Tag: Geoff McKim

Monroe County council heads towards goal of 8.5-percent raises for employees in 2024

Marty Hawk and Geoff McKim. Monroe County council (Sept. 20, 2023)
Kate Wiltz and Trent Deckard. Monroe County council (Sept. 20, 2023)
From left: Marty Hawk, Geoff McKim, Kate Wiltz, Trent Deckard, and Peter Iversen. (Cheryl Munson attended on Zoom.) Monroe County council (Sept. 20, 2023)
Bottom to top: Cathy Smith (auditor), Brianne Gregory, Molly Turner-King, and Kim Shell. Monroe County council (Sept. 20, 2023)

Based on the deliberations among county councilors on Wednesday night, Monroe County employees will likely receive 8.5-percent raises in 2024 compared to their pay this year.

But no final decisions were made. The council did undertake some adjustments to get closer to the goal of 8.5-percent raises.

There’s still some dust that needs to settle on the provisional adjustments to the 2024 budget that were made by the council on Wednesday. And the final vote on the budget won’t come until Oct. 17, after a first reading on Oct.10.

The formal public hearing on the county budget is about weeks away, on Oct. 3. Continue reading “Monroe County council heads towards goal of 8.5-percent raises for employees in 2024” →

Monroe County shifts local income tax rate by a smidgen, frees up money for jail health services

On Tuesday night, Monroe County councilors enacted a change to local income tax rates that will not result in more money collected from taxpayers.

That’s because the only change is to shift one tax rate to another. But the impact of that shift will give the county about $425,000 a year in new money to spend on corrections.

How could the county council spend the money?

On Tuesday, councilor Marty Hawk pointed to some new mental health positions at the jail that have been requested by Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté for the 2024 budget.

Those positions total $507,000, Hawk said, but the additional flexibility given by the shift in LIT would go a long way towards covering them.

The council’s action on Tuesday did not increase the overall LIT rate. The council reduced by 0.01 percent the LIT rate in a category called the special purpose LIT. But the council imposed, for the first time, a rate in the corrections LIT by a corresponding 0.01 percent. Continue reading “Monroe County shifts local income tax rate by a smidgen, frees up money for jail health services” →

Budget notebook: Monroe County mulls shift, not increase in local income tax

Monroe County councilor Marty Hawk
Table of local income taxes in different cateogories
Monroe County councilor Geoff McKim

If Monroe County councilors stay on the course they have now charted out, they could have around $100,000 more to spend on jail operations for the final quarter of this year.

It would also mean in subsequent years about $424,000 more to spend each year to support the county jail.

The council’s vote on Tuesday night was just to direct the county staff to move forward with all necessary means to advertise holding the first reading of a change to the local income tax (LIT), at the “earliest possible possible time,” while following all the direction of state officials.

But the plan is not to increase the LIT—at least not right now. That could come later, once the site of a new jail is selected, its square footage is determined, and its construction cost is dialed in.

For now, the county council is just looking to shift one category of local income tax to another. The idea is to reduce by 0.01 percent the LIT in a category called the special purpose LIT, but to impose, for the first time, a rate in the corrections LIT by a corresponding 0.01 percent.

That would leave the overall rate paid by taxpayers at 2.0350 percent, the same as it is now.

Councilors Geoff McKim and Marty Hawk have been working on the proposal to shift the LIT rates to make more money available for jail operations. Continue reading “Budget notebook: Monroe County mulls shift, not increase in local income tax” →

Bloomington mayor calls Hopewell groundbreaking a “once-in-a-century opportunity to create a new neighborhood in the heart of our beloved city”

Hopewell West Primary Plat
Hopewell West Primary Plat

On Friday afternoon, a day with partly cloudy skies and a temperature around 80 degrees, about 60 local leaders gathered at the now empty grassy lot on the south side of 2nd Street, between Rogers Street and The B-Line Trail.

They were assembled to mark the groundbreaking for the Hopewell neighborhood, which will be constructed at the site of the former IU Health hospital, where the health care provider operated its facility until December 2021.

Delivering remarks on Friday were Bloomington mayor John Hamilton, followed by Cindy Kinnarney, who is president of Bloomington’s redevelopment commission, and by Mick Renneisen, who is president of the board for the nonprofit called City of Bloomington Capital Improvements, Inc.

Hamilton led off his remarks by saying, “We are here to break ground on this once-in-a-century opportunity to create a new neighborhood in the heart of our beloved city.” Continue reading “Bloomington mayor calls Hopewell groundbreaking a “once-in-a-century opportunity to create a new neighborhood in the heart of our beloved city”” →

$8M in county bridge bonds OK’d, library sidewalk connections won’t be as late as feared

Fullerton Pike looking west
Sidewalk along Fullerton Pike looking west, with MCPL branch on the right.
Sidewalk along Fullerton Pike looking east, with MCPL branch on the left.
Overview of location for Fullerton Pike project.
Inset of Fullerton Pike project.
By the time Fullerton Pike reaches the eastern edge of the project, the name changes to Gordon Pike. Site plan for the MCPL southwest branch, showing the two sidewalk connections that are to be built “by others.”

On Tuesday night, the Monroe County council unanimously approved the issuance of $8 million in bonds to pay for a new Fullerton Pike bridge over Clear Creek.

The 524-foot structure—which will feature a 6-foot median, a 10-foot multi-use path and a 5-foot sidewalk—will span Clear Creek Trail and the creek itself.

The bridge is part of a bigger new road project that will complete a Fullerton Pike connection from Rockport Road on the western end, to the Rogers Street roundabout on the eastern end.

On a related note, the council also got an indication that sidewalk connections to the recently opened Monroe County Public library branch would not depend on the timing of the Fullerton Pike project. Continue reading “$8M in county bridge bonds OK’d, library sidewalk connections won’t be as late as feared” →

Capital improvement board created, convention center expansion takes small step forward

A seven-member capital improvement board (CIB) has finally been created to provide the governance for a long-planned expansion of the Monroe Convention Center.

The unanimous vote by the three county commissioners to create the CIB came at their regular Wednesday meeting. Their vote was greeted with a rare round of applause in the Nat U. Hill room at the county courthouse.

Clapping enthusiastically in the audience for the vote were county councilors Geoff McKim, and Peter Iversen, as well as Eric Spoonmore, who is a former county councilor and now CEO of the Great Bloomington Chamber of Commerce.

That appears to end the wrangling between the county commissioners and Bloomington mayor John Hamilton, over the governance of the expansion project, which has stalled the joint city-county effort since early March 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Hamilton’s preferred way of handling the tasks that the CIB will oversee would have been through a nonprofit. A CIB is a public body, which the county commissioners can create under state law.

Still to be negotiated are the details of an interlocal agreement between the city and the county governments, which would lay out, among other things, the way that any land now owned by the city or the county will be incorporated into the expansion project. Continue reading “Capital improvement board created, convention center expansion takes small step forward” →

Bloomington’s econ development commish OKs tax abatement report, city council review next

From upper left counter clockwise: ESD staff Andrea “De” de la Rosa and Alex Crowley; EDC members Malcolm Webb, Kurt Zorn, Vanessa McClary, Geoff McKim, Matt Flaherty; and assistant city attorney Larry Allen.

On Friday, Bloomington’s five-member economic development commission (EDC) approved a report from city staff  on about a dozen tax abatements  that have been granted to companies over the years, as well as a couple of tax abatements that have been approved, but not yet claimed.

The pending abatements are for Real America, the affordable housing developer of the former Night Moves site on South Walnut Street, and for Catalent, the pharmaceutical company. Continue reading “Bloomington’s econ development commish OKs tax abatement report, city council review next” →

Bender resigns as nominee for Bloomington District 6 city council, Dems will caucus to fill ballot

Nicole Bolden (March 26, 2023) B Square file photo.
Sydney Zulich (May 2, 2023) B Square file photo.
Geoff McKim (Oct. 29, 2019) B Square file photo.
David Henry (May 4, 2023) B Square file photo.
The six precincts of District 6 are outlined in brown. Surrounding districts (clowise 2, 3, and 4) are shown in green red and yellow.
David Wolfe Bender (May 18, 2023) B Square file photo.

David Wolfe Bender has withdrawn as the Democratic Party’s District 6 city council nominee in Bloomington’s Nov. 7 municipal election.

Two weeks ago, on May 18, the county election board had convened a hearing on Bender’s disputed residency in District 6.

The board voted to refer the matter to Monroe County prosecutor Erika Oliphant, to consider possible felony charges, and to the Indiana attorney general Todd Rokita on the question of his eligibility as a candidate.

Since then, there has been no word on Bender’s case from either the prosecutor or the attorney general.

Given Bender’s withdrawal, the question of his eligibility is now academic.

Bender was unopposed in the primary. No Republican filed as a primary candidate.

To place a Democrat on the ballot, the party will now convene a caucus of the five sitting precinct chairs of District 6, according to Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry.

The date of the caucus has not yet been determined. But the deadline for filling a ballot vacancy, for either the Democrats or the Republicans, is July 3.

It was on Thursday afternoon when Bender filed the CAN 46 form, resigning his candidacy. Continue reading “Bender resigns as nominee for Bloomington District 6 city council, Dems will caucus to fill ballot” →

New jail finance committee created by Monroe County councilors

Monroe County auditor Cathy Smith adjusts the mic for Charlotte Zietlow (May 10, 2023).
Isabel Piedmont-Smith addresses the county council (May 10, 2023).
The screen in the Nat U. Hill room reflects the changes made to the JFAC resolution (May 10, 2023).
Gloria Howell addresses the Monroe County council (May 10, 2023).
County attorney Molly Turner-King (May 10, 2023).
Gloria Howell addresses the Monroe County council (May 10, 2023).

Two weeks after the idea was floated at a work session, the Monroe County council has established a new committee to focus on fiscal issues associated with the construction of a new jail.

The unanimous vote to create the justice fiscal advisory committee (JFAC)—consisting of three county councilors and 12 other ex officio members—came at the council’s regular meeting on Tuesday. The ex officio members don’t count towards the number needed for a quorum.

The word “fiscal” in the name of the new committee that has been formed by the county council reflects the fact that the council is the county’s fiscal body.

Any funding for a new jail facility would have to be approved by the seven-member county council, no matter what decisions are made by the three county commissioners about the location and size of a new jail facility.

The county council’s move to create the committee got support from the public mic during the meeting, in-person as well as on the Zoom video conference platform. Continue reading “New jail finance committee created by Monroe County councilors” →

Jennifer McCormick kicks off gubernatorial campaign in Bloomington

Jennifer McCormick May 4, 2023).
Switchyard Brewing Company May 4, 2023).
Shruti Rana (May 4, 2023).
Jennifer McCormick May 4, 2023).
Jennifer McCormick (May 4, 2023).
Left in the frame Jennifer McCormick. At the lectern is Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry (May 4, 2023)
Jennifer McCormick is welcomed at Switchyard Brewing (May 4, 2023).
Jennifer McCormick is welcomed at Switchyard Brewing May 4, 2023).
Jennifer McCormick May 4, 2023).

A little after 7 p.m., Jennifer McCormick arrived at Switchyard Brewing Company on North Walnut Street in downtown Bloomington with her 2024 gubernatorial campaign team.

McCormick is vying for the Democratic Party’s nomination as the governor of the Hoosier state.

The campaign launched with a late-Wednesday filing, then hit the road Thursday, starting in New Castle, where she grew up. From there, it was on to Terre Haute, then Evansville, and finally Bloomington.

McCormick’s name will be recognizable as Indiana’s superintendent of public instruction, elected in November 2016, running as a Republican.

The office of superintendent was abolished in 2021—replaced by the secretary of education, who is appointed by the governor. Also in 2021, McCormick announced she was changing her political affiliation to the Democratic Party.

Around 40 local Bloomington Democrats were on hand to greet McCormick, who gave brief remarks when she hit the door, then a few more words from the lectern that had been set up in front of a stack of kegs and pallet of cans. Continue reading “Jennifer McCormick kicks off gubernatorial campaign in Bloomington” →