Mark Bell – The B Square

R Output FOOD AND BEVERAGE REVENUE BY MONTH YEAR OVER YEAR through June 2024

Monroe County’s FABTAC (food and beverage tax advisory commission) meeting to consider revised 2024 CIB budget expenditure. (July 22, 2024)

On Monday afternoon, the expansion project for the Monroe Convention center took a procedural step forward.

At its Monday meeting, the county’s FABTAC (food and beverage tax advisory commission) approved a requested additional expenditure from food and beverage tax revenues, to support the revised 2024 budget for the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB).

The city of Bloomington’s share of the food and beverage tax, which comes to about 90 percent of what’s collected across Monroe County, is supposed to be the source of funding for the convention center expansion project.

The request in front of the FABTAC on Monday was to use an additional $350,702 in tax revenue, beyond the $250,000 that was in the CIB’s initial 2024 budget. Continue reading “Food and Beverage tax notebook: Advisory group OKs $350K more for 2024 capital board’s budget” →

Panorama of convention center looking to the southwest as seen in August of 2022.

Total food and beverage tax revenues by month since the 1-percent tax started getting collected.

Bloomington’s city council has set a work session for this Friday (April 5) at noon, to discuss a project that has been in the works for a few years—the renovation and expansion of the Monroe Convention Center.

The current convention center stands on the southwest corner of 3rd Street and College Avenue.

The work session will likely be closely watched by other elected and appointed officials, because the city council is not necessarily unanimous in its support of every aspect of the planned expansion.

At the end of February, councilmember Kate Rosenbarger voted against the interlocal agreement that lays out the working relationship between city government, county government, and the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB). Continue reading “Monroe Convention Center expansion: Bloomington city council work session set for April 5” →