s living wage by $0.47 an hour (about 3 percent) from the 2024 level of $15.75.

Enacted in 2005 by Bloomington’s city council, the living wage at the start was set at $10, with a provision that it increase by an amount based on the CPI (consumer price index).

Who has to meet the living wage standard in Bloomington?

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Public bus notebook: Ridership plateau, Cassady gets charging work, Bloomington westside service mulled

Last Tuesday’s monthly meeting of Bloomington Transit’s board included the first post-pandemic report that has not shown significant ridership growth in the most recent month’s year-over-year numbers.

In May 2024, BT gave 103,263 fixed-route rides, compared to 103,216 rides in May 2023. That’s still a smidgen more. But it’s nothing like the double digit percentage year-over-year increases in the first three months of 2024 and for all of 2023.

Through the first five months of the year, fixed route ridership for BT is still up by 14 percent over 2023. From January through May in 2023, BT gave 995,896 rides, compared to 1,140,666 rides in the first five months of 2024.

The one action item on the board’s Tuesday agenda was approval of a $743,000 contract with Cassady Electric, for the installation of charging equipment for some new electric buses that are supposed to be delivered starting in the fall of this year.

Also getting some discussion at last Tuesday’s board meeting was the expansion of service past the western boundary of Bloomington, to serve Cook Medical, Simtra BioPharma (Baxter), and Ivy Tech Community College, among other employment centers. BT general manager John Connell said his goal is to have some level of service out to that area by the start of the fall semester.

Continue reading “Public bus notebook: Ridership plateau, Cassady gets charging work, Bloomington westside service mulled” →