- All right. Hi. Thank you very much everybody for your patience. I am really sorry. Welcome to the opening
- night of departmental budget hearings. Twenty twenty seven for the twenty seven budget for Bloomington.
- Awesome. All right. So I will give us just a quick no I don't do that. First we do roll call. Deputy
- city clerk stole would you mind taking role please. All right. Councilmember daily here.
- Rallo, Ruff, Rosenberger? Here. Flaherty? Here. Stasberg? Here. Piedmont-Smith? Here. Zulek? Here. Asari.
- All right, thank you very much. So just a quick overview of our agenda for this evening, Monday,
- August 17th. We have a few presentations on deck. We're going to start with an introduction by the Office
- of the Mayor.
- followed by an introduction by controller Jeff McKim. And then we will hear from the fire department
- and then the presentation from the police department and dispatch followed by presentation from community
- and family resources development. And then finally closing out the evening housing and neighborhood
- development also known as hand will be presenting their 2027 budget. So with that out of the way we
- will now move on to the presentations. So
- I welcome Mayor Thompson up to the podium. Thank you very much. You have 10 minutes. Thanks and thanks
- for starting the budget hearings with joy. It's awesome.
- My administration is proud to present the city of Bloomington budget proposal for 2027 our total budget
- for this year is proposed at 165 million dollars and it cuts our combined operating an ed lit deficit
- by more than half this year a total reduction from the 2024 budget with which this administration began
- of more than ten point five million dollars and
- While funding is just one of the tools that we use to get things done, the budget of a city speaks to
- its vision and what we truly hope to accomplish together. Our vision of a safe and welcoming Bloomington
- where everyone has a good and safe place to call home, a good paying job, and a community of belonging.
- is accomplished through many choices. Together with the council and our city residents, we share many
- priorities and goals for improving our city. And the budget that you'll review over the coming weeks
- delivers a proposal which prioritizes maintaining the many assets that we have and the services uniquely
- provided by the city, along with
- Responsible fiscal choices that unlock potential for our community and for the residents who live here.
- We will continue to prioritize maintaining what we have and the services that only the city can provide
- and responsible fiscal choices that unlock our potential. Often as leaders we think creativity only
- arrives in the form of a new idea.
- But sometimes the best innovations that we have in humanity come when we're forced to work on our shared
- priorities within fiscal constraints that did not exist when we created those innovative ideas. Fiscal
- responsibility today requires true grit and creativity. And I'm proud that we have continued to reduce
- the anticipated deficit in the city's budget in each and every annual budget my team has produced.
- Achieving this reality this year will take creative thinking about funding, partnerships, and innovative
- pathways. We now have our budget to a point that with the exception of a payment of the final commitment
- to Bloomington Transit and our share of election funding, we would not be forecasting an operational deficit.
- The city frequently budgets a deficit because expenditures usually come in much less than budgeted.
- For example, staff vacancies usually result in unspent appropriations as well as budgets for temporary
- salaries and capital items. A balanced budget on paper generally leads to growing reserves. My commitment
- to the residents of this city continues to be responsible fiscal management and with each budget we
- have reduced
- that anticipated operating deficit and will continue to make the hard choices to ensure that we are
- operating a city government within our means. First our focus this year our city has responsibilities
- to taxpayers that for services that only we provide and we have to fulfill those duties before anything else.
- clean waters, safe roads and sidewalks, beautiful parks and trails, public safety. Second, we have new
- assets to protect and maintain, like Switchyard Park and Hopewell Commons, and older assets that need
- to be repaired or replaced, like hand-me-down public works buildings and our policed headquarters.
- The controller and our financial advisors have outlined a path forward for funding critical infrastructure
- in these areas. Third, when we prioritize our root cause issues, housing, homelessness, wage growth,
- and public safety, we create lasting, transformative change. Each choice comes with trade-offs, and
- our first priority must be fixing what's broken and filling gaps. If the city
- at this stage were a house, we would still be or be back in the stage of investing in plumbing and electrical
- repairs and HVAC before we can think about decorating. I wanna talk for a minute about outcomes-based
- budgeting and where we are with that. A priority describes, of course, what we value. An outcome describes
- how we measure our success in living up to that value.
- In the 2025 budget, we started exploring how we could move toward an outcomes-based budget to make our
- desired priorities and outcomes transparent. With a new controller and the many phases of implementing
- the broken financial system, we have found that that financial system is simply inadequate to provide
- the data that we need
- to produce a true outcomes-based budget. We've planned for a new financial system in 2027 for many reasons.
- And once we've implemented that, we can continue the conversation around budgeting practices.
- In the meantime, council shared a list of their priorities with us this spring. And with the controller's
- office, we examined that list to define areas of shared priority that are within the wheelhouse of municipal
- government.
- those that have measurable spending and could potentially have measurable outcomes. There's lots of
- good news. Council the administration and residents share many of the same priorities and together we're
- working diligently in all of these areas as you see reflected in the budget proposal before you. We
- will be working on asset preservation transportation and safe streets for all climate
- economic development, homelessness solutions and diversion, public safety, including alternative response,
- and of course, housing. While we know that we won't be able to implement our ideal solutions or do everything
- we would like to do this year, I am committed to making just the promises that we can keep and no more,
- and focusing on incremental improvement in the areas where we are unable to fund dramatic impact.
- I am tremendously grateful for your consideration of this budget. And as we know, as SEA 1 rolls out
- and we continue to face decreasing income, we can and will achieve a Bloomington that meets our vision.
- And together, in collaboration, I think that we can achieve some tremendous things in the coming year.
- I'm happy to answer your question.
- Thank you very much. Does anybody have any questions at this time. Councilmember Piedmont Smith. So
- my question is about process. So I mean I submitted a couple of general questions on the spreadsheet
- that has been shared with the public. Am I supposed to ask those now as well or is that going to
- the answered in writing or is it up to me. You're welcome to ask them now as well. We've been working
- diligently on that spreadsheet answering the things that we're able to answer within the time that we've
- had so far. And we'll continue to work on them. All right. So I'll go ahead and ask. So in the absence
- of data driven outcome based budgeting is your administration
- at least discussing the budget internally within the paradigm of how does this expense help us meet
- our common goals. I see the department heads memos do refer back to the list of shared council and mayor
- goals that you had just had on the screen. But did they consider each position program or other major
- expenditure in this context of how does this expense help us meet our goals.
- So the priorities were taken very seriously, not only by the administration, but by each department
- head. And they have targeted their spending to meet those priorities. So you can expect to see impact
- in those priorities. And we've made, obviously we have really produced a budget where we have
- had to be lean. So we are not able to make as much progress as we would like in some areas. But you
- will see spending reflecting those priorities. Guess what I'm getting at is what's the paradigm you
- discussed with your cabinet. Is it you know try to do more with less. Is it take last year's budget
- and see what you can pare down keeping these priorities in mind or is it really
- Go to each expense or each project and think about how it makes it gets us closer to our common goals
- and therefore deserves funding. Yeah, so I think we're you know, the way I talked to the cabinet about
- the budget is much like I just did with you all that we have a certain amount of money to work with.
- These are our priorities. How much can we get done within these priorities?
- in your budget. And so you'll see, for instance, when Hand speaks tonight, their impact on producing
- housing, making sure that housing is accountable and safe and habitable, et cetera. The system that
- we have, just to be clear, has no way of producing the
- the expenditures from each department that go into, say, homelessness, right? There's no way to outline
- that and get a simple report. And in the end, the report that we have to, and the files we have to submit
- to the state to get our budget approved there, still have to be in the conventional format. And so it
- is literally a manual transfer to get
- The threads pulled into separate spreadsheets from every department for every different outcome Then
- we produce a budget negotiate it with you all and then we have to manually Transfer it back into all
- of the separate funds. It's incredibly labor-intensive and so we've taken the the priorities based budgeting and
- Focused our spending where where it's flexible and I'll just be clear lots of the things that we do
- in the city That are just the basic city services that takes up most of this budget so the choices that
- we have are few the the the deliberations that we have in terms of percentage of dollars
- Less than you might anticipate Councilmember Stossberg and then council members who look after thank
- you So in your memo one of the things that you wrote under the every dollar comes with trade-offs and
- questions starting with and then you have a list
- And you kind of referred to it a little bit in your in one of the slides as well One of those the last
- one states does this spending serve an area of greatest need something that is in poor condition Missing
- or due for replacement or does it improve on something that is already good? and I know that I've heard
- this as kind of like a sort of debate before in terms of
- you know, the trade-offs of like trying to take a D or an F and get it up to a C or a B versus taking
- a C and getting up to an A in terms of like how do we, because there are kind of two different approaches,
- right, to improve different pieces of infrastructure especially. So I guess what I'm asking here is
- I feel like that statement kind of raises this question of like which one of these
- Do we prioritize? And I'm not totally sure that you really answered that question with your presentation.
- So I guess I just want to hear your perspective on that answer, on that kind of philosophical concept
- there of Fs to Cs or Cs to As.
- I think it entirely depends on what we're talking about. If we're talking about a core city service,
- we can't be at an F and frankly, we can't even be at a C. We need to be at a B plus or higher and always
- striving for an A. Then there are things that I think we're doing moderately well. And if we had extra
- money, would we like to get them from a C to an A? Sure.
- Absolutely, we would. And I've talked to several of you about the various plans that we have in place
- that have, we intend to implement this by X date. But many of those plans are not tied to funding. And
- so we have to consider when we're looking at something that's a C, can we even meet the plan here? And
- what are we sacrificing to meet the plan? And other things.
- That are at seas Can you know need to be lifted to an a? So I would say entirely depends if there's
- something we're not doing yet, and it's not essential We won't be picking it up this year So as a follow-up
- I just heard you say that core city services need to be a B plus or higher. And I guess I'm going to
- ask again, like what you consider core city services. Yeah. So I think I defined those in my, um, in
- my opening remarks. Um, so those are obviously water sewer, um, public safety are all core city services.
- We have to have clean drinking water. We have to be able to flush our toilets and have it disposed of
- in a sanitary way.
- If I could finish what I was going to say that one of the places where that debate has been especially
- vibrant you can say is in transportation planning and the idea of streets and their street design. So
- do you consider street design to be a core city service or transportation design to be a core city service
- in this context.
- I think our responsibility to provide transportation infrastructure is a core city service and I think
- we have worked really hard to get safe streets for all implemented and we continue to prioritize that
- in the budget. That's all right now. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Mayor Thompson for your
- presentation.
- Being here tonight, I thought I heard you say in your presentation that we're instituting a new financial
- system next year. It's in the budget to purchase a new financial system. So you'll hear more about that
- when the controller speaks to you. OK. In that case, I will hold my next question for the controller.
- Thank you. All right. Thank you. Any other questions from council members? No? Going once. All right.
- Thank you very much mayor Thompson and next we have an introduction from the city controller You may
- step right up to the podium introduce yourself and you have I believe 10 minutes also 15 minutes. There's
- no Cut back but I'm so sorry. Oh Sorry, I thought those were all mixed up together. I apologize. Apparently
- I skipped over the next part of councilmember comments Yeah
- So what you're telling me that yeah, well I was asking if we were gonna have councilmember comics I
- did have a comment that was definitely not a question. Okay. Sorry. I didn't realize we were I'm confused
- since we are not doing Public comment. Okay, I thought it was just questions and comments all in one.
- So go ahead if you I didn't know that we weren't doing public comment either Okay councilmember Flaherty.
- Did you have something on this as a point of order? We've I believe in recent years made a motion to
- structure the format of debate for the
- Duration of the the budget hearings, which we did not do at the beginning of this meeting I would say
- until then we're kind of at the chair's discretion I'm happy to try to identify a prior motion if we
- might want to use that for a template for how to structure from here I'm happy to entertain a motion
- Why don't we do councilmember comment while councilmember Flaherty I love this motion. Yep. Yes, so I
- Is this a council member comment or related to the motion from last year. Awesome. OK. I will entertain
- a motion. I move that for the duration of budget week we a limit council member question and answer
- periods to a maximum of three minutes per council member per presentation be limit council member comment
- period to three minutes per council member per presentation.
- See limit public comment to two minutes per speaker per comment period and then number two I moved we
- suspend the rules to dispense of the requirement to. Oh no never mind. Just just those three points
- and I'll second. All right. We have a motion and a second. Any debate on this. Any discussion. Council
- members Stasberg I guess I'm just wondering about the
- the three minutes per council member for a question and answer because so many of us don't have questions
- at least in the first session. So I think that the point of that is to not go on and on forever all
- night long. But I don't I don't know. I guess I just want to raise that as a potential saying you think
- it should be extended. I don't know. I don't think it needs to be okay. Yeah I think just because we
- have the space doesn't mean we need to try to fill it.
- Any other comments before we vote on this. I would like to ask a question. Where did this proposal to
- not have public comment come from and does that only apply to the intro and not to the departments or
- I thought we usually have public comment. That was my confusion when I rushed in and we will tap in
- attorney Allen who I asked about this. I wasn't going to throw anyone under the bus.
- motion for special rules we hadn't discussed it typically these would just be presentations for the
- information of council you could ask questions but if you want to have a public comment as you just
- moved then that's perfectly fine by special rules can I amend my motion then councilmember Flaherty
- reference I think was the same motion we had in 2024 as well so we have had public comment at the prior
- two years and probably before that as well I support the motion as as made I guess but you included
- public comment did you not
- I did not. I thought you did. I thought it was two minutes. Two minutes per. Oh, I did. There was two
- minutes. But I said limit public comment to two minutes per speaker per comment period. And it is not
- clear what comment period there will be under your motion. What I understood it to be was that there's
- a comment period following each speaker and that each public commenter would be allowed two minutes
- to respond to that particular speaker and no others. That is what I intended. That is how implicit in
- the motion you think. Yes. All right. Thank you.
- Mean I I told people to come and comment. I mean nobody's here, but I Know I'm open. I think that people
- should have that right. All right Deputy city clerk stole would you mind calling the roll on this motion,
- please? Councilmember ruff Rosenberger. Yes Flaherty. Yes, Stasburg. Yes, Piedmont Smith. Yes, Zulek. Yes
- Daily. Yes All right. Fantastic. So now then we did our questions for the office of the mayor's introduction.
- So now we are going to open it up to public comment public Comment. Yes. Sorry and my deepest apologies
- especially to Controller Kim for calling you up and then putting you on standby. So McKim, sorry All
- right. This is what happens when I'm flustered and I'm rushing in late for the meeting. I
- Any public commenters in the chambers or online? There's no one online All right super we have no takers.
- So now we will move to councilmember comment Councilmember Stossberg. Thank you. I just want to make
- a quick comment on outcome based budgeting and I can appreciate, you know having been related with like the
- the temporary fiscal committee or the special fiscal committee over the last couple of years in terms
- of the complexity around software with this and like pulling out the all of those individual numbers
- and and I Have really understood that but I also think that there is a potential parallel process of
- actually Identifying the priority outcomes that we have and that that can be done potentially even
- figuring out ways to measure those outcomes without necessarily having to have all of that software
- done. And I guess that I would appreciate it if we could kind of move in that direction of starting
- to think about what outcomes do we want to see in our city? And even if we can't nail down to the dollar
- exactly what we're spending on those outcomes, I think that we can.
- Make some some inroads into whether or not we are meeting those goals. And so I guess I would hope that
- we move in that direction because it's Kind of disappointing that this seems pretty wiped wiped clean
- of that. Thanks Councilmember Flaherty Yeah, first just thank you to mayor Thompson and department heads
- and city staff for developing this budget proposal I really appreciate all the work that goes into that
- and I look forward to
- hearing the presentations and asking questions. A quick note on that, I mostly intend to ask my questions
- in writing to keep this manageable from a time perspective. And on the comment side, I think just, I'll
- briefly second what Councilmember Stossberg noted, which in my mind, outcome-based budgeting starts
- with outcomes, and that's been a barrier we've identified and talked about in each of the prior years
- of this administration, that we actually, with limited exception, don't have a lot of shared outcomes.
- And where we do have them, they're quite disparate in kind of the framework and what type of times horizon
- we're talking about. And to me, that's the real investment here is identifying and developing shared
- outcomes across the major areas of city services and governance in a kind of common paradigm that would
- allow us then to measure and track progress over time, which I hadn't even thought about but agree that
- may or may not entail line item budget tracking. You know that they might actually even need that from
- an outcome based budgeting perspective. So I hope we can continue that conversation too about how to
- make progress toward that with keeping the outcomes at the front in the center. Thank you. Thank you
- very much. Any other council comments. All right. Great. Thank you all very much. And now for real this
- time the introduction by Controller McKim.
- Thank you. Please introduce yourself and you do have that full 15 minutes Jeff McKim good evening council
- members Thank you for the opportunity to discuss with you the overall financial picture of the city
- as we begin the 2027 budget discussions My goal is to give you the clearest financial framework I can
- for evaluating those choices Including where the numbers are firm where their estimates and where I
- see financial risk It works Wow
- So during this budget process, you'll be considering a budget proposal for around 38 different funds.
- Some are very general in use such as the general fund, some are very limited and specific. I know one
- question that has emerged is
- Why these funds and why not others? If you look at the city's annual financial report, for example,
- you will see over 100 funds. That doesn't even include those associated with utilities. However,
- by statute, there are only certain funds that you appropriate as part of the annual budget process.
- Some of the others are very specialized, and some may not be actively used. Some are associated with
- grants. Some are associated with TIF districts and the Redevelopment Commission, which you don't budget for.
- And some are old bond funds or even current bond project funds that you've already appropriated.
- So today, I provided you through the spreadsheet with questions with a list of all of the funds that
- appear in the 2027 budget proposal, including a brief description of each fund.
- Even of the 38 or so that you're being asked to approve a budget for there's some that focus on more
- than others because they involve a larger and more complex decision space that is the need and ability
- to trade off between multiple priorities as You know the 2027 budget proposal includes a five point
- four million dollar budgeted deficit in the general fund which is less than the budgeted deficits that
- you've approved in 2024 25 and 26
- But I actually think it is most useful to look at the general fund and the ED lit funds together. Why?
- First because many expenses have been moved between these funds and so you can compare like with like.
- And then also because they are essentially identical in how they're allowed to be spent. These two funds
- together essentially represent the majority, not all, but the majority of the decision space that you
- have with respect to the general operations of city government.
- And so if we add up general and Edie lit we wind up with in 2027 a proposed general and Edie lit budget
- together with the deficit of four point eight million dollars We've seen some additional and increased
- expenses in the 2027 budget proposal and we'll talk about them in a few minutes We were also moving
- some more expenses from the general fund to Edie lit
- This moving simply serves to balance out the revenue and expenses of the two funds. It doesn't represent
- any new expenses or savings either. And I'll talk about these moves shortly. As with past budgets, we
- have seen a budgeted deficit in these key operational funds.
- The city has historically spent less than its full appropriation and the proposed year-end fund balances
- mostly remain substantial. However, I do want to acknowledge the rising costs of fully funding what
- we already have with limited revenue coming in and few opportunities for revenue growth.
- I do want to emphasize a point that I made in my component of the budget memo as well, that while the
- expenditure proposals being discussed are very specific, the revenue numbers may and will change before
- the budget is passed. There are best guesses based on the information we have. And of course, even though
- the revenue projections will become part of the record when the budget is passed, the actual revenue
- could come in at or below or above the projected revenue. Many of the important revenue numbers are
- not even known before the budget book was produced.
- For example, the final lit numbers for 2027, the PSAP distribution from the county for dispatch, and
- the circuit breaker tax cap estimates from the state. Some depend heavily on future events that we don't
- have a lot of control over, such as interest income. And I mention that just to say that throughout
- the process, while the budgeted expenditure numbers will only change through this process if we together
- agree they will, the revenue numbers will continue to change as we get new information, as
- I have opportunities to further analyze
- projections, etc.
- Based on questions that I've received from council members already as well as information that's already
- been received I'll be reduced releasing some additional data tables over the next week Those tables
- will include information like current and projected fund balances for each of the funds that make up
- the budget proposal updated reserves Projections and the actual budget expenditures to date some of
- that information is already presented to the fiscal committee But I'm hearing that all council members
- would appreciate that information and actually my first cut at that was released today
- I want to talk for a few minutes about some of the larger scale changes in the operating budget from
- 2026 to 2027.
- First, we've included a 2.7 cost of living, a 2.7% cost of living adjustment for civil city employees,
- which represents the December to December increase in the urban CPI. We're also including 3% cost of
- living for the employees of our three unions, Ask Me, Police, and Fire. Overall salary increases come
- out to 2.9 million across the city, with 623,000 in the general fund and 1.2 million in ED lit. We've
- also seen increases in pension expenses.
- For civil city employees, the perf contribution rate remains at 14.2%, so the only increases are driven
- by the additional salaries. However, for sworn public safety employees in PERS, the perf pension trustee
- has increased the mandatory employer pension contribution rate from 23.3% to 26.5%, which is a very
- large increase, coming out to approximately $1.8 million increase in the general fund.
- Note that these increased perf contribution rates do not mean that the police officers and firefighters
- will actually get additional retirement compensation. It just means that their pensions will continue
- not to be underfunded. We, like every other employer, are also seeing increases in healthcare insurance
- costs. This budget includes the preliminary increase of 9% that we were given from our insurer, the
- AIM Medical Trust. This increase totaled 876,000 citywide,
- with 390,000 in the general fund and 216,000 in the ED lit fund. The budget book was prepared using
- the preliminary 9% increase. We have since received the final figure as 5.8%. And I have not yet revised
- the appropriation because the allocation of that increase between city and employees has not yet been
- finalized before advertising the budget will update that number once the decision is resolved.
- This budget also includes $650,000 for the city's portion of the 2027 municipal election. This is a
- mandatory expense that only occurs every four years and is paid out of the public works budget in the
- general fund. We're also seeing the restoration of the streets contribution to the fleet maintenance
- fund, which is split between MVH and cumulative capital development. Sorry, I'm gonna try to move fast
- through this because I've got a lot.
- We're proposing several critical capital investments in maintaining our assets through a 2026 general
- obligation bond. I'll talk a little bit about that shortly. Several expenses were shifted from the general
- fund. Edie lit in particular. Those included $500,000 transfer to alternative transportation, $500,000
- to Jack Hopkins, 202,000 to the vehicle replacement fund and 1.6 million to sanitation.
- The personnel from CFRD were also shifted to E.D. lit in the amount of one point three million. And
- I want to be very clear about these transfers because I don't want the presentation of the funds to
- obscure the underlying spending. Moving an expenditure from general to E.D. lit does not reduce total
- city spending. That's precisely why I like talking about the general fund and E.D. lit together when
- discussing the overall operating budget.
- And then finally there's still some uncertainty in our revenue numbers We've received more information
- on property taxes including the projected circuit breaker impacts, which I'll talk about in in a moment
- We've also received partial information about income tax We know that the overall countywide lit has
- increased by five point thirty eight percent Which is a respectable growth rate, but not as high as
- we'd like to see in the community what we don't have yet though are the state distributions to all of
- the individual taxing units and
- As is the case for most local government, personnel remains our largest driver of expenses. The salary
- study has now been implemented along with significant compensation adjustments for public safety employees
- that were necessary to address recruitment and retention challenges. But now that we have market level
- salaries, it's also important to maintain them and provide appropriate cost of living increases in order
- not to be right back where we started.
- One important characteristic of personnel spending is that it tends to represent an ongoing commitment.
- Unlike a one-time capital expenditure, adding a position or increasing recurring compensation affects
- the expenditure base in future years. That's why we're being particularly cautious about adding positions
- in the current revenue environment and have not proposed adding any in this budget.
- The city remains in a strong financial position, but I want to talk about reserves in a little bit more
- detail. The reserve numbers that I included in the budget book have changed as new revenue numbers have
- become available and expenses have been moved from fund to fund. And in response to one of Council Member
- Piedmont-Smith's questions that was actually essentially asked in a different way by Council Member
- Asari as well, I have released a table in the spreadsheet
- That you've been given that includes every fund that has a proposed budget along with its current cash
- balance It's 2027 proposed budget and revenues and the projected end-of-year fund balances for both
- 2026 and 2027 I was going to talk in more detail about how those balances are projected But I'm thinking
- that this may not be the right the right format So
- Using the numbers from the table that I gave you, we do see a projected operating balance or reserves
- of $54 million in the general fund and $11 million in the ED-lit fund. Other funds have different levels
- of reserves. And in addition, we have a rainy day fund which has an additional $3.5 million or so of
- cash that can be used as reserves for any lawful purpose of county or city governments. Nothing is being
- budgeted from rainy day this year and any use would require your appropriation.
- Why are reserves important? Well, first and foremost, they provide cash flow for salaries before property
- tax collections come in for funds that collect property tax. Property taxes don't come in until June
- usually, so it's important to be able to fund any salaries or other essential expenses before property
- taxes come in. Reserves also provide flexibility in the case of emergency, additional support for bond
- ratings, and stability during revenue uncertainty, as we've seen with SEA-1.
- So I don't think any of you are unaware of the challenges that lie ahead from SCA 1, Senate Enrolled
- Act 1. First, on the property tax side, we'll continue to see decreases in our net assessed value due
- to new deductions from SCA 1. Just last week, after the budget book had been produced, we received our
- new net assessed value numbers for 2027. What we see is a reduction of $142 million in net assessed
- value in 2027 for the city of Bloomington.
- This is a direct consequence of SEA 1, and in particular, of new exemptions for owners of rental housing
- that will continue to increase through 2031. And incidentally, because Bloomington has so many rental
- properties, we are disproportionately affected by these SEA 1 reductions. And there's gonna be a couple
- of follow-on effects from this loss of AV. First, we'll see a loss in our rate-controlled funds, which
- is primarily our cumulative capital development fund.
- And then we'll see greater circuit breaker impacts. So just so everybody understands the kind of chain
- of logic here, additional deductions for rental property owners makes the net assessed value go down,
- which makes the tax rates go higher, which makes the circuit breaker losses to local government go higher.
- And we have just received our estimates for circuit breaker losses for 2027.
- This past Friday as well. We expect to see about 1.3 million dollars in circuit breaker losses across
- all city funds This is an increase of about eighty seven thousand from last year and the big seua1 hit
- came the year before where we saw a six hundred twenty six percent increase or over a million dollars
- in additional circuit breaker losses, but the important thing to know is that these losses are permanent and
- Permanent lower reset of our property tax revenues that will continue to get worse as the deductions
- for rental properties grow through 2031 One of the things we've we've done as part of this budget has
- developed the first iteration of a more comprehensive capital improvement plan that plan will continue
- to evolve but it gives us a much better framework for identifying our capital needs and Planning for
- them over multiple years rather than addressing them
- one year at a time. While SEA-1 changes some of the tools we've historically used to fund those needs
- by effectively eliminating our ability to issue short-term geo bonds, but it does not eliminate our
- ability to make stable, predictable capital investments. The financing strategy we intend to bring to
- the council for consideration is a rolling series of six-year general obligation bonds for both city
- and parks. This allows us to continue making regular capital investments while planning those investments
- over a longer horizon.
- The objective isn't to increase capital spending simply because the authority exists. It's to create
- a predictable replacement and maintenance cycle so that known capital needs don't accumulate until they
- become emergencies. As part of that transition, we've also pulled a number of significant capital items
- out of the departmental operating budgets. We think this provides a clear distinction between the ongoing
- costs of operating city government and the cost of maintaining and improving our long-lived assets.
- And we'll have opportunities to talk about the the bond proposal in more detail I did just want to mention
- that there has been a change since producing the budget book after conversations with parks and our
- bond advisors and bond council We've decided to propose the new six-year parks geo bond early next year
- rather than this year that'll allow the existing 2022 parks geo bond to roll off and Therefore will
- keep the overall debt service tax rates down
- So it looks like I've run out of time, but thank you very much for listening I'm happy to answer what
- questions I can hear and I will also be here throughout these budget discussions in case Because undoubtedly
- there will be fiscal questions that come up with respect to other departmental budgets Thank you so
- much for that presentation and for being mindful of your time and not making me cut you off I appreciate
- that any questions for controller McKim councilmember Zulek
- I have a short question and maybe perhaps a longer one are the exemptions for rental properties for
- both long-term rentals and Short-term rentals like Airbnb's is it is there any difference in the two?
- So what the way the the tax nerds talk about it is they are those properties that are subject to the 2%
- circuit breaker cap. So what it means is that they are residential that are not home that do not have
- a homestead exemption with it. So if you had a short term rental in which that you know, you rented
- your own basement in your house, that and you had still had the homestead deduction on your property,
- then that would be that that would not be increasing here. But in general, yes, non homestead residential
- properties are what we're talking about.
- Thank you. I also had one more question, just what changes are you hoping to see in a potential new
- financial system that might offer us better insights? So actually, I was really hoping that we could
- defer that question until the IT services, because it's actually that expense is in the IT services
- budget, and we were going to talk about that in more detail. But let me just, in brief,
- The big issue is that simply our financial system is 15 years old and doing everything is a slog. It
- just takes time. And that's what it's really about. It's not that there's any one thing that we just
- can't do. It's that every little thing takes time, that every report we get to be able to present it
- in a format that's accessible, for example, takes
- you know, anywhere between 20 minutes to several hours of cleaning, of relabeling the columns and the
- data. It just takes a lot. So it's really, it's finding something that is just simply more efficient
- and reduces the amount of manual time that everybody has to spend. So that's the big picture, but we
- will talk about it a little bit more during the IT services budget. Thank you so much. And those are
- my questions. Thank you so much for being here.
- Any other questions from council members. Council member Stossberg. Thank you. Thanks so much. Controller
- McKim. So I have a question about the actual like numbers in terms of its label 2027 revenue and expense
- detail in the budget book on page 14 because it has like
- total revenue categories for 2027 and then expense categories for 2027. And it shows a gap of like a
- deficit gap of 28 million dollars. But then the chart that you showed up there seemed to not say the
- same thing. And so now I'm a little bit confused about the differences.
- Yes, so I did not talk about I only talked about Edie lit in general and the general fund that I actually
- provided a kind of a more detailed spreadsheet that I think answers your question in response
- to councilmember Piedmont Smith's question it's in the same document that the answers to our other questions are
- Are providing it shows the it shows every fund all 38 or 39. However, all all of the funds that you're
- budgeting not just general and and ed lit it shows the projected revenues and the expenditures and and
- then the Deficit or surplus for each fund and if you total those up, that's where you get approximately
- 20. It's 28 point something million But really then in terms of 2027
- Like there's 28 million dollars more budgeted than expected revenue if you look across all if you look
- across all funds But there's an important thing to to know about that is that a lot of those funds are
- in this case a lot of those are simply are either planned capital expenditures or planned spend downs
- like like a good portion of that revenue is actually or that that deficit
- from the food and beverage tax where we plan to not only we still have one more year or one half year
- of the CIB of the actual construction project, but we're also planning on on making two additional lease
- payments as part of the revenue stabilization fund that had been promised to council when When the bond
- had been issued for the Convention Center expansion, but I would
- I would encourage you to look at that spreadsheet first and see if that answers the questions you have
- and if it doesn't I'm I'm more than happy to add additional information I think that it does because
- I was like why is the 2027 proposed budget then only five million in deficit Yeah in my last 20 seconds,
- do you have any idea a projection on the actual? 2026
- Deficit or surplus that we're gonna end up in. I mean, I know it's just a projection right now, but
- That was actually part of the part I skipped in my in my presentation. So you give me the opportunity
- to answer Yes, sort of and and actually it is in that In that spreadsheet, but I you I'm using the state
- standard methodology for projecting
- the end of the year balance, which is basically you take the June 30th, 2026 actual balance and then
- you add in all anticipated revenues for the rest of the year based on what you projected.
- originally when the budget was passed, and then you add all, or you subtract all unspent appropriations.
- And that's a really crude way of doing a projection. And in particular, it's particularly inaccurate
- when it comes to salaries, where there are often reversions in salaries, because any time you have a
- vacancy or a senior person who retires and is replaced by a more junior person, you wind up
- with appropriations. So I think, given a little extra time,
- Which you know, I just have not had this this last week. I Would like to do a more detailed projection
- for the general fund it's one of those things you can't do mechanically like I can't just run a report
- and I have to actually look at what the expenses are. I may have to talk to some department heads But
- it is definitely very much on my radar and I think we can do it much in a much better job than Than
- the kind of mechanical state
- Sanction projection method is thanks. I'll go ahead and follow that up then in writing so then it can
- get part of that. Thanks Any other council questions for controller McKim? All right, awesome we will
- move to public comment now, thank you Anybody online or anybody in the room who would like to make comment?
- Let us know With a hand raised
- All right, super, thank you very much. You can take yourself off mute, state your name, and you have
- two minutes for comment, please. Yes, Kevin Keel, can you hear me? We can. All right, I wanted to thank
- the council members who have expended considerable effort submitting written questions concerning the
- proposed 2027 budget. I've expressed concerns at the fiscal committee about how difficult the budget
- document is for members of the public to digest. After reviewing these questions, I was impressed
- by both their breadth and consistent approach behind them. They also reinforce a concern that I've developed myself.
- The city provides a great deal of financial information, but it can be extremely difficult to assemble
- that information into a clear picture of the city's overall financial condition, financial trends, and
- what the taxpayers are receiving for the resources that are being appropriated. I also appreciate that
- many questions focus on performance indicators rather than simpler activities. What is the objective?
- What does it cost? How will the sex be measured?
- And what evidence will the Council have afterwards to determine whether the expenditure accomplished
- its intended purpose?
- Your questions have also caused me to think more about whether some of the information Council is now
- having to request separately could eventually become part of the City's standard budget presentation.
- That would, in my view, help move the needle towards a more public-friendly budget document. I recognize
- the amount of work that must have gone into developing these questions and want you to know as a citizen
- following this process, I appreciate the level of financial and operational scrutiny these questions
- are bringing to the budget hearing.
- Thank you so much, and I've got time left over, but I'm that's it Super thank you very much for those
- comments anybody else online or in chambers who would like to make public comment We're all good all
- right Yeah, thank you very much all right back to council for comments any last comments before we keep
- moving on councilmember Piedmont Smith
- Yeah, I just was looking at the budget a little bit in a historical context. I was thinking back to
- previous administrations and previous budgets that I voted yes on. And it's interesting to me, so in
- the 2017 budget proposal 10 years ago, 49% of revenues in the general fund came from property taxes.
- And this year it's only 31 percent. And then in local income tax revenues in 2017 it was thirty to thirty
- two point seven percent of the general fund. And this proposal is thirty three point six percent. So
- I think we see that there are more other revenues now other than property tax and lit. And of course in 2022
- We passed a new Edie lit which just didn't exist in 2017. So anyway as a student of history, it's just
- interesting to see these trends So want to share that Thank you councilmember Flaherty and then councilmember
- Stossberg Thanks. Just yeah briefly on the history vein as well when we considered and passed an edie
- lit which was a required action of the the
- local the names escaping me the shared body across the Fiscal units of the county the city Ellsville
- and Steinsville, I believe But the the voting shares were apportioned a certain way. We're in the City
- Council Eight members of the City Council could change an income tax rate, which is in fact what we
- did with that ed lit
- I heard at times support for their revenues and what we could do with them from the county colleagues
- that we have but did not enjoy their support in the votes itself You know, that's all just history I'm
- bringing it up because When we passed that ed lit it was of course for all new things. It was by definition,
- you know doing things that we had not been doing previously just four years ago
- And the council at the time expressed a lot of concern about how that would evolve over time. And would
- the priorities stay aligned? Would they remain something that was very deliberately negotiated,
- in a sense, between the mayor's administration and the council? And a fix for that was to make sure
- the revenues went not in the general fund, but in a special fund, the ED-LIP fund, so we could track
- for that purpose.
- That pretty quickly did not happen. And I think there's a lot, I think obviously there's shared blame
- for that. Obviously both prior administration and this administration did not do that, did not kind
- of maintain the ED lit just for the things that were passed and didn't engage in conversation to figure
- out what would change if anything. But the council also didn't ensure accountability around that. And
- that's on all parties. We've commented on this a little bit in recent years.
- budget hearings. And we're so far removed, with the exception of any obligations that were set in stone,
- like commitments to transit over a certain period. I think we're so far removed from what the initial
- kind of proposal and the new things that we were going to do and invest in that really needed investment.
- And the council believed, almost everybody, I think, that we needed that investment. We're just very
- far from what that looked like. And I think that complicates the picture quite a bit.
- for how we think about those revenues, how we think about where there are potentials for savings in
- the overall budget. Because once it all gets blended, it all just becomes functionally kind of a general
- fund with two names. So that's a challenge for all of us to puzzle over. I wanted to share that context
- as well. Thanks. Thank you. Councilmember Stossberg?
- I first just want to say my kind of long-standing I think every every budget year that we've had I've
- mentioned the I'll say problem of having an across-the-board cost of living increase or adjustment Because
- it extends the wage gap that those earning the most get the largest Increase in wages and those earning
- the least get the
- the least. And I just will once again point that out as just being a problematic nature of COLA increases.
- And I didn't get a chance to ask this question, but I will follow up with this question in the written
- questions, whether there have been conversations about how to manage that in the future. And I think
- that to some degree, the different adjustments that we've done
- have potentially fixed some of that issue right now, but it'll come around again. And so we've got to
- have some kind of, it would be great to have some kind of consistent concept of how we want to make
- sure that the wage gap doesn't increase long term. And then for the rest of my comment period, I just
- want to highlight something that Controller McKim said that I think is really important that we talked
- about in fiscal committee, the last fiscal committee, and that is the $142 million drop in assessed value.
- because of the state's change in property taxes because they are Giving larger property tax benefits
- to rental properties and we have a lot of rental properties so if you're a renter out there and your
- rent actually decreases because the property tax that your landlord is paying decreases like let me
- know because I think that would be pretty much a miracle and What it's gonna actually in effect do is
- it's going to put more money in the pockets of landlords and the bigger landlords are gonna get
- even more money in their pockets and that is at the expense of city governments of County governments
- of police of fire of libraries a lot of library issues and the biggest one is public schools So I just
- wanted to make sure to say that again to emphasize that again Because the more times we say it the better
- it is a problem with what?
- the state government is doing, what the legislature is doing that is supported by our governor and the
- more voices may be in their ears and the more votes against that kind of taxation, the better. Thanks.
- Thank you. Any other council comments? All right.
- I see none. So thank you very much. We will now move on to presentations from the fire department. So
- you may come to the podium. Please state your name for us. We know who you are but state your name and
- you have 15 minutes. Thank you. Roger Kerr chief of the department fire department. Thank you for letting
- me present the twenty twenty seven budget. I want to start off by this up here represents everybody
- who works in the fire department and that's the most key component we have is our personnel.
- What we do after that and what is in this budget is to support them in what they do The top row is the
- three shifts that work operationally the middle rows kind of support and down to bottom is the mih and
- Prevention and then community outreach, but I will reiterate that is the key to our department without
- that We don't have a department. That's that's even we're talking about and Thanks to the mayor and
- the council over the last couple years of putting that as a priority
- that we're fully staffed, and we've stopped that drain that was leaving here a couple years ago at a
- rapid rate, so we're very happy about that. Just a little bit, we have 120 full-time staff, one permit
- part-time. As you can see, our budget did not go up very much. Most of our capital expenses have been
- taken care of, but we do have two key things that we like to do, and I'll get into those a little bit
- more here as we replace the self-contained breathing apparatus, which we call SCBAs, and then our 100-foot
- platform truck.
- is up for replacement. Just some quick highlights. Hopefully here in about a month our operations center
- south of town will be up and functional. It's getting really close. In January we received a delivery
- of an apparatus, an engine. In March we received another engine, so we're pretty good on engines. We
- also purchased 72 radios out of last year's budget. That has been done, which has enhanced our communications.
- Sometimes we would go in some IU buildings and our radios wouldn't work because of the way the buildings
- are made But the new radios have either Wi-Fi connectivity or cell phone connectivity so that we now
- don't have dropped radios when we go into some IU building so it's a huge Increase in the way that was
- and then just some highlights in 2026 so far. We've made 3,145 calls in 2025 on the fireside. We've
- made 67 45 for the total year. So we're on about the same pace we had
- 91 so far mih contacts last year we had 186 for the full year and we've had 420 inspections and last
- year he had 1168 for the full year one thing I will add is not on that slide is we had 48,000 671 hours
- of training last year for our department Which was 116 percent of our goals. So we exceeded our goal
- last year in training This is just some slides so you can see what we've been doing. This is the ops
- center down south of town It's getting ready to open hopefully here in about a month
- This is one of those engines that came in back in January. We had the opportunity to pick up an engine,
- so we used some funds that we had saved on radios, and then we had another engine that had been budgeted
- that we decided to add the radio money to it and got an engine instead of a mini bumper. We thought
- that helped our department out in the long run. This is an engine that had actually been budgeted and
- in our budget three years ago. That's how long it took for it to get completed in here, so sometimes
- there's a long turnaround time.
- For our top priorities this year are self-contained breathing apparatus. Cost about a million dollars
- to replace them. This is what they look like. The bottle looks old and beat up. It's not really that
- bad. It's just dirty and nasty from where they were at in the fires. And then on the right side is their
- face pieces. Other than their turnout gear, this is the second most important piece of equipment they
- put on themselves every day. This keeps them from getting the smoke and the gases and all that in their
- lungs. But this is one of the key components.
- And some of the highlights, there's a lot, but I'll just pick out a couple. Going from the 2013 edition
- that we have now to the 2025 edition, there's two components that I think are very important.
- Buddy breathers, which means that if you get down in a fire that somebody can help you. Monroe Fire
- does not have the same SCBAs we have, but now if we go to this new one,
- We can do it now, it just takes a different connection, but the new standard is everybody has to have
- the same connection so that we can have interoperability a lot easier than what we currently have. And
- the last thing is, you can't see it there, but the very top on the one with the gear on, you can see
- the shoulder straps. Those don't come apart currently. In the new standards, they have to come off so
- they can be washed and decontaminated so that we're trying to meet better cancer protocols to keep the
- cancer from
- Getting spread faster. So that's that's two of the key components on the SCBAs. I really wanted to point
- out plus these are going out of warranty right now. They get repaired. Does it cost us anything that
- warranty runs out next year. One thing I will add the new SCBAs will have a lifetime warranty. So as
- long as it's a covered component we will not have to pay to have it replaced which is a huge improvement
- I think because they do break and they do wear out. So anything we can get replaced under warranty is
- is a is a plus.
- The other thing is an aerial platform, a very expensive piece of equipment. The one on the right is
- what we currently have right now. The one on the left is something that we are looking at as well. They
- make some different configurations that help with maneuverability around the city as some of the places
- on campus and some of the neighborhoods get tighter. The one on the left is something we're looking
- at. I'm not saying it's what we're gonna use, but we're looking at our options there. Just for comparison,
- the platform is a 2019.
- We've been told right now if we would speak for it now it would be 2028 before it would be delivered
- just so it takes a while to get those here like we talked about. But the key thing is in 2024 that truck
- on the left was down 30 plus days in 2025 it was down 60 plus days and so far this year it has been
- down 90 plus days on repairs with the repair cycles are catching up with it rather rapidly. I think
- that's all I had on that.
- The major programs we have obviously is operations, which is when you call 911, that's what you expect
- to happen as one of our trucks show up. Whether it's a medical call, an alarm, you're trapped in a car,
- trapped in an elevator, doesn't make any difference what it is, we show up. Mobile integrated health,
- as you know, it's a program that started about three and a half, four years ago, and it hasn't been
- a huge success. It allows us to spend more time with the patients who need it. Just where I'll give
- a quick example, we get a lifting assistance call,
- Firefighters go and pick that person up maybe put them back in their bed And then the mih just follow
- up and try to figure out how we can help them does that mean any another bed? Does that need a different
- wheelchair does that mean any different? Maybe different living arrangements, so they get a chance to
- do all that and plus much more install car seats a lot of other things that they do that help out the
- citizens the residents and in inspection investigations they probably get the most unsung and
- They go out every day in public buildings and make sure that they're safe, that they're meeting code,
- and then they review all the plans to make sure that everything is up to code. And as you know, there's
- a lot of big apartment buildings going up in town, and we had to make sure they meet code. So they're
- kind of the unsung heroes behind the scenes. They don't maybe get a whole lot of limelight, but they
- do a very important job. And then the second thing they do is if we do have a fire, they investigate
- those. They come and determine cause and origin, what happened, why did it happen, because there's something
- we can do to educate the public to keep it from happening again.
- And then we have a community outreach officer who does pubhead fire extinguisher training CPR training
- of just about anything it can do as far as pubhead with the with the community. The budget will allow
- us to maintain the same high level of service that we currently have and it will also help us keep up
- with the replacement cycle that if you get behind on as we found over the years is very hard to get
- caught back up. So with that I'd be happy to answer any questions.
- Fantastic. Thank you so much for that presentation. That was that was fabulous any questions
- from councilmembers Councilmember Stossberg. I Thank you so much. I just have a couple of little questions
- So first you mentioned radios and that the radios are on Wi-Fi or cellular network What if the cellular
- network goes down? Well, first off they start off there's a radio towers at the state have that that's
- actually how they work off of it just like a regular radio it's called 800 megahertz system and
- What that does, if for some reason they can't receive that signal from the radio towers, then they convert
- to a Wi-Fi if that building has it. Then lastly, if you're out someplace, let's say away from that,
- and the Wi-Fi is not there, and the radio tower is not there, if they can get a cell signal, then they
- can use that. So it's kind of redundancy built into the radio to keep us from having dead spots. Great,
- thank you. I think it was the first part of that that I was like, wait a minute. Sure. I missed the
- first part.
- And the second question that I have about the replacement aerial platform that was two and a half million
- dollars you said likely funded via bonding. So is that two and a half million somewhere in the budget
- already or not. I'll let controller McCann answer that question.
- It is not in the budget. It is in the proposed 2026 geo bond that I mentioned that we will be bringing
- to you for later in the year or well Actually in September so very soon, but it is it is part of that
- proposal Okay, great. Thank you. And then the last question I have I'm just wondering whether all of
- your positions are filled except for that MIH program manager. Yes, I
- We are full everybody is full except for the NIH program manager, which just came open on Friday And
- so it's been open a couple days, but we've already had I think six or seven applicants and it's open
- till the end of the month All right. Great. Excellent. Thank you Presentation I had a follow-up From
- the comments from controller McCann that did answer a question I had which was how we anticipate the
- the bond to be supported. I was curious, I guess, why not PS-lit as the revenue source to pay for the
- bond that's anticipated? If I'm understanding that correctly, I think the geobond would not tap the
- PS-lit funds. Is that correct? And tell me more about the rationale, please. The problem with PS-lit
- is just that there's not enough money. If you look, that's already budgeted in deficit right now, and
- there just isn't enough revenue now to be able to support it in an expense like that.
- Okay, so I think when the PS let was adopted its its intent was to cover capital expenses in the public
- safety front But I'm hearing now that it's not adequate for current Capital needs is that right? That's
- correct. And is it possible to change the PS lit or is that not possible? Yeah, actually you still do
- have a little bit of time Yeah, a little bit of a window that you could raise it and actually
- I think you ought to seriously consider it specifically for dispatch as well and that that may come
- up during the police presentation But yes, there is a there is a window that you could that you could
- raise it How would that factor into something like this if the the window for continuing to exist as
- such is is short? for the purpose of bonding say like like would we not be able to bond bond against
- an increased rate because
- The increase is short-lived pending other state changes. Oh, I see. I see what you're saying. There
- is no way we could bond against the PS lit at this point because it won't exist in a couple of years.
- So no, the bond that we're talking about here is a general obligation bond. So we would have a property
- tax rate associated with it. But yeah, right now, there's essentially no option to bond against lit
- just because there's so much uncertainty associated with all of the forms of lit.
- Okay, and I assume all existing bond repayment obligations through those lists will then just be Become
- general obligations of the city or like auto automatically covered as the first things in any updated
- lit like integrated lit So we only have one Which is right now, which is the the public I think you
- guys call it the public safety bond that's the only one in which lit revenue is pledged but that's actually
- What's known as a general revenue bond, which means that we are it doesn't come with a separate tax
- rate So it doesn't get additional revenue to pay but we are essentially required to pledge any available
- revenue to pay it to pay it off Okay, so yeah, essentially. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thanks Thank you.
- Thank you chief Kerr I was Could you give us a status of the proposed fire station on Tap Road? I
- That is at the summit development. Sure. We have started internally the process to determine you know
- what kind of station we would need how many people what kind of apparatus and then like a plan to put
- it in over a three or four year five year phase in plan. So we have started that internal process to
- figure that out. So the lands provided by summit development and where are we going to bond for this
- fire station. Does it come from TIF funds.
- How will it be financed that'd be another controller question That has not been determined yet I mean
- the Redevelopment Commission has certainly discussed the topic but not in a lot of detail just because
- there's a lot of other things that come first in in getting the summit the summit program going but yeah that
- Everybody is aware that that there is this long-term need for a new fire station. Yeah, it was in the
- 2002 growth policies plan believe it or not and I I just wonder would you have a time horizon like when
- when might this occur? I hear the following year. I really don't it definitely won't be in the next
- couple of years I mean that that my my understanding and I know that I've not been central to those
- discussions, but my understanding and your discussion
- Discussions with legal that there's a fair amount of time before before it's actually needed. So, okay.
- Thank you Councilmember rough The data of the numbers you gave for calls CMS calls and inspections and
- MIH contacts were I mean given that we're going in a month nine, right of the year and
- They seem to be lower. Yeah, those numbers are actually pulled from right at the end of Like I pulled
- those from either the end of June or at first as you lie So there's a cut there a couple months back
- So we're probably on pace for about the same as we have been in the past and honestly I don't think
- we've been a year here where our run volume hasn't gone up at least some and I'd be surprised if that's
- not the case we've timed the end of the year out as you know in the emergency service you could be
- Nothing this week and next week you might make four or five hundred calls So you just don't know but
- I anticipate it's being about the same level with maybe not a little above To that is does that really
- represent? Regardless of what it comes out in terms of the total numbers of calls relative to other
- years Is it really just represent a fixed cost anyway, it's not really Room for savings of any kind
- based on No, I think it just shows that
- Our department hasn't grown hasn't had any personal added to it since 2002 But a request for our service
- has continued to increase and so I just think it goes to show that our personnel are doing What they've
- been asked to regardless of you know, the cost is the same but what we're been asked to do is has increased
- Every year and so it just continues to increase So one more long same line on the follow-up on what
- you just answered so that suggests to me that I
- Morales pretty good. Would you say I mean I would say morale right now is really good. Yes Yeah, I would
- think so. Thank you Any other council questions Yeah, I think this is probably for mr. McKim what is
- the status of the 2022 29.5 million dollar public safety bond it's related to fire since we spent most
- of it on fire, but
- Like how much is left? How much is what are the nearly nothing is left to be spent? We were paying it
- I mean we're making the payments every year out of out of ED lit and in that those payments are in the
- ED lit budget But they they have essentially been expended for the fire logistics training center for
- the fire station refurbishments and for the purchase of showers west Okay, so there's pretty much no
- money left. Yeah, there's not very little left
- All right, thank you. Any other questions? I have a question. This may be one actually for Controller
- McKim, but. Sorry. That doesn't bother me at all. I have one for you, too, also, but since Controller
- McKim was up there. So replacing the SCBA equipment and getting a new truck, those are life-saving equipment.
- And the GO bonds keep them out of the operating budget.
- For now, but what happens if the bond gets delayed or scaled back or there's an issue with that? What's
- our backup plan for replacing this essential gear? So the SCBA equipment is in the budget that that
- you're considering it's only the app or the aerial ladder truck that we pulled out of the operating
- budget and put into a or want to put into a proposed bond so
- Yeah I agree. We did not want to take the chance on delaying the CBA. So so then with the truck then
- we just kind of have to put it on our wish list for next year maybe and keep using the old one. I mean
- fixing it. That's essentially what it is. And yeah. And then the chief can talk about how desirable
- that would be. But that's where we are.
- But I talked to them about which was the priority and I was I was told that having the SCBA apparatus
- replaced was absolutely essential. Sure. Absolutely. Thank you. And then just out of curiosity with
- the SCBA equipment you said the year that we have now it's on its next year will be its last year for
- the warranty. How long does that warranty last. I know the new ones we're looking at our lifetime warranty.
- Right. The current SCBAs we have now had a 10 year warranty on those.
- And so that's up at the end of I think don't quote me on exact month was about middle of next summer
- That warning will be up and then the repairs that would come with that after that would be
- on our responsibility And so we're trying to get this going before those repairs become our responsibility.
- So a lifetime warranty is quite an upgrade. Yes, absolutely Okay, great. Thank you very much We're good
- with questions Okay, we will move to public comment anybody in chambers or online with public comment. I
- All right, I'll give it a sec and we're good. Okay Great. Thank you back to Chambers or back to council
- any council comments council members Ulick Being fully staffed and BFD is a huge deal. And so I just
- want to congratulate chief Kerr and all of our fire department because This has been something we've
- been working on for a really long time So thank you so much for all of the work that you've done to
- accomplish this. I
- Thank you. Any other comments. Council member Stossberg that was the only comment I had to. So that's
- great. Thank you. Any other comments. Good to go. OK. Fantastic. Well thank you very much Chief Kerr.
- We really appreciate you being here. And now we move on to the next part of our hearings with the police
- department and dispatch and Chief Decoff you may introduce yourself and you also have you have 20 minutes
- for your presentation.
- Good evening council. My name is Mike Decoff. I am the police chief for the city of Bloomington Police
- Department. I appreciate the opportunity to present my twenty twenty seven budget request. So the department
- has one hundred and five authorized sworn officers and eighty one non sworn employees. The change in
- budget from twenty six to twenty seven is a two million four hundred ninety three thousand two hundred
- ninety eight dollar difference.
- Our key budget needs and issues for twenty twenty seven are continuing our alternative response programs
- continuing equipment replacement cycle and upkeep on our capital assets and a new police headquarters.
- Category one increases of one million six hundred fifty eight thousand forty eight or due to changes
- in the new collective bargaining agreement that was negotiated this year as well as coal increases for
- the non sworn personnel.
- Category two increases of $178,957 are due to fuel costs and inflationary price increases. That doesn't
- necessarily mean that we're using more fuel, but the cost of fuel has increased significantly. Category
- three is $770,362 change due to the insurance that was once paid from the risk management budget has
- now been moved to the police budget, and we are now paying that
- And there's a category four decrease of a hundred and fourteen thousand one sixty nine due to the completion
- of a maintenance project that was at the public safety training complex Some highlights on overall crime
- in Bloomington. We had an overall decrease in the crime rate of six point four percent from 2004 or
- 2024 you see on the left the decrease in property crime in larceny
- and in vandalism of those were mainly due to the work of the patrol officers and investigators in just
- basically the way we investigate things and how we focus on certain individuals who are responsible
- for doing a lot of these types of crimes and making sure that they're not able to do that anymore.
- Little bit of information on vehicle accidents and there was an overall decrease in accidents of 6.99%.
- You can see on the left, personal injury crashes decreased 16% and property damage crashes decreased
- 4%. I will give you some information about the traffic safety initiative that we started in July that
- we made an announcement on prior to school starting. We've ran that detail
- 80 hours so far as of the 12th of August. We've had 111 traffic stops, 81 citations and 29 warnings.
- The areas that we focused on were high accident areas and intersections and the complaints that we get
- from you reports. I will say to date, as of 2.30 this afternoon, we had made 8,182 traffic stops.
- 27 priorities and goals we want to continue our alternative response partnerships we want to Start the
- design and being begin building our new police headquarters And we want to continue our enhanced traffic
- safety and violent crime reduction initiatives a Little bit about our alternative our alternative response
- We have partnerships with several different agencies that include new leaf new life and
- Heading Home, Beacon, Wheeler Mission, Stride Mobile Crisis, Health Net, Centerstone Outreach, and the
- Mobile Integrated Health Unit with the Fire Department. We do a lot of intervention with people who
- are experiencing homelessness, people who have mental health issues or substance use issues. These officers
- that work this and the partnerships that we have are invaluable
- And we believe are saving lives every day for the people that are affected by those those issues that
- I mentioned earlier Our new police headquarters, we're looking at 714 South Roger Street. It is a major
- goal for 2027 We believe that once this is done this facility will last us at least 50 years Because
- it is larger than what we have
- Will be able to design it in such that we will be able to fit all of our All the components of the department
- within one building. Whereas now they're spread out over several buildings Enhanced traffic safety initiative
- as I said, we announced the one earlier this year We continue to do more of those so that we can make
- the city's streets safe and so that people Not only that are driving but are also
- riding bikes and pedestrians feel safe and we do make a Concentrated effort to make sure that they're
- protected when they are out on the roadways as well Our violent crime reduction initiative again, we
- will focus on areas that we see violent crime happening so that many times it's in neighborhoods that
- don't necessarily have the resources that other neighborhoods might have and
- So we want to focus on those to make sure that people living in those areas are safe and can also enjoy
- a quality of life like everyone else in Bloomington. Our 27 challenges and opportunities. Our overall
- call volume continues to increase. In 2025, we had 80,450 calls for service. That was a 5.9% increase
- from the previous year. As you can see, it's a 48%.
- increase since 2020 Funding has fallen short in some areas Requiring us to not make the necessary equipment
- replacements that we need to but we will continue to focus on That equipment that is life-saving to
- the officers so that we make sure that that they're safe while they're doing their jobs And as staffing
- levels continue to increase at the department We will continue to fully staff our downtown resource
- officers and our detective division
- And that is my conclusion and I will take what questions you might have. That was very fast. Thank you
- very much. Great presentation. Council member Rallo I get you take off. So we've reached 105 sworn officers.
- No we're not there. That's the total authorized staffing. We're currently at 93 93. OK. So we still
- have a little ways to go.
- 105 I'm sorry, the goal is still yes 105 So you attribute the significant decrease in crime to increase
- personnel Well, I think it's how we're policing different because we are short-staffed I believe that
- as we get closer to being fully staffed that we'll be able to do other programs that will also benefit
- crime prevention efforts
- and those reduction efforts that we're seeking so Clearly the more people we have the more resources
- that we have available to us the more that we can do to work towards those goals Yeah, it seems Kind
- of maybe self-evident that you have success in solving crime when you've got People to investigate them.
- Yes identify the perpetrator or arrest them
- Do we still patrol trails? The beeline not as frequently as we would like Parks does have a security
- company that helps do that when they encounter problems They do call us and we go and assist but we
- do not We don't have the resources to do it very frequently So we so we outsource The trails to parts
- of that yes higher
- I see is that cost-effective? I mean would we be better off and you know? Having patrol officers.
- It's war. It's our trial eyes and ears out there They can do less than what a police officer can do
- So, you know if we had the resources where we could put out more patrols on the trails It would be more
- effective because if they encounter something they don't have to call somebody to take action We can
- just take that action
- And I'm also thinking is it true that you know having police officers out on the beat walking a trail
- riding a bicycle Where they interact with the public is it is a good? Experience for both the officer
- and the community because yeah, I would agree with that. I think that that builds trust that's something
- that we're always trying to do with the community is you know, there's lots of studies that have shown
- that people who interact one-on-one with a police officer and a non
- Emergency type situation. That's a benefit And so if you know if we had more people would we would be
- able to do that and I think that would be an overall benefit for You know the parks the trails the sidewalks
- downtown and the department. Yeah Okay. Thank you Any other questions councilmember rough Would would
- moving more towards fully full staffing
- Would any would you anticipate any more effort put towards? Enforcement of speed speed speeding violet.
- I mean we had a lot of complaints to the council about safety of Pedestrians and bicycles based on speeding
- speeding cars You know councilmembers ask about increased patrols on trails seems like anything you do
- Opportunity cost right? You can't do something else if you but so is more working towards full staffing
- really the only Solution to that dilemma. I think that's most certainly true I think that if we had
- more resources we could focus on those types of activities as I presented, you know every year our calls
- for service continue to increase and so those are people who are calling in and
- requesting services from the police department so that takes away someone who might be able to go sit
- somewhere and run radar and do speed enforcement because we're answering calls so most certainly I think
- when we're fully staffed we will be able to look at those types of traffic enforcement and Safety types
- of initiatives that will make things safer Thank you And then councilmember Stossberg after
- Yes, thank you for your presentation So under in your memo under violent crime prevention initiative
- you imply that increased officer presence reduces violent crimes Could you please cite data or studies
- to back up this claim? I don't I don't have anything off the top of my head that I can cite for that
- what I can tell you is that When we have done those types of
- of high intensity type patrols, people don't tend to commit crimes when there's a police officer standing
- right there. And so I know there are studies, I will look for some of those for you, but I don't have
- any that I can cite off the top of my head right now. And of course the police officers can't be there
- 24-7. Correct. So the crime may just be happening later.
- It could be yes. Yeah, I'd like like to see that data. Okay. Thank you That's member Stasberg
- Thank you. Maybe following up a little bit on what Councilmember Ruff was was talking about in terms
- of traffic enforcement especially with regard to vulnerable road users cyclists pedestrians and crashes
- involving those road users because that is one of the things that I've heard of several constituents
- talk about this year in terms of any kind of consequence for at fault drivers when
- they are responsible for a crash, especially with a vulnerable road user. What is your official department
- policy on consequence for at fault drivers in crashes, especially with vulnerable road users, but any
- other crashes as well? So it's left to officer discretion. I don't believe that we should issue a policy
- that mandates that people should get some kind of punitive ticket
- for something, I've not seen studies that have shown that because someone got a ticket that made them
- a better driver, it's really a punitive type of enforcement action. A lot of times when, in crashes,
- insurance takes over, insurance decides who's at fault
- and so We have I have never I've never issued a policy we've never had a policy at the department that
- mandates that an officer has to write a Traffic ticket when someone is at fault because a lot of times
- it's a gray area when someone is at fault, too So as a follow-up to that If it's left to officer discretion
- Do you happen to know or can you get me please and I will follow this up in paper?
- on paper if you don't happen to know how many tickets were issued last year at officer discretion's
- for at fault crashes. I don't have that data. No. OK. Well I'd be very interested in that data because
- when something is left to officer discretion but then just never done then we may as well have a policy
- saying that we just don't do it. So that's that's one of the pieces that I just am wondering what kind
- of discretion is actually being
- Used so to get that type of data. We would have to look at every traffic accident and then figure out
- if we can even determine who might be at fault and Go back through that but if you want that information,
- I will I will start working on that I'm just interested in how many I'll say discretionary tickets actually
- were issued by officers related to at fault crashes, okay
- Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Chief Dika for being here and especially for coming in under
- time. We very much appreciate that. Could you tell me a little bit more about the call volume increase
- and what your opinion is on why it's increased and maybe what could be done to reduce it. So I think
- what happened was when Covid happened we had a decrease in calls for service. A lot less people were
- out and about.
- a lot less things were open. And so as things opened up, each year it just increased. Why it continues
- to go up like it is, I'm not sure I can give you a good answer for, because when we look at the data,
- it's across the board with just about everything. And so it's not one particular area that is increasing.
- And so it's kind of hard to pinpoint why that is happening.
- Call-for-service data also takes into account some officer initiated activity, but we've not seen spikes
- in that activity. It's more for people who call, you know, 911 or call the administrative line requesting
- some kind of police service. Thank you. That's very helpful. Other questions from council members? All right.
- Thank you very much chief decaf. We will move to public comment now. Anybody in chambers are online
- who would like to make public comment? I See somebody in chambers. Yes Please sign in state your name
- for the record and you have two minutes Good evening council. This is Christian G from the
- Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce the chamber supports continued investment in the Bloomington
- Police Department I get a lot of complaints emails and calls
- sort of vagrancies Property damage a lot of due to homelessness and but what usually includes in that
- is a wonderful responsiveness of Bloomington PD and so when we think about and evaluate BPD based on
- the department we actually have here in Bloomington and not policing in in America we saw from the community
- survey that 61 residents satisfied with the police protection public safety a residents identifying as a
- real core important service BPD has earned the tier one clear reaccreditation for the third time the
- national recognition of a department that trains hard Operates under professional standards and holds
- itself accountable and that matters in this discussion is we just saw about call volume that has increased
- 49 percent since 220 Bloomington PD remains below its authorized staffing levels. We also saw and some
- equipment replacement has already been deferred and
- I mean, this isn't a blank check, but it's grounded in Bloomington's actual experience. Bloomington
- businesses here are in field public safety conditions every day. We support making sure BPD has the
- people, the equipment technology, and hopefully soon headquarters, necessary to do their job and making
- those investments before deferred needs become more expensive problems down the road. And thank you
- for your time. Thank you very much. Anybody online? We have one person online.
- Mr. Paul Russo. Fantastic. Mr. Russo, you can unmute yourself and you have two minutes. Hi, Paul Russo
- here. Thanks for giving me the opportunity. I'll be brief. I think that a speeding motor vehicle is
- like a loaded gun. Operating a motor vehicle at illegal speeds or while impaired is violent crime.
- Why don't we treat this like violent crime of other kinds? I'm also astounded that for traffic enforcement,
- police chief Decoff doubts that punishment deters crime. That's all. Thank you. Thank you very much,
- Mr. Russo. Anybody else online with a comment? No. Anybody else in chambers? No. We'll come back to
- council for final comments. Council member Piedmont-Smith.
- I was just wondering, is there a separate presentation for dispatch? I don't think it was addressed,
- really. Because I do have a question about it. Maybe I should have asked earlier. Go ahead. You can
- ask it now. So in the org chart for dispatch, it says, or maybe I was reading it wrong, but it says
- 18 positions and 14 vacancies.
- Deputy mayor nap is shaking her head. I know I checked with her earlier, but I wanted to for the public
- record Clarify that please Let me find the numbers I'm sorry Go ahead Deputy Maria nap. I just updated
- the answer actually and I
- Your questions, but there are 32 positions and at the time that total and at the time we created the
- org chart It was 18 filled and 14 empty. It's now 10 empty and 22 Well, that is a relief. Thank you
- very much Any other council comments as we wrap up this section councilmember Rallo
- Thank you. Thank you. Chief deep cough. First I want to say I want to extend my appreciation to the
- mayor and administration for their for locating and working on the new facility that's to your liking
- that works for you. I fully support your goal of reaching 105 officers as was the target in the Novak
- report of 2020. I think it's important to deter reduce and investigate crime.
- To make sure that we're not you know Imposing over to over time on on our officers current officers
- and I think it allows greater interaction with the public if we have you know police that can actually
- walk a beat be seen in the community and And also as mr. Rousseau said to deter speeding if we're going
- to be serious about public safety and public that includes
- pedestrian safety, biking safety. We can't have people speed with impunity, which I happen to witness.
- I think a lot of people have described. And I think one, not the only way, but one way to address that
- certainly is to have more police issuing tickets to send a message to people that they can't do that.
- It works in other communities. It should work here, it seems to me. So thank you for your work.
- Thank you. Any other comments from councilmembers councilmember Stossberg I just want to address the
- discretionary nature of giving Tickets to at-fault drivers from what I understand the discretionary
- nature of that tends to mean that there are just not tickets issued not just for Bloomington PD but
- across the state from what I understand and the bits of research that I've done around this and
- I find that simply just not sufficient in general and I as councilmember Allah just said and as our
- public commenter mentioned I I do think that Whether or not we feel like it deters it is one of the
- only things that we can actually do and I think sometimes we just have to use the tools that we have and
- because our tools are perhaps limited and this is one of those situations where You know, I do think
- that there should be some measure of officer discretion But instead of that discretion leaning toward
- the side of just not issuing something I feel like it should lean to the other side Generally issue
- unless there's some mitigating situation where you think that we shouldn't and my understanding right
- now is that that is
- that it works in reverse and that's disturbing to me and I know that's disturbing to several
- of my constituents some who have been victims of vehicles and their drivers with preventable crashes
- including admissions of fault that then our officers still have not responded to so I hope that something
- improves with that or changes with that
- Thank you Thank you any other comments councilmember Flaherty Yeah, just for public benefit to all briefly
- follow up on that item, which is that we have discussed this at length in the Transportation Commission
- Including the particular crash that I believe my colleague is referencing where a little girl was hit
- by a driver Who did not come to stop at a stop sign? She was in a crosswalk
- No ticket was issued. My understanding is that had some impacts on their ability to recover funds to
- support medical and other treatment needs. So there's broader implications here, including, yes, insurance
- companies can try to figure this out amongst themselves. But when there is an assessment from an officer
- and a ticket issued, it seems like that's a factor that has real implications for people. This was quite
- a few months ago at the traffic
- Transportation Commission and we did request that staff work together so this would be probably planning
- engineering police to come back with Options to consider from a policy standpoint. Is it do we need
- maybe more education of our officers around? The vulnerability and and risks to life and actual loss
- of life in our community I see this as part of the broader, you know safe streets for all and and vision
- zero Zero deaths and serious injuries in our streets by 2039 that we've targeted
- And you know making some mixed progress on toward that I think so just noting that this is an ongoing
- policy conversation with one of our commissions that I serve on and We haven't heard back from staff
- on it, but I most recently I've requested that any outstanding items that you know kind of Are out for
- multiple months that we're getting reports on those on a monthly basis at Transportation Commission
- because we do have a number that might be considered more
- I don't know more challenging items so to speak from the administration perspective if it wasn't something
- they proposed and they've sort of languished and kind of fallen off our docket so we're trying to make
- sure that we those we don't lose sight of those policy issues because it's really the Commission that
- should be driving that agenda as a Resident-led body supported by appointments from the mayor and council.
- Thanks Thank you any other comments All right with that
- We are moving on. Thank you very much. So up next we have community and family resources department.
- I see director Moss making her way up to the podium. Thank you. Please state your name and you have
- 15 minutes to present. Good evening council members. My name is Chitoya Moss and I'm the director for
- the community family resources department. This evening I will review our 20 27 budget through three
- pillars that really define our department resources partnerships and belonging. Those three areas answer
- very particular questions.
- Can residents find help before a problem becomes a crisis? Can the city leverage its partnerships and
- the organizations that exist and are we creating a Bloomington where people feel connected enough to
- participate volunteer invest and call this community home? That is the role that CFRD plays and that
- is the story behind this budget
- CFRD is an 11 person department and our proposed 2027 budget is just over 2 million Representing a 10%
- decrease from our 2026 budget. Our largest reduction is in other services which decreases approximately
- 27% Primarily due to one-time grant funding initiative at the same time We continue to study the trends
- affecting our community from growing local demand for assistance to changes in federal and state funding
- And we're aligning our resources around how we can have the greatest impact
- Fundamentally this budget is about maintaining our core services while becoming more strategic and efficient
- in how we deliver them Our first pillar resources is directly connects to the priorities around housing
- homelessness public safety and community and well-being One example of what targeted intervention can
- accomplish is our forty six thousand emergency food access investment to Hoosier Hills food bank and
- This investment supported approximately 330,000 pounds of food and 275,000 meals distributed through
- 84 partner agencies. We identify a critical community need invest strategically and the infrastructure
- that already exists and multiply the city's impact. That becomes increasingly important as federal resources
- like snap restrictions and other funding changes place additional pressures on our local services. Our
- second pillar is partnerships.
- And this is where we create tremendous value by leveraging the power that exists in our own community.
- Through the Bloomington Volunteer Network Be the Change Challenge, more than 51,000 volunteer hours
- have already been recorded. Using the current value of the volunteer time in Indiana, that represents
- approximately 1.75 million in community value supporting nonprofits, schools, neighborhoods,
- and organizations throughout Bloomington.
- We are also strengthening our town and town connections through a new partnership with Indiana University
- Volunteer Central by connecting new and current students with meaningful opportunities to serve. We've
- also begun conversations with the Monroe County School Corporation about connecting high school students
- with volunteer opportunities that can support the new diploma requirements. We're on track to reach
- our 100,000 hours goal by December, which would represent approximately 3.4 million in community value.
- Maximizing public dollars by building
- The connections and the capacity that allows Bloomington to solve problems together. And I want to point
- out at the time that we submitted these slides that was the current number for volunteer hours. We are
- currently by today. Fifty eight thousand which is easily translated to one point ninety seven million
- dollars in community value. Our third pillar is belonging. I don't want this word to be mistaken for
- something that is simply nice to have. Belonging is a community asset.
- This year's Juneteenth celebration brought more than 11,000 people to Switchyard Park, the largest attendance
- we've had for this event, and included more than 40 community vendors, along with Indiana University,
- businesses, nonprofits, artists, and other partners. Programs like Juneteenth, the Women's Market, Fiesta,
- accessibility programs, youth leadership initiatives, and others create opportunities for people to
- participate in Bloomington. We talk about what makes Bloomington Bloomington. This is a part of it.
- Don't experience their city through budget spreadsheets. They experience through the community we create
- around them Looking ahead to 2027 our resource strategy is centered on one idea access before crises
- We will continue strengthening the after-hours ambassadors program by expanding community-based de-escalation
- training This is a free training that equips residents with practical tools to safely de-escalate situations
- build rapport and help move someone toward a safer outcome and
- We've already seen a strong interest with more than 50 plus signed up for our next training, which just
- takes place on August 20th. We will also expand helping bloom into Monroe by bringing more kiosks to
- two additional library locations and making it easier for residents connect with assistance where they
- already are. Together. These efforts create prevention infrastructure when people know what to do, where
- to go and how to respond early.
- We have a greater opportunity to address challenges before they become crises, reducing the impact on
- both the resident and the broader community. For partnerships, our focus is on strengthening the systems
- and relationships that allow organizations across Bloomington to succeed. We have begun planning for
- the modernization of the Bloomington Volunteer Network, improving volunteer matching, data collection,
- and reporting so we can better connect community capacity with community need and continue to grow those
- volunteer hours.
- We will also continue our community grants programs advisory coalitions and targeted public
- safety investments including efforts addressing violence reduction downtown outreach substance use impacts
- and crisis response. This work intersects with several city priorities at once particularly public safety
- economic development homelessness and community assets.
- And we can see the impact of those partnerships in variable ways from working with new hope for families
- to ensure families with children have a safe place to sleep to partner with the Monroe County Health
- Department to equip local bars and restaurants with Narcan and the knowledge to respond for an overdose.
- For belonging our strategy is quality over quantity.
- We want to strengthen what is already working expand collaboration with parks and recreation and other
- partners so we can share spaces staff expertise infrastructure and resources. That means continuing
- continuing successfully offering opportunities for residents to engage with their city. The economic
- development components of this work creates for local vendors entrepreneurs artists performers
- and organizations. It also gives our department an opportunity to talk to community members who otherwise
- wouldn't find city resources.
- Belonging isn't separate from economic development or public safety connected community strengthen both
- The challenge is going into 2027 is that community need is not declining simply because resources are
- becoming tighter We are watching changes to programs like Indiana CCDF child care assistance systems
- shift in federal and state funding housing affordability behavioral health needs and the increasing
- pressure on our local nonprofit partners
- but we are also using our own data to better understand where those needs are showing up. In just the
- first half of 2026, helping Bloomington Monroe recorded more than 7,000 searches and 41,000 program
- interactions along with the direct connections and referral to services. That information helps us paint
- a clearer picture of what residents are looking for and what direct resources and energy where they
- can have the greatest impact. So the question for us is how do we respond to an increasing need without
- relying on increasing resources?
- Our answer is collaboration and capacity building technology helps makes resource navigation and volunteer
- matching more efficient grants brings outside dollars into Bloomington volunteers expand community capacity.
- partnerships allow organizations to build on each other's strength rather than duplicate services and
- Collaboration across city departments allows us to share infrastructure expertise and resources. These
- simply aren't efficiencies They're how CFRD plans to extend and reach strengthen community capacity
- and respond strategically to the Bloomington changing needs in 2027 To close our goal for 2027 is simple
- to make sure Bloomington has the resources partnerships and community infrastructure to do more together and
- That means helping residents find the right support early before instability becomes crisis, recognizing
- the value of supporting and strengthening people and organization already doing the work, and protecting
- the qualities that make people choose Bloomington, not simply as a place to live, but as a community
- they want to be a part of and participate in. That is what this budget is designed to sustain.
- Thank you, and I am happy to answer any questions. Thank you so much for your presentation.
- That was awesome. Really appreciate you being here tonight.
- Any questions from council members. Council member Stossberg. Thank you. Thanks so much for the work
- that your department does. I want to dig in a little bit into the volunteer numbers partly because in
- terms of community value the budget of your department or the community value exceeds the budget of
- your entire department. And so I just want to highlight that.
- that concept but also acknowledge that there are probably a lot of people out there who aren't getting
- counted in that and then potentially there are people out there who are being counted that would already
- be doing that volunteering but then they're also getting counted.
- For the city and so I'm just wondering if you have any data over the last few years because I feel like
- this has been kind of a developing Network over the last few years of like number of organizations you've
- added What you hear from the organizations in terms of more of their needs being met? partly because
- of the advertising that's being done and that kind of that kind of feedback that supports
- that what you're doing with that volunteering is more than what would kind of be being done already.
- Do you know what I mean? Yes. Sorry, that was super awkward. So with the Be the Change Challenge, that
- was part of one of our departmental goals, was to really dig into the network and find out what's working
- and what's not working. Aubrey Cedar, who is the new Bloomington Volunteer Network coordinator, has
- done a wonderful job
- touching base with all of our partners doing some new education on how to actually use the program if
- they've never used it before and Then doing some digging to see get all those old volunteer hours and
- things that have just not worked out As I pointed out and my budget goals is that we're looking to update
- the system So it's a little more user-friendly and then we can see real time some more data Am I answering
- your question?
- I think so. It's just this idea of like outcomes right that I want to try to get back to in terms of
- outcome-based budgeting and so a piece of that outcome I think generally speaking maybe for your department
- particularly is to add community value and One of the ways you talk about adding community value is
- to do that through like belonging and having that kind of community sense But another piece of that
- community value which can be monetized are those volunteer hours so I'm just trying to like
- like suss out a little bit how the additional value that your department with its organization adds
- on top of who would already be volunteering in this community. So that's it. So I think you've kind
- of answered that a little bit.
- And I only have 12 seconds left, so I might follow up a little bit just in terms of you know the number
- of organizations and how that has changed and you know if you've done surveys of the organizations and
- how they have how their responses have helped you shape things so that then the Community can be served
- better in terms of adding that value. So yeah, so we can supply that data to you. Yeah, thanks Thank
- you any other questions
- All right. Thank you, Director Moss. We are going to move now on to public comment. Anybody in chambers
- or online with public comment? No. Pausing, pausing. Nope. OK. Fantastic. We'll come back here to counsel
- for comment and council members who look. You have a comment. Yes, I do. Thank you. Just a short one.
- I just want to say that in a time where our most vulnerable communities are consistently under attack
- by the state and federal government, the community and family resources department in Bloomington has
- become increasingly more important. It is not the infrastructure or our assets that makes Bloomington
- special. It is the people. So thank you, Director Moss, and to your entire department for making sure
- that they're supported. I second that. Any other comments?
- Councilmember Piedmont Smith Yeah, I think last year I said this department brings the joy In our city
- budget and and it really does I think This is such a small sliver of our overall budget, but it is so
- important This is the best two million dollar investment I can imagine in our community It's
- like councilmember Zulik said particularly
- in this day and age where many members of our community are feeling that they don't belong in this country
- anymore. I think this is the events and services that your department facilitates and provides are more
- essential than ever. So thank you very much. Council member Stossberg.
- I'm sorry. I said that weird. I thought you had already commented. That's why I was oh No, that was
- because my question name kind of turned a little bit into an explanation slash comment, but thank you
- Yeah, I just want to to kind of second what my colleagues just said and also You know because we're
- talking about budget and budgets are kind of like black and white right but it is not black and white
- what a department like CFRD does because it's about
- feeling, and it's about this gray space of mushiness. And that's why I wanted to get into those volunteer
- hours, because those are not mushy, and those are not gray. That is very black and white. And so that
- is one part, I think, of this department that you can really go like, what is the value that this department
- adds to the community? Here's a very solid black and white kind of value that they add. And yes, all
- of these other things are also very important all by themselves, and they can stand alone all by themselves.
- And it's important, with or without the volunteer
- hours, but I just wanted to highlight that piece of black and white that sometimes I think when I hear
- people talk about CFRD, it's the belonging, it's the mushy gray space, and I wanted to call out that
- there's more than just the mushiness in there because some people really need that in terms of justification because
- We've got to justify all of our expenses. We've got to justify all of our investments in our community,
- and that this is just a wonderful investment in our community. Thanks. Thank you. Is that it for comments?
- OK. Fantastic. Thank you very much, Director Moss. Really appreciate it. All right. And so for our final
- portion of the evening, Housing and Neighborhood Development, I see Director Killian Hansen making her
- way to the podium. Thank you so much for being here.
- Please state your name and you have 20 minutes for your presentation. Thank you so much. Good evening.
- I am Anna Killian Hansen director of housing and neighborhood development here tonight to present our
- proposed 2027 budget. Housing and neighborhood development currently has 21 full time and one part permanent
- part time positions.
- Our mission is to expand housing opportunities, protect and support neighborhoods, help residents remain
- safely housed, build community and support community needs. Those responsibilities cover a lot of ground
- and I want to spend the first part of tonight talking about the work that hand has been doing over the
- past year before turning to priorities. Supporting neighborhoods and helping residents remain safely
- housed also means addressing the conditions that affect health, safety and quality of life.
- code enforcement, and property stabilization are one part of the city's broader proactive work to address
- these concerns and prevent them from becoming larger neighborhood problems. Through that work,
- our neighborhood compliance officers have issued 1,631 citations for trash, grass, weeds, and snow under
- Title VI. When properties fail to comply, we can take additional action. Troubled properties may be
- brought before the Board of Public Works for approval of abatements, including one-time cleanups or,
- necessary continuous abatements our team has issued nine continuous abatements for properties under
- title six for properties where conditions rise to the level of an unsafe building we have another tool
- available we administer the unsafe building law and when necessary which allows us to Issue orders to
- vacate seal repair dangerous conditions and when necessary remove buildings that pose a threat to health
- and safety of the community
- Through this process, more than 20 unsafe properties have been addressed under the Title 17, with conditions
- ranging from fire damage and deteriorating or collapsed structures to failing retaining walls and breaches
- in vacant or abandoned buildings and more. This is not always the most visible part of our work, but
- it is important to maintain safe and healthy neighborhoods.
- Protecting and supporting neighborhoods also means creating opportunities for residents to take an active
- role in improving their own communities. Beyond code enforcement and property stabilization, the city
- supports neighborhood led efforts that strengthen the places where people live. Over the last year,
- that has included providing both direct support and resources to residents to address neighborhood needs
- from organizing cleanups and removing unwanted materials to funding projects and building community
- that improve neighborhood spaces.
- In the last year we supported three neighborhood cleanups which removed twenty seven point nine tons
- of trash and diverted ten point three eight tons from the landfill. We also provided supportive grants
- to eight neighborhoods giving neighborhood groups resources to identify and address priorities in their
- own communities. This work is important because healthy neighborhoods are built through partnerships
- with the people who live there.
- Building community also means being out in the neighborhoods engaging directly with our neighbors connecting
- residents with the city and with one another and creating opportunities for people to participate in
- life of their communities this year that included 37 community trailer events 45 resident Academy applicants
- a vinegar Hill walking tour and numerous community events such as blooming neighborhoods that we table at
- As we strengthen community connections, we also protect the places where we live. Through our rental
- inspection and permitting program, we work to protect residents by enforcing Title 16 and holding property
- owners and tenants accountable when necessary. This year, we conducted 550 complaint inspections and
- 2,984 rental inspections, resulting in 1,107 rental permits issued with many properties undergoing continued
- compliance enforcement efforts.
- As we enforce housing standards and protect residents through our rental program, we also focus on keeping
- people safely housed in the first place. Supporting residents and remaining safely housed is central
- to our work.
- This year we provided housing stability assistance to 25 at-risk households, eviction prevention assistance
- to 31 households, and emergency home repairs to help residents remain safely in their homes. We completed
- two emergency repairs with nine additional applications currently underway. Preventing a housing crisis
- is almost always preferable to trying to solve one after a household has already lost its housing.
- But helping people remain housed is only one part of the housing equation. We also create opportunities
- for people to find housing that meets their needs and is within their budget. This year, we helped 19
- home buyers secure housing, 40 renters secure housing, provided housing counseling to over 100 residents,
- which included foreclosure assistance. We happen to have the only HUD certified housing counselor in
- the region, as there are only nine across the state.
- We also provided the lifelong benefit of homebuyer education to 78 first time home buyers to truly support
- Bloomington residents. We have to look beyond the front door.
- The stability we help people achieve, whether through home buying, renting, counseling, or education,
- depends on the strength of the community around them. Housing success is reinforced by the services,
- facilities, and organizations that help families stay stable, navigate challenges, and build long-term
- well-being. That's why hands work doesn't stop on housing access. It extends into the broader network
- that keep people supported. Building community and supporting community needs means recognizing that
- housing is connected to so much more.
- Stable housing is important, but so are the services and community resources that help people stay stable,
- support their families, build successful lives.
- Handheld strengthen that network by investing in organizations and facilities that provide critical
- services to our neighbors this year We provided social service funding and facility improvement support
- to homeless sheltered Provided social service funding to food banks supported early learning and child
- care center facilities supported facilities serving mental health special needs housing and self-sufficiency
- that network is an important part of how we respond to housing instability and homelessness and
- Expanding housing opportunities also means protecting the affordable housing we already have and supporting
- new models of housing stability and homeownership. This year we helped preserve 48 units of existing
- housing as permanently affordable, supported the creation of 10 affordable cooperative housing units,
- and continued support for Habitat for Humanity home builds. Expanding housing opportunities requires
- more than supporting individual households or isolated projects.
- It requires enabling change that strengthen the entire housing ladder and improve affordability across
- the broader market. That means advancing projects that add homes to our community and removing barriers
- that slow or prevent unit creation. This year that work included Hope Wells first residential neighborhood.
- which will create 98 new homes. Hopewell South was designed to be different by intention not exception.
- It serves as a pilot to demonstrate how Bloomington can deliver the types of homes our community needs
- more efficiently. We are at a critical economic crossroads. This project allowed us to test a more flexible
- scalable approach.
- We created Bloomington's first residential TIF which supports infrastructure investment that directly
- enables new housing supply And we remove barriers to unit creation in the summit PUD ensuring that homes
- planned there can actually be delivered Each of these efforts helps unlock new housing opportunities.
- None of them are about special treatment They are about strategically using tools available to us to
- address structural housing scarcity and a land-constrained city and
- When we pilot new approaches, it is because the status quo has not produced the supplier community needs.
- Our responsibility is to support pathways that actually deliver homes because without advancing approaches
- that move the entire housing ladder, we cannot meaningfully address affordability.
- Everything I've outlined tonight shows just how much hand is doing and how much of our community depends
- on this work. I'm deeply proud of my staff and the immense amount of work that they carry out every
- day. The twenty twenty seven budget gives us an opportunity to meet Bloomington's complex housing challenges
- with strategic targeted investments investments that expand housing supply to improve affordability
- prevent and reduce homelessness strengthen neighborhood infrastructure and support Bloomington's long
- term economic sustain.
- Stability, I can't talk. Homelessness.
- Is a wicked problem one with no single root cause or no solution Single solution and strengthening our
- response requires the ability to provide nimble solutions People will experience housing crises for
- different reasons and there's no single intervention that will work for every household The shortage
- of safe stable and affordable housing is the primary structural driver of homelessness But individual
- households may also fight face financial hardship
- deteriorating housing conditions disability behavioral health challenges or simply an inability to find
- an available unit. Those circumstances require different responses. Our goal in 2027 is to give the
- city the flexibility to respond to different needs before a housing crisis becomes homelessness when
- someone is experiencing homelessness and as they transition back into stable housing.
- The goal is simple prevent homelessness whenever possible Stabilize people when a crisis occurs and
- help them return to permanently housing permanent housing quickly. The key is flexibility We cannot
- rely on one program one funding mechanism or one housing model to meet every need Our success depends
- on having a range of tools that respond to what actually happened What's happening in our community
- when it is happening? We will strategically
- to pair these resources with other local federal funding, including home home art CDBG to maximize the
- impact of our investment.
- is the most housing cost burden metro area in Indiana. That is why my goal of improving access to housing
- and increasing housing supply are critical to addressing affordability at a market wide scale, not simply
- asking individual projects to solve affordability one project at a time. Bloomington's housing challenge
- is fundamentally a supply problem. When we do not produce enough housing to meet demand, competition
- for housing that is available increases. That puts upward pressure on prices and makes it
- difficult for people to find housing that both fits their needs and their budget and when people cannot
- access housing that works for them the consequences extend beyond affordability. It can lead to housing
- instability prevent households from moving as their needs change and ultimately push people out of the
- community.
- We are already seeing the broader economic consequences of that shortage. Nearly 72% of Bloomington
- jobs are filled by people who live outside of our community. When workers cannot find housing here,
- they are pushed farther away or out of the community altogether. That makes housing supply a workforce
- and economic issue, not simply a housing issue. At the same time, the economics of what gets built matter.
- High land costs, limited on-campus housing relative to enrollment, and the cost and complexity of our
- development process has created conditions in which high-end, high-density projects are often among
- the few projects that can financially pencil. The market is responding to the incentives and constraints
- in front of it. If we want a different housing outcome, we have to change those conditions.
- Bloomington is land constrained. So increasing supply means finding ways to produce more housing within
- the community that we already have at the same time the cost of producing housing has increased significantly
- making it even more important that we support viable projects and remove unnecessary barriers to production.
- I currently have 11 project requests totaling approximately six million dollars in funding. We do our
- best to leverage
- Our existing resources and fill the gaps but without additional capacity
- These projects will remain on paper rather than in reality. Partial funding does not always get units
- built. We also need to be nimble enough to deploy resources when they are needed. Recognizing that the
- path from a funding commitment to completed housing can take years without increasing production. Bloomington
- will continue to experience the impacts of constrained supply including rising costs limited housing
- access housing instability and workforce displacement.
- Increasing housing production is not only a housing strategy It is an economic sustainability strategy
- and that is particularly important as we navigate the fiscal constraints created by SCA one The question
- before us is not simply how we respond to today's housing needs It is whether we are willing to make
- the strategic investments necessary to expand housing access reduce instability retain the people who
- work here and ensure that Bloomington remains a viable and economically sustainable community for the
- long term and
- Our final priority is neighborhood infrastructure. And I want to be very clear about what we're proposing
- here. This is not a new budget request to council. It is an opportunity to respond to a council priority
- and offer a partnership to target their priorities. Council has identified neighborhood infrastructure
- and quality of life as an important priority. Community development block grant resources can be used
- for eligible infrastructure improvements in low and moderate income areas.
- So rather than asking for additional city resources we are trying to think about how we might leverage
- existing resources and can partner with council and the appropriate city departments to establish a
- targeted sidewalk repair program.
- The program would focus on qualifying low to mod areas consistent with federal requirements and prioritize
- deteriorated sidewalks where repairs can improve pedestrian safety, accessibility, and connections to
- schools, transit, employment centers, parks, and other community assets. There is no associated budget
- request to council. What we are asking for is the opportunity to work together to determine how those
- resources can be used most effectively. In this case, we have an opportunity to take an existing federal resource
- and turn it into a safer, more accessible neighborhood infrastructure without adding to our local budget.
- If this is truly an important priority for council, let's figure it out, but let's figure it out together.
- As we look ahead to 2027, several challenges and opportunities will shape our ability to deliver on
- these priorities. The first is the widening gap between what it costs to build housing and what the
- market can support. That makes timely strategic
- support even more critical a well-placed funding gap can determine whether a
- project gets built or stays on paper. At the same time, we have an opportunity to reduce regulatory
- barriers that contribute to those costs. The 21st Century Road to Housing Act signals a clear federal
- direction. Communities must be prepared to produce housing if we want to address affordability. The
- act incentivizes increased production, streamlined development processes, and better use of existing
- programs. For Bloomington, this is a chance to become a housing-ready community with zoning, permitting,
- infrastructure,
- capacity and a project pipeline pipeline capable of actually producing homes HUD specs best practice
- framework addresses barriers we are already examining and seen in our work at Hopewell crucially federal
- investment will increasingly be tied to housing production performance under the acts of
- Performance provision communities that produce more housing will receive funding while those that fall
- short may see reductions Being housing ready is no longer just good policy. It will influence our ability
- to compete for federal resources This moment gives Bloomington an opportunity to align our housing policies
- development regulations funding strategies and project pipeline
- with where federal housing policy is headed positioning us not just to respond to the crisis but to
- take advantage of the resources designed to address it. And finally we must recognize the fiscal pressures
- created by SCA one. The legislation requires communities to be even more strategic with limited public
- resources and makes addressing workforce displacement even more urgent. If housing costs continue to
- rise while more of Bloomington's workforce live outside the city.
- The implications extend beyond housing to Bloomington's long-term economic sustainability.
- The most recent point in time count identified 305 people experiencing homelessness in Monroe County,
- including approximately 160 people who were unsheltered. That number represents people who are experiencing
- a housing crisis at a particular point in time. But it also tells us something important about the capacity
- we need in our system. We need more tools to prevent homelessness, more options for people experiencing
- homelessness, and more pathways into stable housing. Senate Bill 285 adds urgency to that work.
- The new state law restricts camping, sleeping, and long-term sheltering on public property, which means
- communities will need to have meaningful alternatives and stronger connections to shelter and housing
- when people are displaced from the public spaces. At the same time, the federal funding environment
- is changing. HUD's current approach places greater emphasis on transitional housing, supportive services,
- recovery, and self-sufficiency, representing a significant shift from federal homelessness policy away
- from the previous emphasis on housing first. We need to be prepared
- that shift without losing sight of what we know about our local community and the range of interventions
- people need. And we are facing another transition at the local level ARPA resources which hand has deployed
- nearly six million dollars since 2024 which have supported our community's response to homelessness
- will no longer be available after December 31st. That means 2027 will require us to be particularly
- strategic about how we use resources that remain available.
- This is exactly why flexibility matters. We cannot assume that the funding environment, the causes of
- homelessness or the needs of people we serve will remain the same. Our responsibility is to use every
- available resource
- to prevent homelessness whenever possible, respond effectively when it occurs, and build pathways to
- stable housing that reflect the realities of our community. The challenge is significant, but so is
- the opportunity. By investing strategically, leveraging federal resources, reducing unnecessary barriers,
- we can develop a response that is more coordinated, more adaptable, and better prepared for what comes
- next. HAN's 2027 budget is focused on addressing Bloomington's most pressing housing challenges,
- Expanding housing supply improving our response to homelessness and investing in neighborhood infrastructure.
- Those are not separate issues housing supply affects affordability and workforce stability
- housing instability affects homelessness and strong neighborhoods require safe accessible infrastructure
- and The resources to maintain quality of life We have reduced all other categorical budget requests
- to the greatest extent practical
- Practicable, but we have requested an increase to the housing development fund to address the demand
- the resources in this budget are designed to leverage federal funding support community partnerships
- and respond to emerging needs and Help viable projects move from concept to reality That is the work
- that hand is committed to moving forward in 2027 and that is an overall budget change of 1.74 million
- dollars. Thank you. I
- Thank you very much for all that and for all your work any questions from council Thank You director
- killing Hanson I just to pick up where you left off about The federal government shifting from housing
- first model to to To a different model, I guess Continuum of care I guess
- and So you mentioned that you know We need to shift strategically in terms of how we can be Get resources
- from the federal government within that structure Could you unpack a little bit about what that might
- look like? For instance if people are afflicted with substance use problems You know, this is
- Seems to me may take a coordinated effort with the county Because they run the justice system judicial
- system and things like that to try to help people so they're not just simply jailed, but they have the
- opportunity to to To address their addiction problem. For instance, is that something you're exploring
- and could you impact that a little bit more or you
- Are we at the initial stages of that? I don't mean to put you on the spot, but you know I'm just trying
- to envision what that could look like and how we can get federal dollars because we clearly have a Problem
- here. We ought to try to you know work I suppose with what we're given. So could you address it?
- That is true. That is complicated We are not working with CoC funding. So we have to supplement whenever
- available I think one of the challenges that we're gonna face is that there is an overall funding
- Decrease towards a lot of the programs and organizations that have received funding historically and
- so we have to be able to step in with our funding to help bridge the gap so whether that is additional
- caseworkers or whatever our budget can allow that's why the housing development fund is Helpful because
- it is local. It doesn't have an impact to the general budget, but it can help fill those gaps and
- I am not currently working with the county on anything like that. We, again, are not part of the COC.
- But you're not wrong. I mean, a lot of things changed in the Reagan era with the elimination of state
- mental health hospitals. And the state, the federal government have not filled the gap with the mental
- health and drug addiction issues. So those are things that have to get addressed.
- Not my bailiwick completely Thank you director so the county is involved in various discussions that
- are happening right now around Comprehensive services that are needed for people who are experiencing
- homelessness But I do want to add that I met with Braun about I don't know a month and a half ago and asked him
- for his support and his leadership in funding the impacts of SB 285, which is the state bill that illegalizes
- sleeping outside on public land. And his biggest support there is in mental health and addiction. Seems
- less interested in actually funding housing, which, of course, is what solves homelessness.
- I'm I actually I'm leading a coalition of mayors to do the ask at the Statehouse for that funding and
- other funding and so if council members have input into what you want that asked to be We have we've
- been working since March on this and and we have some support at the state some
- Republican leadership support which will be critical of course at the state house to get To get some
- funding behind mental health and addiction support. I Appreciate that. I appreciate your efforts and
- meeting with governor Sorry, can I just remember all of your three minutes? So the rest will have to
- go. I talked too long. Sorry I'm sorry. Keep us on track any other questions Councilmember Piedmont
- Smith and then councilmember Stossberg
- Um, yes. Thank you. Ms. Killian Hansen. Um, you had to talk quickly and go through a lot. So I hope
- you got a drink of water in between here. Um, the housing development fund, could we get a report on
- what has been funded in 2025 and so far this year and at, at how, at what level and how many units of
- housing were produced? I do not have it off the top of my head, but I'd be more than happy to provide it. Um,
- More than happy to provide that to you. I know that we provided two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
- to the landlord mitigation fund Which we were not able to fund previously. I think There was a year
- gap there where they were operating on old funding. So their demand was was there but we did provide
- that to help bridge the gap with the loss of vouchers and
- And then maybe since the housing development fund is not the only avenue used to support retention or
- creation of affordable housing. Yes. Could you give us an overall report. And you mentioned a few data
- points in your presentation but an overall report of how many units preserved or produced how many households
- were served costs per unit that resulted from the subsidy from my slide deck I can tell you the
- 48 units that we preserved as permanently affordable cost us six hundred thousand And the ten units
- at of cooperative living units that those were about two hundred and fifty thousand But I can give you
- that Information and an overall spreadsheet. Yeah
- Yeah, absolutely. But part of the problem with the housing development fund this year has been that
- we have 11 funding requests and One of them alone is three point two million dollars We only have one
- million dollars of housing development fund to provide so again as I mentioned you can't partially fund
- projects And so we've had some feasibility issues of getting them off the ground It's meant to be a
- supplement
- It is meant to be a supplement. It's not a sole funder But when we are asking somebody to replace a
- large water line that cost them two million dollars and that is the difference between Like how much
- of it if we can only give them? 500,000 that doesn't mean it's going to get built and I'm not proposing
- that we fill the entire gap but we have to examine the projects that have made application very closely
- and make sure that we're aligning our community needs with the funding available and
- And so the funding request is not tied specific projects. It is tied to the ability to respond when
- those projects come up. Thank you. Thank you. I wanted to follow up on the housing development funds
- too and I might need the controllers help.
- for this one because I also wanted to look into how much of that million have we spent this year and
- is it practical to do another $3 million in that. And so one of the things I looked at was the second
- quarter year to date expenditures that our controller provided the fiscal committee. And according to
- that information, so it was just through the first two quarters of the year, less than $10,000, I think,
- was taken out of the Housing Development Fund. And then similarly, very little was spent from the lit
- grant line, which I assume also goes to some of this housing assistance and stuff like that. So can
- either you or Controller McKim fill in the numbers that you were saying and what are
- Were those just did those happen after the second quarter or only provide? You a summary of the claims
- that have been submitted not the contracts that have been executed And so it does take a while to navigate
- the contract process It's no surprise that you wouldn't see all of that fun I mean typically you would
- want to check on that at the end of the year just to make sure that the money is rolling out, but there's
- a number of
- Contracts that have been executed that haven't been drawn down with funding yet or are in legal currently
- And or we've had projects that just haven't reached fruition We've entertained we've evaluated we've
- spent staff time But then it the feasibility don't doesn't end up panning out But no, it's being spent
- being spent very well. Okay. Thank you. I guess I would
- Also wanted like the accounting that Councilmember Piedmont Smith asked for so I guess I would also
- be interested in like the the contracts and you know what we have going just because that is a really
- big increase and I feel like capacity is one of the struggles that especially the hand department has
- because there are so many things to do and so I just kind of want to make sure in terms of due diligence
- that the department actually has the capacity to like
- Like award those those grants and spend the additional money because the housing development fund is
- not like we won't necessarily It doesn't have unending revenue. And so like kind of in some ways once
- we spend it we spend it I think where you're caught is the idea that they all have to be tied to a project
- We are saying that the three million dollars is to be able to respond nimbly to the requests at hand
- and get it out the door It
- It's not a one-to-one. It's not a capacity issue It's be giving us flexibility to respond because what
- happens is if it's not spent it reverts back to the housing development fund If it is spent it goes
- out the door. We get the units created It's going to take years in some cases for the funding to actually
- create the units So we have to move quickly can't wait for the next funding cycle to get them off the
- ground I'm out of time
- Sorry. Yes. Sorry. Thank you. And thank you for your presentation. Would you be able to talk a little
- bit about how our strategy might change based on the physical locations of different services directly
- in regard to homelessness response. So for example the jail.
- We don't know where it's going to be but I'm sure that we will have to Accommodate that same with I
- know that beacon is moving to the Near East side I'm just curious how the shift of the physical locations
- might impact the work that you do That is a very good question. I'm not sure that I can answer that
- question obviously being close to Services is really important But how that would change our funding.
- I'm not sure
- Not aware we need to provide the support where the support is needed Any other questions councilmember
- rough I Guess this is maybe more of a comment than a question But there the question would be I guess
- Have you thought about a strategy has the department thought about strategy related to
- What I hear about from constituents a lot related to public safety quality of life for neighborhoods
- and for the community overall and that is the side the issue of keeping sidewalks clear from Trash recycling
- bins that will often sit for days and days and days or maybe a week around and then of course we hear
- about the scooters issue periodically regularly, but You know, it's funny. I've lived
- my area of my house for over 30 years and if I leave if I pull my car out onto the street without a
- hang tag to move something around in the carport and I go inside and do something I'll come out I'll
- I'll have it more often than I'll have a ticket it seems like you know or at least I have a warning
- and it literally centers within it seems like 20 minutes or 15 minutes of forgetting that I left my
- car out there
- It just seems like it's got to be a way that we could have better enforcement of clearing the sidewalks.
- I'm not talking about snow right now but I'm talking about mainly trash cans and scooters too. But so
- that's a priority. That's a priority for me to figure out a way and maybe if it requires some kind of budget
- Contribution or in combination with another program Another department something but that's a priority
- for me this time Is that a question should I respond to yeah if you can if you thought about it Well,
- I think it's important to know that the neighborhood compliance officers that are out inspecting all
- the rentals and taking care of the complaint inspections are the same staff that are patrolling the
- neighborhoods they get
- Four hours a week following their trash the trashy day for their neighborhood. They're assigned neighborhoods
- to issue citations and warnings and that kind of thing Alternatively, I think you can see that the parking
- division is the most efficient Department in the city They're out there immediately, but that's their
- full-time job. So I think that that's part of the issue and
- With the creation of so many units. I know you guys were gracious enough to give me another neighborhood
- compliance officer because the demand was so taxing And that has helped a lot But it's difficult in
- four hours to make it down every single street that being said I am looking at trying to help the
- the routes that the compliance officers are taking. So sometimes they're not always taking the trash
- route. So what we're looking at is how is sanitation picking up all of the bins? How are they hitting
- all of the addresses in the various neighborhoods? How might we look at targeting the routes a little
- differently to make sure that we're getting all of the properties instead of just like the main areas,
- that kind of thing.
- We're always trying to improve efficiency in our department, but I will take that back. Thank you any
- other questions All right, thank you very much we're gonna move on to public comment now anybody in
- chambers or online who has a question For housing and neighborhood development. I see somebody approaching
- the podium. Thank you very much Good evening again
- This is Christopher MG from the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. I just want to say before I
- get to the budget that I want to recognize Ms. Killian Hanson and the work of Hand. She's brought some
- clear direction, both to Hand and the RDC, along with that practical perspective of someone who's worked
- in business and on the development side. And as we've seen with that presentation, which I think could
- have been a seminar, what direction and what reach they're having, Chamber strongly agrees with
- the direction of housing, and particularly the recognition of affordability to scale that requires more
- housing supply. I just want to highlight a couple things on moving the budget toward improving housing
- access, increasing housing production. It's a significant increase in the housing development fund that's
- going to move these things forward. And so we appreciate how that increased production is a market-based
- strategy that supports workforce retention and our long-term economic health, as she linked it so well.
- Employers need workers who can afford to live here more supply and more housing choices are an important
- part of recruitment retention and growing the tax base But obviously that funding alone doesn't produce
- housing. It has to be paired with faster clear permitting and development standards allow good projects
- to move Financially more feasible, but that is for another department I also want to say that the flexible
- homelessness intervention that targets approaches that help people move toward a
- Housing will recognize that homeless responses, increasing overall supply are related but distinct
- challenges. So we strongly agree with Han's premise that improving affordability at a scale requires
- increased supply. The goal should now be making sure our investment strategy and our development process
- are pulling the same direction, getting more housing built. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anybody
- online for the comment?
- Any last comments or any more commenters in chambers? I don't see anybody. All right, so back to chambers.
- Any council? Any council comments? Councilmember Stossberg. Thanks. I want to just comment on a couple
- of things that I didn't get a chance to ask about in terms of hopes.
- Interesting that we're focusing CDBG grants on sidewalks When we don't have a sidewalk plan and similarly
- right now owner property owners adjacent property owners are responsible for maintenance of sidewalks
- and so I just really hope that whenever that CDBG grant process goes through
- that ends up being focused on low-income owners and maintenance of those sidewalks. Now, I'll ask in
- the follow-up questions, as opposed to I just don't want to supplement landlords that should be taking
- care of their sidewalks already. So I just wanted to mention that as I hope that's the way that it's
- going to work. And I need to get back in my comments to the other things.
- And then going back to the housing development fund like I I recognize that that just reverts but at
- the same time I also know that you know two three years ago when I was having lots of meetings about
- affordable housing and some of the things that that housing development fund was spent on a number of
- years ago in prior administrations there was definitely some concerns raised and so I think that that
- lead some of my questions right now about the Housing Development Fund just to make sure that future
- expenditures out of the Housing Development Fund are not things that some future administration or council
- member looks back on and goes, oh my gosh, what on earth were they doing spending money on that? And
- so that is one of the reasons why I'm asking extra questions about the Housing Development Fund. Because
- once we bless this $3 million, which is very vague and unspecific, then it can be spent on whatever.
- that is, I appreciate that you need to be nimble, and I appreciate that you need that flexibility, but
- I hope that you also appreciate that as a decision maker, I feel like I at least wanna box some rough
- kind of idea about what it's been spent on so far, and then what direction you're hoping to bring it
- toward, because that is quite a big increase.
- Otherwise, thank you very much and thinking think think everybody else that was involved in this budget
- hearing this evening Any other council comments councilmember Piedmont Smith Yes, I just don't want
- to lose sight of the fact that we have a problem as a city of keeping sidewalks clear I know there are
- not enough people in hand to issue all the citations that are needed and then there's
- You know once you issue a citation then the property owner has a certain amount of time and in the meantime
- people are walking the streets. So I just want to acknowledge that that problem is still there and we
- need to have more conversations and try to figure out how best to accommodate pedestrians in snow and
- ice situations. Thank you. Any final comments. Councilman Barallo you know I got a couple.
- Regarding sidewalks. I maybe we should be considering using some of the council sidewalk budget for
- Targeting and repairing areas with accessibility problems Because it's been brought to my attention
- actually councilman rough it at constituent meetings that this is a chronic problem and you know with
- a lack of resources or you know skim resources this time around we
- You know that they should be dealt with I I just wanted to follow up on my query of the administration.
- I want to credit mayor Thompson for meeting with governor. I think that as Director Killian Hansen said
- it the housing is a very it's a complicated Multivariate problem and and so there's no easy one solution,
- but certainly one of them is to to
- Do the best we can to get resources brought back to Bloomington from state or federal sources And so
- I applaud you Duke for doing that for trying to do that and it seems to me Maybe there's an opportunity
- with the county because as they build the their jail I think we all want to see that not just as a as
- a punitive a place to place people You know just to punish them but
- particularly of people are suffering from mental health and and Addiction problems that they ought to
- be treated and helped So so to the extent that we can maybe help that situation our county colleagues
- could be responsive to that Perhaps hopefully so. Thank you We hope all right last comments. I
- Okay, well thank you very much. We really appreciate you being here. We appreciate everybody being here.
- That's it for night one of budget hearings. Thank you all very much for your help and your info and
- answering our questions. And we'll see you back here Wednesday night at, was somebody snapping? I know.
- Sorry, see you back here Wednesday night the 19th at 5.30.