Okay, it is 630 and there are enough of us here. So we're gonna call to Order this special session of
the Bloomington City Council Will the clerk kindly call the roll Councilmember Sasberg here Piedmont Smith
Zulek here. Sorry present Rallo here rough Rosenberger here Thank you. Thank you so much. All right.
Well today's a little bit of a different meeting. This is a special session We're just going to introduce
sort of officially the budget legislation thereafter and we're gonna
assuming that this is what we all want to do. We plan to break into a committee of the whole so we can have
Sort of less structured conversation around these appropriation ordinances And so with that though just
before we we go on does anybody have any comments? statements anything of the nature Please councilmember
Stasberg and then councilmember Rosenberger. Oh do councilmember Rosenberger first. Okay. Thank you
councilmember Rosenberger first. I
Hi, thank you. I just wanted to let everybody know that This is my last meeting in person until sometime
in November I have a medical thingy that I have to do So I'm not off having any fun anywhere, but I
will not be here until then There's a chance. I'll be remote on the fifth. But after that It's nothing
until November So I'm sorry, but see you all then
Thank you so much. I wasn't anticipating being able to announce this so I needed to bring it up in my
email. I just wanted to mention something that director Tim Street forwarded to me this morning.
That on Monday September 28th, that would be this Monday coming up the park board is having a special
meeting at switch yard park to review approaches to their investment priorities in terms of long-range
planning and their capital investments And so that meeting starts at 530 and I just wanted to announce
that for my colleagues might be interesting for the public It might be interesting. I would love to
go and unfortunately, I already have a meeting at 530 that night so I will have to
Read about that conversation afterwards, but if you're at all interested in parks or use parks in any
way Which is a whole lot of us that might be a meeting to go to and to be able to chime in about Where
your priorities might lay because they're of course going to talk about some of those big investments
that they have to make in terms of pool repairs and ice rink and some of those large pieces of Infrastructure
and investment that we have so thanks you so much anybody else before we get to
All right. Thank you all so much. I'm so comfortable any motions Yes, I'm sorry. I move that appropriation
ordinance twenty twenty six zero two be introduced and river The clerk by title and synopsis only second
motion a second will the clerk Oh actually can Yeah, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Yay Will
the clerk please read?
Appropriation ordinance twenty twenty six dash zero two an ordinance for appropriations and tax rates
establishing twenty twenty seven civil city budget for the city of Bloomington. The synopsis is as follows
an appropriation ordinance adopting the city's annual budget and establishing the necessary tax rates
tax levies and appropriations for the city's obligations for the fiscal year ending December 31st 2027.
Thank you very much.
I move that appropriation ordinance twenty twenty six zero to be Be Introduced at our Referred to refer
to I'm sorry committee the whole meeting directly following our special session second motion a second
all those in favor Thank you very much anybody opposed What what what appropriation ordinance to the
one we just read?
060602 2602 Just referred it to the committee of the whole okay. Yes, just wasn't the same order as
I'm looking at All right. Any other motions? I move that Appropriation ordinance twenty twenty six zero
three be introduced and read by the clerk by telling synopsis only Second all those in favor say aye
Any opposed will the clerk please read?
appropriation ordinance twenty twenty six dash zero three and appropriation an ordinance for appropriation
and tax rates for the Bloomington Transit Corporation for twenty twenty seven I Move that appropriation
ordinance twenty twenty six zero three be referred to our Committee the whole meeting directly following
our special session second all those in favor say aye Any opposed? Thank you very much Mr. President,
I move that ordinance
2026 25 be introduced and read by the clerk by title and synopsis only Second motion the second all
those in favor say aye and the opposed will the clerk please read Ordinance
2026 dash 25 an ordinance fixing the salaries of officers of the police and fire departments for the
city of Bloomington, Indiana For the year 2027 the synopsis is as follows This ordinance sets the minimum
and maximum salary rates for all sworn fire and police personnel for the year 2027 in accordance with
council approved collective bargaining agreements Thank you very much I move that ordinance 2026 25
be referred to our committee the whole meeting directly following our special session
Second. All those in favor. Aye. Any opposed. Thank you very much. Mr. President I move that ordinance
twenty twenty six twenty six be introduced and read by the clerk by telling synopsis only. Second. All
those in favor. Aye. Any opposed. All right. Well the clerk please read.
Ordinance twenty twenty six dash twenty six an ordinance to fix the salaries of appointed officers non-union
and AFSCME employees for all the departments of the city of Bloomington Monroe County Indiana for the
year twenty twenty seven synopsis as follows ordinance twenty twenty six dash twenty six sets the maximum
twenty twenty seven salary for all appointed officers non-union and AFSCME employees for all the departments
of the city of Bloomington Indiana. Thank you so much. Mr. President I move that ordinance 2020.
2026 26 We refer to our committee of the whole meeting directly following your special session second
all those in favor Any opposed? So so it happened Anymore I move. Yes that ordinance one more that ordinance
2026 28 Introduced and read by the clerk by tunnels maps. It's only second all those in favor Any opposed?
Will the clerk please read?
Ordinance 2026 28 in ordinance to fix the salaries of appointed deputies and employees of the Bloomington
City Clerk for the city of Bloomington Monroe County Indiana for the year 2027 synopsis is this salary
ordinance establishes the 2027 maximum salaries for Bloomington City Clerk employees Mr. President I
move that ordinance 2026 28 be referred to our committee the whole meeting directly following our special session
Second all those in favor Any opposed Wow, we did it now anybody else have anything you'd like to say
before we hand over I mean before we stop this and then become new people in the metamorphosed version
of ourselves No, okay. Well in which case adjourned Hi everyone, this is City Council committee of the
whole today is Wednesday and
September 23rd we are people are confused but I think we all know what we're doing. We're going to do
a roll call vote. I mean a roll call just roll call. Will the clerk please do a roll call. You want
to do a roll call. OK sorry. Stossberg here. Piedmont Smith here. Zulek here. Sorry. Daily.
Oh my goodness I'm so sorry. Rollo here. Ruff here and Rosenberger here. Thank you. I naturally turn
off my mic. OK. So today I'll do a quick agenda summation. If you were here 15 minutes ago we're going
over the same ordinances. So we've got appropriation ordinance 2602 appropriation ordinance
2603 ordinance 2625 2626 and 2628. So the plan tonight is a pretty typical committee of the whole. We
will go through these ordinances here from staff that were invited. If they have any kind of presentation
then we will move to council questions.
That wasn't the right order for the ordinances but it's okay I think okay and then we'll go to public
comment after each ordinance and then back to counsel for any follow-up questions and any discussion
I think there's a chance amendments will be brought up for discussion tonight and so
We might just bring those and discuss everything as a whole after the presentation. Okay, so we are
going to start with appropriation ordinance 2603, an ordinance for appropriation and tax rates
for Bloomington Transit Corporation.
for 2027. We did ask the general manager to attend. There is a presentation. OK. It looks like we've
got the board chair presenting. Thank you for being here. If you could just introduce yourself and take
it away. Good evening. My name is James McClary and I'm chairman of the Bloomington
Public Transportation Corporation. We had asked Mr. Connell to come and he declined. We have got the
person who knows more about the budget than anybody here tonight. Krista Browning is our comptroller
as a corporation we operate by committee. We had two committee two board members and two staff members.
John Connell and Krista Browning developed the budget.
And they brought that to the board twice and unanimous both times approval of the budget. And Krista
will go through the budget and explain the different pieces of it the changes that we have and will
be available for questions concerning the budget. And so I would ask Krista to please come up and explain
the budget to you. Thank you.
Okay as they said my name is Krista Browning. I'm the controller at Bloomington Transit and I've been
the controller for 22 years. I normally sit in the background. So this is not what I like to do but
I am here. It is an honor to present the twenty twenty seven budget to you which is included in your
packet for your review. So I will just give a brief summary of the proposed budgets.
First I want to thank the city for its partnerships with Bloomington Transit to provide safe and dependable
services to all the citizens of Bloomington. Such partnerships and agreements include city inner local
agreements where we have IT service and support. And I want to give a big shout out and thank you to
cast the heart of the IT department. She is awesome. She comes anytime we call her to help us. And we
do really appreciate that.
We get legal services and we get liability insurance and risk management. And also I want to thank Gary
Connor and his team. They are great at helping us with that. And finally I do want to thank the council
for your committing of funds to Bloomington transit. I want to highlight some of the investments that
the funds and the partnership has allowed Bloomington transit to do.
It has allowed us to do enhanced microtransit operations late night service with microtransit and transit
for everyone that gives flexibility to The public and transit options for the riders of Bloomington
transits We were also able to expand our Sunday service to eight routes we do fare capping for the writers
that ride the bus regularly and
half fair subsidy programs and that's programs to nonprofit and social agencies in the community we
give them reduced fares for their clients and Then it also allowed us to create two positions within
our organization to maximize the ability to get state and federal funding and promote Bloomington services
and increase our ridership and
Continued operational services funded by the ED lit partnership are included in our proposed 2027 budget
such as the Sunday service all the micro transit service the fare capping the staff positions and Then
we will also use some for the match for our new transit facility Once again, I'm going to give a big
thank you to the city for your partnership and investment in transit and
We will move on to the proposed 2027 budget summary. So for class one personnel, we have 9.6
million budgeted, class two materials and supplies at 1.5, class three professional services at 3.9,
and class four capital at 22.5. To give us a grand total proposed budget for next year of 37 million
five hundred eighty nine thousand six hundred and fifty eight dollars The next few slides I'm just gonna
go over some details that help develop the budget. So we will start with some expenses class one professional
or personnel that's made of wages and benefits the Union the CBA wages are 2% and then the staff and
the administration is up to 3% and
And then our health insurance is seeing an increase of twenty seven point five. Our health insurance
continues to be a large cost due to the small insurance group that we have. Class two is for materials
and supplies that has seen we'll see an overall decrease net decrease of one hundred and twenty six
thousand. The driving factor there for that decrease is fuel with the battery electric buses. We're
using less diesel fuel.
So and the diesel fuel is decreasing by about hundred seventy seven thousand Class three which
is professional service is seeing an increase of four hundred and seventy seven thousand of that is
electric cost and that's an increase of three hundred and twenty five thousand that is due to 18 electric
buses full-time in our fleet, which is about forty five percent of our fleet now and
The net increase change between the diesel and the electric is about 147,000 increase for operations
there. We'll move on to the revenue side. We have budgeted property tax revenue at 1.8 and that's governed
by the maximum levy growth quotient that is 6% for next year. We have local income tax at 627,000
And then we have the ed lip funds budgeted at three point eight in our budget. Passenger fares are budgeted
at two point five and advertising revenues at around one hundred thousand. In other revenues we have
federal and state funds in twenty twenty seven. We are budgeting seventeen point eight in federal funds.
This is 5307 formula funds and then 5339 bus and facility funds. This will be used for capital which
we have one battery electric replacement bus support vehicles a new counting software traffic signal
prioritization and then your tires and rebuilds and then the first phase of the construction of our
new facility which will be the maintenance building
bus wash fueling station in the site work and infrastructure and then we also have formula 5307 funds
in there at 2.5 and that is for operating assistance and Then we have the state PMTF, which is the public
mass transportation fund and that we will get 2.6 million there In closing
BT will be facing challenges in 27 and beyond due to funding issues and some unknowns, such as reduced
revenues, the SEA-1 tax reform bill, lost ridership, shortage of manpower, fuel and electric costs,
just to name a few. But with the passage of this BT 2027 budget, this will position us to transform
public transportation
in our community and allows to provide improved services for all the citizens of Bloomington and also
our employees which by the way they do an awesome job are committed to serving the community and they're
continuing to achieve and strive to meet the goals that set out in our transform BT. Thank you for your
time and consideration and I'll take any questions on the budget. Thank you so much. I know you don't
like being up there but you did a great job.
Any questions from my colleagues. Council member sorry and then Rollo. Thank you so much. I am most
curious less about this year and more about positioning for the following year because we we have talked
both openly within the within council chambers and I think also in
public outlets about how this is the last year that we're doing the ED lit at least in the agreement.
And so what does happen sort of moving ahead with without the ED lit funds and what type of steps are
you taking this year for you know sort of long term stability strengthening etc. If you want to submit
your question in writing we would get you an answer for that in detail. That would probably be the best thing.
Thank you for your presentation I had a question related to the cost of fuel and well actually the the
overall the What used to be a lock-in of price so we feel used to be locked in when it was cheap made
sense because you just as you refinance a debt when interest rates are good and
You take advantage of low fuel prices and I understand right now. We're subject to fuel price variability.
Is that correct? That is correct. Okay, and It's anyone's guess where this is going. Although you must
have made an estimate What are you estimating diesel will be with this current budget? Okay, so first
IU purchases our fuel for us, so we're kind of set on what they do, but I did budget diesel
When we was doing the budget at 450 a gallon and then we did the unleaded at 350 Okay. Well,
it's 650 now. Correct. Okay Has IU always purchased our fuel the diesel yes So how was it in the past
that we were able to take advantage of locking in a price? They will lock in a contract. They were doing
it. So now we're subject to IU not doing that
Not not not locking in a price They've tried but you know, it's it's cheaper right now in the spot market.
So they're keeping us informed of that Okay, so the opportunity might present itself to to to go back
to locking a price provided it falls to a Lower they're checking on it. I mean they keep they're keeping
me posted. They're checking on it quite often Yeah, I'm just I'm kind of surprised by this I'm kind
of alarmed
Because other cities have done it continue doing it. I think that we ought to we really ought to be
doing it because Obviously, it gives you great budget Sorry, it gives you great budget stability. I
love when we do have a kind of locked in right? Yeah, it does So, okay. Um, perhaps I'll follow up with
you a bit more on this But I just wanted to go on the record to say by all means, let's go back to that
you know situation for our fiscal it's fiscally prudent to do so. So thank you. Thank you. Do you know
on that the twenty twenty seven budget including that federal revenue in the fifty three oh seven and
fifty three thirty nine. Have those been for sure awarded to PT like are those sure funds. Yes pretty much.
All of it has been OK. Great. And then the second revenue question that I had was whether there was
there's been any consideration of raising fares in any way especially to reflect increased fuel and
that sort of thing. I don't know if that's something for the board. You can submit it in writing to
us if you want. We'll address that. OK. No it's not been considered as it right now. OK. I have one
other question but.
Go ahead and do it. I guess you mentioned that the health insurance had seen a big increase partly because
you're a relatively small pool and I was wondering if there if it was possible to join with like this
the city of Bloomington's health insurance to be a larger pool or whether that was not something that
was a possibility just in terms of Trying to consolidate Don't know the answer to that
You're not sure that I don't know the answer to that. I don't know that just yeah you can write that
in writing to us and we will address that but I don't think that's ever been addressed or OK.
Thank you. Yes thank you for your presentation. I had a few different questions. Let me get back to
the right sheet here. Too many.
Windows are open on my computer. Here we go. So first of all on the very basic budget form number four
there is that's of course just for your property tax revenues and your levy the status. OK so on that
first table the status says you're over the max by forty nine thousand dollars. What does that
Mean and is that a problem? I don't think so Jeff. Do you know anything about that? Yeah Ultimately
the when the budget is is approved or reviewed by the Department of Local Government Finance It will
cut it will reduce you down to the maximum permitted levy sometimes just because of rounding
And tax rates you wind up with a little being a little bit above the the maximum levy But ultimately
it'll be it'll be cut down to what the maximum permitted is when the budget is actually approved Thank
you, so I I guess I'll check and see if the 1.8 million minus that amount is equal to what's in your
budget sheets because that Is going to be subtracted?
I have a few other ones, let me see here. The salaries. So you have, for your operators, you have a
2% increase. For your administrative staff, okay, for salaries for other operating and for maintenance,
you have a 3% decrease.
And then for administrative staff you have a 27 percent increase. Why is the administrative staff salary
category increasing by such a large amount. If you want to just submit that in writing we'll get with
you on that. OK. And let me just see if I have another one. Yeah so.
You also have a decrease in your budget for water which and that has just been overstated. So we're
just bringing it down or what that should be. Let's just bring it to more water. OK. Water cost is yes.
OK. I was surprised because there was an increase in water rates. Let me see if I have anything else.
I think that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead. I just wanted to follow up a little bit because I
want to try to wrap my head around this. So just so I can prepare in case we look at a potential
appropriation later on in the year for fuel. Do you does Bloomington Transit have reserves that they
can draw on.
for Say fuel spikes. Okay, and what would that be? What our reserves are? Yeah, our reserves at the
end of August was 16 million 16 million Okay So pretty healthy reserves and I I don't know if you know
this but I remember asking years ago how much fuel the
Bloomington Transit uses and it was something in the order of 300,000 gallons of diesel per year We're
budgeting for 120,000 gallons 120 because that's probably a reflection of Electric buses, which is great.
Yes. Okay, so that's that was a smart investment So but even if we if we budgeting for 450 a gallon
and it goes up it's currently at 650 could get 850 that amount doubles right so we could be looking at a
And an additional half a million dollars potentially if it goes up sufficient Will you be covering that
in from your reserve total or will you be coming to? Us for a special appropriation. We would probably
cover it with our reserves. Yeah, you know we got in trouble. Okay. All right Okay, very good. Thank
you Any other questions go ahead
This might also be for controller McKim because it's about the exhibit a The formal LG DLGF paperwork,
there's these two questions at the end one of them is asking we state our intent to issue debt after
December and before January and there's a yes on that one and then in accordance we state our intent
to file a shortfall appeal and neither yes nor no are checked and
And I guess I'm just wondering about what Debt issuance is being expected and why there isn't a check
on a shortfall appeal No, it the issue is that The Department of Local Government Finance has shifted
to a new budgeting application this year that we used for the first time called budget 2.0 and it did not allow
for the creation of the Form 4 before the public hearing. That's acknowledged that that's an issue.
We've talked with our DLGF reps. And so the Form 4s were actually created by Mr. Allen, kind of cobbled
together from previous forms. And so that just, I would assume that just slipped in there, but that
there was no attention for them to issue debt. But yeah, that's just because they had to be created by hand.
Okay so basically these two questions don't necessarily mean anything for BT. No right. So we know when
the real when the real form is actually created. All right. So both of those should be knows. Okay thanks.
Okay I think let's go to public comment.
on this ordinance. So if anyone in chambers or online would like to make a comment this public comment
portion of the deliberation on this item will constitute the statutorily required public hearing on
the transit budget for twenty twenty seven. No big moves in chambers anything online nothing. OK. Let's
come back here. Any.
Any comments or additional questions from my colleagues. OK. I think we're ready to consider a do pass
recommendation on ordnance appropriation ordinance 26 0 3. I will start to my what. Why are you looking.
I just can't remember us doing this last year. So we can or cannot and I
talk to some folks who think it will be a good idea to see where people are. So we so can you explain.
Yep. Thank you. Okay. So what we're gonna do is a little vote. This is not binding on anything. It's
just to give the public and council members an idea of where people where council members stand on each
ordinance. So because we are in a committee of the whole this recommendation will then be sent up
to counsel at a regular session or a special session. And it's just a piece of information for this
point in time. Does that sound good. Everybody. OK. OK. So I will just go ahead. I'm just going to start
on my right. I do the roll call usually for. Clerk Golden would you like to. We started calling the
roll for you guys but it's really your preference whatever
Go ahead. Okay. Yes, I'm sorry. Normally in committee the whole we do it but I would happily have you
do it. Great. Okay. Clerk Holden can you please call the roll. I did that to myself didn't I. Yes. Yes.
It looks like you wanted to. Okay. Okay. So Council Member Stossberg. Yes. Piedmont Smith. Yes. Zulek.
Yes. Rosenberger. Yes. I'm sorry. Yes. Boy I just messed up my own. This is what happens. Rallo. Yes.
And ref. Yes. Thank you. OK. So that recommendation will be sent to council 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0. All righty.
Up next we have appropriation ordinance 26 0 2 an ordinance for appropriations and tax rates establishing
20 27 civil city budget for the city of Bloomington. We will do this the same presentation period.
questions public comment follow up questions after that. So if controller would like to come on up take
it away with whatever you'd like.
Thank you very much. Good evening council members As you know this constitutes the formal public hearing
for the 2027 budget for the civil city Your packet includes all the state prescribed forms that make
up the budget submission and just to kind of Explain what those are form for which we just talked about
is actually the budget and tax levy ordinance itself that you'll wind up voting on during budget adoption
on or after October 7th
Form 3 is the public advertisement of the proposed tax rates and levies. Form 1 is actually the line-by-line
budget. Form 2, which is the estimate of miscellaneous revenues. And miscellaneous revenues means any
revenues other than property tax. And then finally, the Form 4B, which is an 18-month cash flow statement
for each fund, starting from June 30th of this year and going all the way to December 31st of 2027.
Line 18, the very last line on the form 4B, is the estimated remaining cash balance. If all the revenues
come in as expected, then all of the appropriations are spent. And in practice, this line usually winds
up being an underestimate of the amount of cash remaining since all of the appropriations are rarely
spent because of position vacancies, unspent capital, and that sort of thing. But it does provide the
best proxy we have for the amount of reserves in the fund.
I've also included a memo that provided a little background information. What's new about the 2027 budget
that we already talked about? During the the budget hearings earlier and then also what's changed since
the budget memos that you had received earlier And I'm here along with the deputy mayor the mayor and
some of other department heads to answer any questions You might have so thank you very much Thank you
so much questions from my colleague. Let's start with councilmember Piedmont Smith
Yes I have a very general question for controller McKim. Can you tell us more about the rainy day fund.
I mean I don't ever remember actually putting money into it and I've been on this council for almost
15 years. So how did this start and why do we not put money in it. Is there any benefit in like moving
money into it. Tell us more.
So I would have to look up the last time that you have actually put you as a body has actually put money
into it I don't I don't know offhand the answer to that I do know you didn't put in any last year and
it sounds like that's gone for quite a while the the revenue that Does go in that fund is just basically
bank interest on the money that's already there I will say that it used to be
That there was more of a reach. So first of all, the rainy day fund is defined in statute. So it is
something that You that municipalities and counties can have In the past there was more of an advantage
to having it in the past it used to be when the Department of Local Government Finance used to take
a more active role in reviewing the levies that cities and counties requested they would basically
look to make sure that you weren't you didn't already have too much money and Nowadays that's and and
so the rainy day fund was actually created sort of as a way to have money to Save as a savings account
that did not count against you when the Department of Local Government Finance made that decision and
reviewed your levies now that whole system is gone the DLGF really doesn't have discretion anymore
over your levies. It's just applying the law. The law sets a maximum levy based on a percentage increase
each year. And so the DLGF is just ministerial. It just applies the law and cuts your levy. So you can
just think of it as another set of reserves. Now a lot of times the
requirements the local bodies will make the requirements for using rainy day more stringent than for
using other forms of reserves just to make sure that it's not so you might require for example
a Supermajority of council members and honestly, I don't know if mr. Allen knows We'd have to look up
the statute or the code to see if if you have You have specific requirements. I know in the county
We required a super majority for use of the rainy day fund But it doesn't have as much advantage as
it did back when it was used to kind of Shield money from being used in your levy decisions, but you
could just think of it as as additional reserves and it's not There's no advantage like to have money
in there because you can invest it differently and make more money off that money, right? It has the same
Investment limits that any of our funds have exactly. Yes. All right, so it's just extra. Okay.
Thank you. So I was looking at the major changes in the twenty twenty seven budget paragraph and one
of them mentioned a nine percent increase in health and life insurance that will not
that none of which will be passed on to employees in 2027. And I think that that's great. But I'm concerned,
is that setting up our employees to have a really large increase at some point after that? Because part
of us being able to cover that is maybe having the funds to cover that. And if we're kind of facing
this financially insecure future, is that setting our employees up for some sort of future?
I won't say quite disaster, but I'll say unexpected, extremely high increase. So I don't know if Director
Paycheck is on the, I know she was going to be monitoring, and so she might be able to speak to that
more generally. I will say as far as this year goes, the actual increase that we're seeing in insurance is 5.8%.
So the 9% that's in the budget means that we are able to, as the city, able to use that 9% to absorb
the employees portion as well as the employers. So we are essentially covering that and keeping our
Reserves level by keeping the the budgeted amount at nine percent, but I don't know if sure I know that
that She and and her staff have spent a lot of time thinking about this issue and about insurance So,
I don't know if she's available to make a comment Okay, if she comes back then We may want to have her
make okay. So just just for clear Okay, yeah
Okay, so that and just just for clarity though before director paycheck comes in The actual increase
is five point eight percent, but we're still budgeting nine percent in terms of what's Transferred into
the health insurance trust. It's so we can absorb that the employees portion as well Okay Director paycheck.
Do you wanna
Tell us all about your conversation about not having too big of a, were you able to hear my question?
No, sharp paycheck, HR director, if you could please repeat the question. Sure. My question was, one
of the things in here under major changes was that the city is going to be absorbing the entire increase
in health and life insurance for employees, which I think is great.
but I just am kind of raising that concern or potential future of having to have a much larger increase
in the future that employees might have to cover if we're, you know, because we're having some potential
future financially, financial,
necessarily insecurity but uncertainty in terms of revenues changing because of state law and so I I
guess you know, it's one of those things is it better to have no increase for our employees one year
and then a really big one or to have smaller increases as we go along and what kind of Consideration
you've given to those different possibilities. Mm-hmm That is a great question. It is honestly a little
difficult to answer because we
without having certainty of what is to come in the future. I wouldn't want to answer to specifically.
I will say that and I can reiterate this based on my budget presentations.
Our participation in the AIM Trust has helped us have significantly lower health care premium increases
than you would normally find in a market. And so as long as we continue to participate in the trust,
then I think we'll be in a good position financially as far as our health care costs. One of the things
that we worked very hard on the first two years in the administration is increasing especially civil city
Salaries and so I wouldn't want the perception to be and some employees have specifically said this
That they got increases in their pay and now that difference is going towards their health care Expenses
and so we didn't want to give with one hand and take away with the other hand. So we've had that conversation
it has been many years to my understanding of
I'd have to go back to check how many years several years since the city employees have experienced
any type of increase and so Sure, I do think we should give serious consideration for that, but I think
we could look back historically Averages of how much we have increased and then use that number in order
to make a modest increase but I do think that it is something that we should consider in the future and
Thank you and well, there's something I asked in BT, but I won't follow up on that right now, but Maybe
I'll CC you on that later. Thanks. Sure Any other questions Councilmember sorry If possible Just a handful
of things I can't really hear you down here this I am so sorry. I
The first one in the original proposal the two point five million dollar parking thing was noted as
a placeholder but that same figures in the in the budget. Now do we have any more clarity on what that's
going to be. I'm going to defer that to Wason here. Thank you.
Thank you for the question I don't know if you were able to see I sent a pretty lengthy response to
the entire council yesterday about This exact topic kind of outlining where we stood on this So the
two point five million dollar placeholder is a it's just that it's a placeholder at this point in time
We know we have outdated equipment. We need to replace in our garages that are going to be end-of-service
life We know our meters are beyond their
current service life lots of decisions to be made on what technologies are used going forward and all
of that would work its way through the Transportation Commission and to the council eventually if we
brought ordinance updates But we do know we have aging equipment and so that that is what the placeholder
is for at this point And and could you talk to me a little bit about? Why why why should we put that
money? Sorry, let me
Speak louder Why put that money in there now and not come back when it's time when you actually know
exactly what we're gonna do What you want to achieve with it, etc? I You know Efficiency at this point
in time, you know, we're gonna be moving to the Transportation Commission. The Transportation Commission
is going to be taking this up for discussion and
The whole Walker parking study next Monday We're not sure of the timing at which point an ordinance
update would come to the council for this So again right now, it's a placeholder. This is out of the
parking meter fund, which is you know a cash balance fund So, you know, that's really our intent here
as I stated in my email yesterday You know our intent is to be fully transparent on any operating systems.
We would be moving towards things like that Okay, thank you so much. I have a couple of other questions,
but I'll whenever you want me to I
I can continue asking I think perhaps for controller McKim the six hundred thousand dollars For the
new I know budgeting software is was that also a placeholder. Is that the exact amount? You know, I
I wish I'm not sure if director Dietz is on the on the line right now I would say that that is better
developed a better developed estimate than a placeholder and of the I think it's nine hundred
$43,000 or something like that in the ITS subscriptions and purchasing that $600,000 is just for that
software, correct? It's not for a set of other things that have to happen. The $600,000 would be both
for the new software, but also the process of upgrading. Okay, fantastic. This may be a question for
planning director, but also do we know
Actually, I'm okay skipping that question. I'll skip that one, too. Come back to me. I have a couple
others, but don't worry about them now. I think we're back. My next question actually builds off of
what Councilmember Aralo was asking around fuel.
So do we do we have some type of a set way that we made our estimations about the the increase or I
mean, yeah, how do we how do we determine? That that's sort of 2.5 million from previous years wasn't
enough. Yeah for field. That's another Adam Wayson question and I know that's something that's been
keeping them up at night.
I'm shaking my crystal ball That's the the reality of it we're simply not sure what we've seen
and councilmember all and I had a chance to talk about this a little bit at the
subcommittee We're seeing the trend go up You know, we're Really trying to work with all the departments
on fuel conservation We're looking at different fuel types that we then we've used in the past to try
to lower that cost But right now we are at the whim of the fuel markets. Mm-hmm. Excellent That's one
last question and then I'll the question for
Controller McKim. So there's quite a few spaces where historically we've overfunded and then underspent.
And then there's also, you just mentioned earlier, some elements where we underspend because of vacancies
and things like that. What would your thoughts be about
About making reductions in those spaces to free up some some cash for other things And similarly, what
would your thoughts be about adding like for example, like I don't know a 2% decrease to you know, general
fund line one items because of vacancies so just across the board well, I will say that in general,
I don't recommend that because we budget what we think we're going to use and I
Because in general for most departments if there's extra money in the ones The in the category ones
and the personnel it just reverts to the general fund it's not like it's gonna get spent or wasted or
anything like that and The worst thing to happen is to wind up being in a situation where we can't make
payroll so You know in general
We don't know if we're gonna have vacancies or not. It is true over time. There is Jenner. There are
generally some vacancies There are some departments like police that have vacancies, but they hope not
to and are working very hard not to There are a lot of departments particularly smaller departments
that might never have a vacancy at all during during the year
So so so that's what that's what the with the personnel line that makes sense with other things you
know printing budgets and things of that nature thoughts thoughts on on sort of a bit more exact accounting
there. Well, we ask.
departments every year to actually look at their usage and to Make their you know to set their their
budget request accordingly to what they're actually they actually think they're going to use So for
example in the controllers budget, you know, I don't have a long long history with this That's why I
I went back through and you know kind of actually made reductions in based on what I actually thought
we probably wouldn't spend and so the budget you have for me for example is
is pretty much what I'm pretty sure we're going to spend. OK. But you would. So would you agree that
if there's something where we traditionally have underspent and we've done that over several years and
we're continuing to over budget for it that would be a good a good candidate for reductions. Yes.
Thank you. Yes. I have a question about two specific positions so I don't know.
I think both department heads are here. But the first is they're both vacant by the way. The first is
the transportation demand manager position and that is currently vacant. And I wonder if somebody could
speak to the value of that position. What does it actually accomplish for the residents of Bloomington.
Everyone Jane Cooper Smith director of economic and sustainable development The transportation demand
management position is has been housed in our department since I think 2021 Your question councilmember
Piedmont Smith was about the value of that position I think that the potential for value is different
than the actual value that was derived from that position and
based on the way that TDM was approached. It was approached by lifting up a third party app to try to
drive communication and track route making and to provide solutions really for alternative methods of
transportation. Did it actually contribute to mode shift?
Not clear. We were never able to get the data that we needed out of that program. So that's where it
has been. But you know in terms of what it would be capable of doing I think would depend on whoever
were occupying occupying that role. But like everything else in this conversation tonight it can't be
divorced from the funding context that we're in and
I don't know. I feel like I need a line from my bosses, but I'm just reluctant to come out and swing
really hard to advocate filling this position when I think we have really talented staff members and
planning and transportation with our alternative transportation coordinator and then now our safe streets
for all coordinator or manager. They're doing really great work. I think like many things and areas
that we work in there's possibility to make improvements
without dedicating a complete FTE to the work. So if we were still in the twenty twenty one funding
environment I would probably come out very excitedly and say yes let's keep it and reinvent and tackle
it. But in this funding climate I just don't think it's the most essential work that the city is doing.
Not to say that mode shift is not critically important mode shift is critically important.
Just for the benefit of the public. Can you describe what mode shift is and why we want it? Sorry to
back the frame up for the public the transportation demand manager position was created from
The transportation demand management plan which came out in 2019 and it wanted to reduce Reduce single
occupancy vehicle travel and the purpose for doing that according to the 2019 plan was to
Reduced parking congestion at that time Bloomington had a pretty different Or leading up to that time
Bloomington had a different parking climate. I think and so the goal was Really purely economic development
and it actually was less It wasn't related to greenhouse gas reduction, which is really interesting
if you go back and read that plan But it does show up of course in the cap as being important for greenhouse
gas reduction as well Thank you, yeah, may I ask about the other
So the other position is the director of community engagement in the office of the mayor Which has been
vacant for a year I believe and I'm wondering what value that position brings to our community So this
position was originally created to
fill a need really to engage especially marginalized voices and people who don't usually either feel
welcomed or get to engage and find some equality in,
city life and so we we hired a really talented person into that position and Unfortunately, we're not
able to keep her and We would like to fill that position we have been Working on that and we really just
We need the right person in that position that can really engage and I think in this time in this moment
in our country that position is critically important to our city to get the right person in and ensure
that we get those voices to the table. Could the could the position or the duties of the position be done by
Anybody else in the office of the mayor you have for example, you have two communications professionals
This is part of communication engaging the public communicating with people bringing them to the table
Would that be a solution to this? That position has other job duties then then Public communications so no
obviously we all try our best to engage with the public and and Get the word out there about what's
happening in the city and be responsive to media, etc But this is a different position that is really
externally facing as well as engaged with internal departments to ensure that that this work is getting
done really well, so All right. Thank you
Any other questions You go now or you could go later if you're not ready You can get in there, let's
just go ahead and do public comment and is that oh, what do we got? Okay councilmember Rallo I had a
question about since Council president's sorry brought the subject up again
What I I'd like to know why what what effect do we have we're sort of beholden to Indiana University's
Purchasing of fuel it seems to me. It's what's been communicated to me. Is that correct? Well, I believe
that was just Bloomington Transit Okay, so we buy fuel separate than then Public works for instance.
Yeah has in the street department everything have their own
So they are responsible for what I asked before, which is anticipating volatility in the energy markets
and then locking in a price. Is that correct? I mean, Public Works purchases their own fuel. They are
not the same as Bloomington Transit purchased through Indiana University. So I don't know.
Director Wason, do you want to? So we don't derive fuel from that source.
Yes, I thought we all shared fuel for some reason. I thought that that was the case. So we buy it separately
and both, it seems to me, are now exposed to higher fuel prices because of not anticipating the volatility
that other cities anticipated in late February when we had the beginning of the war.
So I just want to impart that that's I I think that this is an important thing that just as a preventative
that we should be aware of And I will just tell you we do do that for natural gas. So the city does
hedge have a natural gas hedge contract and we work with a BP to you know, try to make sure that our
natural gas purchases are are stable so I mean that's
I understand what you're saying. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Adam Weissman again public works. So,
you know, after our last subcommittee meeting you I think had sent an article about Fort Wayne had locked
in some pricing earlier this year.
That's an anomaly in the market in Indiana and we did we're reaching out to them to see what they had
done There is no lock-in pricing obviously available right now But even BT in the last several years
hasn't had that lock-in type pricing like we had thought We talked with Krista or not last couple years,
but they have not been able to find lock-in pricing either of late so it's it's just something we hadn't
been able to find or we hadn't found and the other point here to you know, it's
I think we all recognize that fuel prices were going to be volatile this year as soon as the thing the
international situation was occurring We we through the Board of Public Works and through our purchasing
processes bid out through to all the bulk purchaser or bulk suppliers in the area We only have one that
is supplying right now on a regular and consistent basis So it's as much as a market force issue as
anything. It's just what I'd like to add Okay
Director Wason before you sit sorry you already sat down This came up my colleague Councilmember Piedmont
Smith brought it up. Well, we were both talking about it. I assume we have contingency plans in case
of Very high fuel spiking or tip or potentially interruption. Is that is that correct? I
As we discussed, you know, we would look at what services would be reduced, you know right now we offer
sanitation service both trash and recycle every week to every resident in the community contingency
plans for true Emergencies here would result in service interruptions or service reductions. Yeah I
mean I guess what I'm thinking of is you know either very high prices or even shortages we have some
sort of triage that we have
Shelf where you know, where does the field go? I assume some of it would go to Absolutely. Yes. Yes,
absolutely in terms of emergency management emergency purposes We would be looking at public safety.
We would be looking at our utility We would be looking at absolute core basic public services. You prioritize
everything else. Do we have additional storage opportunities? No, we are limited by the storage we have
underground those utilities by their own they work with through the fleet maintenance division and public works and
Okay, so they're united with you. Okay. All right. Thank you Or would you like to go after public comment
Yeah, I'll just ask another question about the parking meter fund and I guess so The
What I'm looking at is this budget form for be for the parking meter fund that has I believe if I'm
understanding this correctly It has line 18 Just under eight hundred thousand dollars and I believe
that that's like the December 31st 2027 estimated balance, right? Yes, and so we're going from a 2026
estimated balance of almost four and a half million
to a 2027 one of less than 800,000 and I guess I'm just I mean part of that has got to be those that
that two and a half million dollar capital expense But then I think that there must be some other large
expenditures in there, too and I guess I'm I Guess I'm just wondering whether it's a good time to really
reduce that fund by that much and
or whether we really have any options for that because of part of what we have to do is is You know
invest in these capital improvements, but that's just a really big difference to you know It's it's
spending a whole lot of savings in some way on this one thing And so I guess I'm wondering if we can
hear a little bit more about that Well, let me let me just pull up the actual budget there in the form one and
And then like because this the parking meter fund isn't just going to that either like there's some
other pieces of things that the parking meter fund is being used for and If we could make sure to lay
all those out there too if if you can Yeah, so parking the parking meter fund does have
Several different departments that have budgets in it. So yes, of course the parking department does
have a Substantial budget in that and that 2.5 million dollars is in there for their capital outlay
for the tech refresh, but the street department also has Substantial You know has substantial expenses
being paid out of that at
of that department or out of that fund I think as you know We struggle to keep up with Street Department
expenses. I mean fuel but also just rising labor costs everything it just the the costs of running Streets
Department outstrips the gas tax and the excise tax that are kind of the traditional ways of funding
Functions so, you know, I think as you know, we're now putting property tax into funding Street department
through MVH now I think you started you did that for the first time last year and we've continued that
this year and the parking meter fund Provides another simply another funding source for providing these
kind of necessary expenses So is there just more of that going into streets than this year? I guess
I'm just it
It's hard to tell from this data alone. For example, like and and since we don't necessarily do budgets
by fund in that way when we see the presentation, it just kind of feels like more is expected to be
spent out of the parking meter fund in 2027 than 2026. And I'm wondering where those differences are.
Besides just I guess the two and a half million because I feel like it's more than just the two and
a half million Yeah, I mean clearly the streets The street department clearly does have a higher budget
in the parking meter fund It'll take me a few minutes to kind of calculate exactly what that is Okay,
if you want to email that to me too, like that's fine. I'm just kind of curious I guess in terms of
Just understanding and
wanting to kind of cautiously move forward when we think about you know what we use that fund for and
Suddenly not having the kind of cushion in that fund that we often have it is a substantial drop You
know on the other hand one might say that it had been allowed to build up maybe higher than it should
have been when that money should be used to actually fix the streets and and upgrade the parking meters, but
I would agree with that in theory but without actually knowing what it's being spent on for sure. You
know since it's a difference in past years I think it's important to know what exactly is happening.
Thank you. Any questions up here. Let's council member sorry and after this we will do a public comment
and then come back. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Good question for director Cooper Smith if you're still here Just a quick question about the the three
hundred and seventy thousand two hundred and eight For the arts program. Is that is that the 1% for
the arts or is that some other art grant? Could you say the fun? I think it's fun 9513
Can you state the dollar amount is like three hundred and seventy thousand two hundred and eight. Thanks.
That's our full city funded arts budget. It is separate from the one percent for the arts. And actually
we hope to be coming.
Back to you all to talk about creating a 1% fund But to date the 1% program has been immediately activated
with each capital project So it's not a fund that has been paid and got it. Okay, so so so so when so
for example with the Convention Center They put 1% towards arts at the Convention Center rather than
enough fund for got it exactly excellent that was that was but so the 370 is just money that we
What is that? It does a range of things and our assistant director for the arts page sharp is here who
can help answer questions, too But it supports grant making that goes to local artists Within the ecosystem.
We have three primary grant making programs arts projects. So arts that is happening in the communities
people are making stuff artistic advancement, which is sort of professional development for artists
and then arts operations and
Which I believe just go to nonprofits Nonprofit arts organization, so there are three different calls
throughout so that represents a large part of it We have a small amount and frankly not enough earmarked
for public art repair and maintenance. We've kind of realized over the last year that We've done a great
job of installing new public art and now we have to make sure that our repair and maintenance keeps
up with that and then
Other funding is directly to Constellation stage and screen there's a line in there for that. Yes, and
then some funding so there's arts funding that's triaged in a couple different ways but Constellation
gets funding from the city budget and from the BVA the buzz Kirk Chambly gets funding from the RDC so
it doesn't come from the general fund it comes from the RDC instead I believe in parks and then Paige
could you tell me what are the other major buckets?
Missing we have a small public Yeah, we have a small public art fund directly also, thank you I had
thought but I can do the math Okay Okay, let's move to public comment. So if anyone in chambers would
like to comment on Appropriation ordinance 2602 feel free to come up to the podium and
Anyone online. We do. OK. Well let's go online now. Oh I did want to also do my note. The public comment
portion of the deliberation on this item will constitute the statutorily required public hearing on
the civil city budget for 2027. You hear me. Yes. Is the clock starting. Anyway Kevin Keel.
I started reviewing this budget with a very simple question. How do I know whether the money taxpayers
are being asked to provide matches what the city actually needs to accomplish these critical services
the taxpayers expect? That question took me somewhere I didn't expect. I started following one fund,
the Public Safety LIT, which I knew nothing about at the start. But it was pointed out by the budget
materials as a high-risk area with canceled meetings and red flags.
Part of the tax supports the central dispatch center. The people who answer our 911 calls and connect
us to someone who help us in emergencies, police, fire, or medical help. This is a crucial service to
the community. So I asked an even simpler question. So how much money does the dispatch have at $12,
$31, $25? What is the fund balance? I thought that answer would be easy. It wasn't. I was forced to
follow one number, $2.481 million.
This itself was essentially an historical net cash calculation at 1231.24 that needed to be transferred
by ordinance to a new fund, the PSAP lit that should have been established in 2017. Then I learned only
1 million was transferred to the new PSAP fund in 2025. Another 1.481 million wasn't transferred until
April of 2026. Why the split? I really don't know.
I also found out the Monroe County auditor is holding city PSAP funds, estimated to be around 3.2 million.
Maybe, well, all we have to do is ask. It seems the city has a right to it. So what is the fund balance?
What do we actually need? I found out that the central dispatch has a long, long tradition of unspent
payroll, which is a separate issue. What did we actually spend in 2025?
No, we still don't have audited financials for 2025. They're just not available. And that is where my
concern became bigger than PSAP. Tonight's council is considering the entire city budget. A budget should
be more than the collection of appropriations. It should tell a story. Here is where we are. Here is
where we want to go. Here is what it will cost. And here is how we will measure whether we got there.
Right now, I'm struggling to see and understand that story.
If it takes this much work, I really cut out a lot of what I found out about PSAP. I did not mention
the interlocal agreement. Boy, all the work that went in to understand this one special revenue fund,
this restricted fund, a very crucial service, how is an ordinary taxpayer supposed to understand the
financial position and priorities of the entire city? First, I'm not asking the council to accept my
conclusions about PSAP. Not all the evidence is available yet.
The increase in the rate is still to come. I'm asking for something larger. Give the public the financial
story we can follow. What do we have? What do we owe? What are we trying to accomplish? How much will
it cost? Thank you so much. And how will we know whether it worked? This bridge of accounting, budgeting,
strategy, and public trust. Thank you, Mr. Keyoff. That's the end for now. But we can come back to you
during the next ordinance. Thank you so much for that comment. Do we have anyone else online?
Okay, let's do it. Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes. My name is Eric OST and I want to echo Mr. Kiyo's
request. I've been attempting to follow the fund balances using the financial
transparency portal for the city of Bloomington and what I discovered is that the expenditures actually
are published in a split warrant form. So you might have a payment that is spread across different funds,
but there's no fractional accounting for how those funds are debited. So it makes it nearly impossible
to track fund balances throughout the year. So I would request that additional information be put into
the transparency portal to allow that. I also would request that that individual council members, I
know this is an enormous task. It's difficult for members of the public to follow, especially when documents
are provided the same day of the meeting.
But to understand themselves, look into some of the questions that Mr. Keough asked so that you don't
simply trust, although I do consider the staff of the city to be trustworthy and to be doing as good
a job as they possibly can. But I think that there needs to be much like independent members of the
public. I think that the members of the council need to have a firm grasp and verify what you're being told.
And I appreciate all the questions that have been asked in regards to budgeting and durability. So thank
you and good luck. Thank you. Anyone else online. No one here in chambers. So let's come back to council
here. We can ask more a ask more questions be make some comments.
Talk about any amendments any intent to introduce amendments if you would like this is our casual with
the sea committee of the whole so if anyone wants to Nothing okay, that's okay. Oh here we go. I'm sorry
I feel like I look away and then someone raises their hand Councilmember Stossberg, I wasn't sure if
you were done talking. Um, I have a
three things that I'm interested in pursuing in some way. One has to do with the housing development
fund which I didn't ask about in this venue but I did ask in the original budget hearings and followed
up with some written questions. I'm really uncomfortable with allocating two thirds of our
housing development fund in a single budget year and somewhere and I can't I can't
Find it when I look for it this afternoon. I saw the list of of
grant requests that had been made and several of them are very large projects. And I'm also
very uncomfortable with city funds being awarded to really large projects without additional transparency.
So it makes me really uncomfortable to just kind of hand over that $3 million with no future expectation
of any kind of public hearing about how that's allocated. And one of the things a few years ago when
I first joined and I was looking into that fund, I discovered that housing development fund had been
used to supplement some of our large
Multi-family dwelling units and maybe that's okay, but it did not feel Transparent and it took some
hunting even by the current staff figure out how that had been spent. So I'm I'm not necessarily opposed
to spending that that fund money on the projects that need to be done But I think that there just needs
to be a much more transparent process with that And so I'm not interested in allocating that entire
amount upfront second
Similarly, maybe with the parking meter fund and that that capital investment, especially after like
I appreciate director Wason's messaging that he sent about the
license plate readers and that technology But there's a lot of community concern about that and similarly
since it is such a large Dollar amount and a large project. I think that it would benefit the community
to have greater transparency Over that in terms of an individual allocation next year instead of putting
that all up front and then the last the last thing I I
Think of right the second has to do with sanitation fund transfer at the fiscal committee meeting last
Week, I think it really was just a few days ago last Friday Sanitation gave us a wonderful memo with
some projections and the four of us who were there thought that it was a really good plan and it did
include decreasing the sanitation
Subsidy for next year and I would be in favor of doing that and then if we don't as a body end up Increasing
those funds or the the fees associated with sanitation Then we could always have an additional allocation
request next year to make up for that But those are the three things that are kind of on my mind right
now with things that have to change in this budget Thank you Comments on that comment Comments on the
comment sure agreed
OK. And any other comments you want to add? Mine's maybe a little bit longer. So I'll do it as quickly
as possible. Happy then to dive into these things more. I've been working on a bunch of amendments to
both this and then with the salary ordinance as well. But the salary ordinance ones are not ready. But
that I'll share around hopefully soon.
Just making sure that they're appropriate with our legal counsel But I'd love at this time to talk just
a little bit it's sort of high levels the way that Councilman Stasberg just did the first one very similarly
to what Councilmember Stasberg just said I agree with the view on the on the 2.5 million for parking
capital and
I think that we should when we're ready to do it identify the clear project cost estimates procurement
plan all those type of things and that we shouldn't appropriate an indefinite sort of capital placeholder
especially that large I've shared with you with you all because I said it at the council meeting when
we heard it.
the Second Amendment deals with that ERP technology, sorry, that Second Amendment deals with the ERP
technology that's, throughout the budget proposal, suggested as some magic way for us to get
to outcomes-based budgeting, but I think fairly clearly we're not, we don't have a genuine commitment,
or like, we're gonna need more than just buying some technology to do that, and so, and that's also
a very large purchase, $600,000 that I,
I'm gonna propose that we that we cut from the budget One of the other thing that you mentioned I think
the the hand housing, you know, it's three million dollars I'm putting there I would be I would
be comfortable holding holding that back so that we have a discussion I think that there's a broader
discussion that should be had again not not to You know make things difficult or anything of the sort
just rather about us
Co-creating what the strategy is for doing this so that we all sort of agree on how we want to deploy
those funds moving forward I Have I also think this is something that came up multiple times both last
year and now about Doing studies that we then aren't going to implement I think that we are doing a
lot of studies that then we have done historically a lot of studies that then we
You know, they sit on the shelf and by the time we're ready to implement them, they're not relevant
anymore. Planning had $490,000 of studies without identifying the decision that each will support, who's
gonna implement the recommendations, how those implementations will be funded, and so I don't particularly,
I'm not very interested in funding things that, you know, that we're just gonna plan to do and then
not actually do.
I have some thoughts as well, and thank you, Director Coopersmith, on the point about the 1% for the
arts. I really think that I love the idea of bringing that into a broader fund, and I think that similarly
to the conversations about parking, hand, all those things, I think that we should withhold the money
for arts programming until we actually can think about that holistically. So we stop doing things sort
of little here and little there, but can we think about a broader, bolder way of doing that?
I have an amendment on historical unsupported spending, or historical overspending, which the controller
confirmed would be a good thing to do if we indeed found it, so that I think could be up for discussion.
I also am proposing that instead of doing three parks guides that we do two, we spend a lot of money
printing guides for parks, and so I'm suggesting that we decrease that.
I also am suggesting, because there are austere times where we're supposed to be doing less with less,
I'm suggesting that we cut back on city travel that's not required. So I put a 25%.
Decrease in travel across Across the city. I had a amendment but based on the answers here today exactly
thought that was just a mistake with the health insurance thing But I think it makes a lot of sense
to do that But I think that then if we're going to cover the health insurance we may think about maybe
reducing cola from 2.7 to 2
Minor thing saves about similar increase from we see in the health insurance on the cola things Then
I have a bunch of amendments that are related to reduction in in positions I think the vast majority
of open positions many of those that I'm counselor Piedmont Smith brought up I think that we should
be discussing those and so I don't think that in in the times that were that we're in that we should
be Sort of, you know
Having positions that when I asked about them I don't think that the answers gave any type of real outcomes
associated with those positions and then I have another amendment associated with just
other general reorganizations of staffing and positions as well that I think are more so for discussion
than necessarily sort of targeting any particular position, but just thinking very clearly about what
are the outcomes that we're trying to achieve with these roles.
All of the things that I'm going to be suggesting is about seven million dollars and cuts across across
the budget About four or three million of that from the general fund So I'm happy to actually introduce
the amendments at some point We'll send them around in writing after this meeting hopefully in a denda
But yeah, I think there's I think there's a lot of things that we can that we can reduce in this budget. Thank you
Thank you. Does anyone have comments on council member Asari's or questions just because we're here
in this space and we can all talk together. I think it is good to ask questions if we have them. Council
member Piedmont Smith. I really am interested in hearing more about the rationale for these cuts. I
think council member Asari you know only had five minutes so he was kind of rushing through
So I'd appreciate you know having more information whether that's in our packet for the next meeting
or We have a work session or something, but that was a lot to absorb and I think it's It's a new approach.
It's kind of stepping back if I'm interpreting this correctly Stepping back for making funding commitments
until we've had more conversations
Which is fine, but I want to be understand how those conversations are going to happen Who's going to
do the work who's going to be at the table and that kind of stuff? Do I is this my five minutes should
I give my own so the rules for committee of the whole typically are you have five minutes per council
member after Public comment and we can keep that or we could not keep that. I mean, I'm fine I have
like one or two minutes of my own. Okay stuff. Okay, so
And some of it was already I already indicated in my questions. I think the transportation demand management
position Should be cut Frankly, I would encourage the administration and this may result from some of
the the conversations that we can have in the coming months to repurpose the money for that position
to Add a position instead
more directly tied to the goals in our climate action plan especially focusing on food security and
trying to get more consumers and purchasers of food to use local and regional sourcing. I think that
you know Councilmember Rallo has brought that up and we had an extensive memo from a member of the public
about it. I think that and just seeing I'm on the
the city's internal climate action team and just seeing how many points in the climate action plan we
just can't get to because we don't have enough bandwidth for it. I know the climate action plan is being
reviewed and that that will help us to really focus on the biggest bang for the buck. But I think we'll
definitely need another staff member in that arena. And it is an existentially important arena.
to have staff again. So I would encourage I can't you know I can't say change this position to this
position. We don't have the power to do that. So I would cut the position now but encourage the SD and
the major administration to bring forward a new position instead with the tax rates that we're approving
that would that money would be there. The director of public engagement. I guess I'm not convinced that
I am I agree with the the goals of that position But I'm not convinced that it couldn't be done with
existing staff or at least not it Aside from the individuals who are in those staff positions, I think
the number of staff in the mayor's office could take that on and the Ten thousand dollars for implementing branding
You all know from my comments when the branding the civic brand folks gave their presentation I just
think it's a big waste of time and I don't want to send good money after bad And so I want to cut that.
Thank you. Thank you Comments on that or other comments councilmember Stossberg. Well, I just have a
comment in response to councilmember. Sorry I'm
At the outset, I'm not a big fan of reducing the cola from 2.7 to 2. I think that we're in really tough
times for our residents as well. And our staff are also our residents. And I don't want to shortchange
them. They work really hard.
I similarly would want a lot more information about the two part guides instead of three. Just wondering
if that might backfire if you're having to have two big things instead of three small things and whether
that would actually really meaningfully change the bottom line. And I think that was all things. Well
I wanted to weigh in and just
I agree with my colleague Councilmember Piedmont Smith. She articulated it. Well, that is that it seems
as though there may be two potential positions The director of public engagement and the TDM manager
that could be Repurposed and we're both interested in food systems coordinator potential of that
both for food security for the community, but it's also related to climate. Um, and it's referred to
in our sustainability plan and our climate action plan or comprehensive plan point toward expanding,
uh, food security, uh, local producer support, um, food equity, um, and, um, generally food resilience
planning, which we think is,
ever more important we we met with director Cooper Smith yesterday and she was very helpful in Discussing
this and kind of fleshing it out. I'm not saying that she is necessarily taking a position here Just
saying that she was very helpful in our discussion, but I think Councilmember Piedmont Smith and I are
of one mind and we would like to propose that to the council's if if you would like to join us in that
request And Regarding Council President Osiris proposal, I would like to Consider that and in in detail
It's it's pretty ambitious Proposition put it that way But I'm always open to discussion about it. Thanks
Thank you for everyone for being here. I appreciate so many department heads and the mayor and deputy
mayor spending their Wednesday night with us From what I've heard tonight from many of my colleagues
several substantial amendments will be brought forward and that being the case I don't think that it
would be responsible to vote. Yes tonight on the budget without addressing the issues discussed additionally
the money spent on out-of-town consultants this year has been a
bit ridiculous, so I'll be reviewing the budget lines for consultants and workshops to identify some
opportunities for the City Council to establish higher levels of transparency in the bidding process
for the city. To echo my colleague, President Asare's words earlier, this is not about us saying no.
Many of these cuts are intended to bring us to a point where we make decisions more publicly about how
our tax dollars are being spent.
and what the return is on that money. We need real public opportunity for engagement before decisions
have been made behind closed doors. And finally, just a quick comment on the raises. I would have been
more enthusiastic about supporting a more equitable pay increase policy that didn't expand the wealth
gap. Cost of living increases as a percentage only serves so that the folks making the most make even
more proportionally than the folks making the least.
I look forward to working with my colleagues on amendments and the administration on how that would
best serve our community. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else. Yes. Yes. I just wanted to say that overall
I find aspects of the budget highly supportive but of it and but I will be passing but I didn't want
to extend my special thanks to Comptroller McCann for his work.
I think he's tireless in sorting this out and his presentations to the fiscal committee have been outstanding
and I appreciate Deputy Mayor Gretchen Knapp for her attention to the fiscal committee as well during
the process of understanding exactly the implications of the state Taxation changes and I I have I have
very high confidence of
Director controller McKim's ability to navigate these matters in challenging times. Thanks. Thank you.
I think too I just wanted to say because we're kind of up here talking about postponing appropriation
I think I do want to clear up to just for the public that it's not something we tend to talk about in
the budget cycle that we might
hold back funding and then appropriate it later. But that is definitely an option for city council to
do. And I think it is it is good in the areas where my colleagues have mentioned it tonight that it
makes sense to wait for projects to be more fully developed before we appropriate that money. And so
cutting I guess the phrase is cutting the budget but it's also
could be seen as holding money until there's a more specific plan for its use. So I just wanted to put
that out there too. Anybody else have anything on this one anything one. OK. Yes. Council member Stossberg.
Also comment on council members who looks mention about equitable wage increases that don't increase
the wage gap and that is something I've talked about for a couple of years and I was actually looking
at that this afternoon to see if I could figure out a way to To do that specifically with the elected
official salaries because that's something the Fiscal Committee is talking about and I'm just I guess
I just want to Express support at that concept of trying to figure out a way to do that so that it is
more equitable especially for our lowest
wage workers in terms of the grades. Thanks. Thank you. And council member sorry I was just going to
echo that as well. And if you if you remember during the last budget hearing I had asked a similar question
about like is there a way that we can just appropriate some you know some
amount of money that you sort of say and then and then let department heads distribute that you know
and with sort of the guidance of we want this to go to you know the lowest thing so I would be very
interested in having a conversation about you know how do you distribute increases you know to folks
making the least in the city that would be I think a really cool approach. Thank you. Anyone else.
Okay I think Councilmember Piedmont Smith mentioned maybe a work session could be a good idea and I
think that is a great idea and I mean we don't have to plan it tonight or we could plan it tonight because
we're not going to be together. So we can talk about that later at the end. But I do think that might
be nice. Otherwise we're in our one on one meetings or two on one with the department head
or the administration as we work out these amendments.
Okay. Okay. Great. Okay. So let's let's I think we can consider a do pass recommendation on this ordinance
appropriation ordinance 2602. Good. Well the clerk clerk please call the roll. Okay. Do pass if we.
Yes. So you vote yes if you want to recommend appropriation ordinance 2602 to our next session.
That's correct. It's just there's nothing. Nothing is in stone. It's just more like in water. OK. Where's
that. You ready. Yes. OK. Piedmont Smith. No. Zulek. No. Rosenberger. No. Rollo. Pass. I think it's
abstain. Ruff. Abstain. Asari. No.
And Stasberg no OK that so the recommendation is 0 5 2 math is hard and so that will be discussed of
course more on October 7th at our special session and then most likely before that in a work session.
Thank you. Up next we have ordinance 26 25 an ordinance fixing the salaries of officers of the police
and fire departments for the city of Bloomington Indiana for the year 20 27. It looks like director
paycheck is here to present or you're all set.
Everyone sharp paycheck human resources director. I am here to present the 2027 public safety salary
ordinance as Council will recall the police and fire contracts have been voted on by the unions and
Council previously approved related resolutions most of the changes reflected in the salary ordinance
have been presented and considered either through those agreements or as a part of the 2027 budget process
The salary ordinance that you have does reflect 2027 changes that includes some title updates and some
language updates This staff memo also provides some
estimated fiscal impacts Those estimates are associated with personnel cost again They've already been
reflected in the budget process and some other conversations through department presentations but with
that I can take any questions that you have and If any additional information is needed, then I am happy
to follow up with counsel Thank you very much any questions Council members on spur
Thank you, I just have a couple of little questions. One is, it says in the non-contract changes, I
think for both fire and police, that the sworn administrative employees, their cost of living tends
to track with the collective bargaining agreement as opposed to the rest of the civil city. And I'm
just wondering why. Did you say why? Yeah, like I just wanna know why that tends to track with the CBA
as opposed to tracking with the rest of civil city.
So one of the primary reasons is for compression, for example. So if the contractual positions receive
increases, some of those non-contractual ones, for example, may be manager subordinate type of structure.
And so just making sure that there is no compression between like a management position and a subordinate
position, that's why they tend to track
in that way historically Okay, so it's kind of about the rank because the non-contractual are in there
with everybody else correct. Okay. Thank you I have another one too. If that's okay. I Think I have
another one. Anyway, let's make sure it's in this Yet as there's a footnote of
the individual in this position will earn 102, 330 in 2027. I don't see where that footnote tracks back
in the ordinance. Like I was looking for it and I was like, I don't know where that footnote is. So
where is it? A footnote? Yes. In our packet, it's on page 144 of our packet. Okay.
That is a good question. It is very specific So I may have to go back and look to find exactly What
it is you're referring to and then I can follow up with you. Okay? That's not Smith said that she saw
it for sure So maybe between the two of us I can okay I can find where it is Okay, and then the other
thing was under training For Oh
I think it's under police training. It says training for every 20 hours per year in training equals
$100. And I wasn't sure what that meant. And I don't know if that is like exact language copied over
from the collective bargaining agreement, but it seems sort of confusing to me. And so I don't know
if that's a little more specific than you can respond to right now too, but I guess it just,
That just like so if you do 20 hours of training then you get like a flat one hundred dollars you get
one hundred dollars added somewhere you get like yeah that is very specific. I would like the opportunity
to go back and look at it more closely and then maybe follow up with the department as needed and follow
up with you.
Okay. Yeah. Cause if that is the language that's like exactly in the CBA, then we probably have to leave
it that way. But if it's not, I feel like it would benefit because it is like in the ordinance itself
to have that kind of clarity in the same way that like, um, uh, like the actually, similarly, I think
this is also in there. Um, sworn officers receive a clothing allotment of $500. I think that's per year.
And it said somewhere else that there was some clarity of a per year added. And so that's another place.
I just feel like a little bit more clarity would be helpful. Sure. I will get that clarity so I can
respond and be more accurate. OK. Thank you. You're welcome. Yes. Thank you Dr. paycheck. The I have
an equally picky
question. So in the section for the job grades I it's it's on page 148 of the packet. Well let me back
up a minute. So it says at the beginning of the ordinance that if there's more than one person in a
particular position the number of people or the number of positions will be in parentheses after the
name of the position.
Okay. Right. And that's true throughout the ordinance like telecommunicators as we have 32. Yes. But
it's not given for the officer first class or officer second class. So I wonder if we could just add
that like how many positions are there. Right. I can go back and look at the details. It may be listed
elsewhere detailed elsewhere. But if your question is about the formatting and how you feel like that
would be easier to be able to read and interpret then yes I can take that recommendation back.
for that edit. OK. Thank you. Any questions from the side. They're they're winning more over here. OK.
Let's go to public comment. Anyone here online. Should I say my. I don't have to.
Okay, no public comment look Back here follow-up questions after those public comments anybody Councilmember
Stossberg director paycheck, would you prefer that I email you those follow-up questions so that you
have them in print? Yes, that'd be great. Thanks Okay, if no other questions, let us consider a do-pass
recommendation for
I did. I did. Nobody was there. Nobody. Nobody answered. I called them. Okay. Let's let's consider a
do pass recommendation for ordinance twenty six twenty five. Well the clerk please call the roll. Yes
Rosenberger. Yes. Rollo. Yes. Ruff. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Stasberg. Yes.
Piedmont Smith. Yes. Great. That is seven in favor. Moving right along the ordinance 26 26. This is
an ordinance to fix the salaries of appointed officers non union and AFSCME employees for all the departments
of the city of Bloomington Monroe County Indiana for the year 20 27. We have again director paycheck. Yes.
Sharp paycheck again human resources director and similar to the public safety salary ordinance Most
of the changes in this ordinance have already been considered through the AFSCME agreement that Contractual
agreement and the 2027 budget process this ordinance reflects those changes including a 3% cola for
AFSCME and 2.7 percent for non-union cola non-union employees
Again 2.7 COLA the salary ordinance also reflects an updated living wage and some administrative updates
along with some estimated fiscal impacts. And with that I am happy to answer any questions or follow
up with you as needed. Any detailed questions from my right. None today. OK.
Okay let us go to the public. Anyone here. Anyone online. Okay so let us consider a do pass recommendation
for ordinance twenty six twenty six. Clerk what do you please call the roll. Yes. Rallo yes. Ruff yes.
Sorry yes.
Stasberg yes Piedmont Smith no And Zulek yes Thank you with a vote on the do pass recommendation is
six in favor one against Can I oh I'm sorry did I did I miss the opportunity to for comment before we
voted Okay, I'm sorry things are moving very fast tonight Can I explain my vote yes so
There there's at least one position in here that I want to cut so that's why I voted no Just okay Thank
you Now we have ordinance 26 28 an ordinance to fix the salaries of appointed deputies and employees
of the Bloomington City Clerk for the city of Bloomington Monroe County, Indiana for the year 2027 asked
to attend clerk Nicole Bolden and
Thank you. You're welcome. Good evening. I agree with councilmember Piedmont Smith. He suddenly sped
up quite a bit. It wasn't there aren't comments or that many questions. I'm just I have the same cadence.
No I didn't mean you in particular. Councilmember Rosenberger I just meant as a whole. So so twenty
twenty seven salary ordinance for the clerk's office. There are not a lot of
Changes overall there were two from when I presented I did try and give you all a fair warning that
I had not accounted for the longevity increases for a couple of staff members. So you'll see a change
particularly with the deputy clerk of communications and outreach position and one of the deputy clerk
positions which also had an increase in addition to the cola increase. But other than that there are
no position changes or
title changes or anything else. So I'm here to answer questions about salaries and anything. We'll go
from there. Thank you so much. Questions from the left. Anything. Councilmember Piedmont Smith. Yes.
Could you tell us the job grades of these positions please. They're not graded or rather.
I have them aligned with the city grades but I did not grade them rather intentionally because the grading
is something the administration does for their positions. So I chose not to do so. So I guess I would
then ask what the rationale is for these salaries and the increases from last year. They are aligned
with the city's grades so you could look at them and assume similar grading for
For the chief deputy clerk I think is in alignment with job grade 8 as is the communications and outreach
position and I think the chief the deputy clerk positions are in alignment with job grade 6 and I'm
definitely pulling that off the top of my head but you can look at them and see in terms of longevity
and everything else so that's where the rationale comes for the jobs as they were written over the last
few years they do need to be rewritten and
and re-evaluated for their salaries but I chose not to do that this year because at the start of the
year we had some additional duties that we were taking care of and time definitely got away from all
of us. Thank you. Other questions. Let's move to public comment. Anyone in chambers like to speak anyone online.
So we are I'd just like to say out loud we're closing public comment at this time and now we are moving
to final comments 26 28 councilmember Asari Say something that will not surprise any of you because
it's a position I've held. I don't know. I feel like forever. I don't know councilmember Pumas correctly,
but Again like I think we have a necessity
opportunity responsibility even to really think about the role of and the structure of the clerk's office.
Vis-a-vis the needs of the administrative needs of the council office as well and thinking very clearly
about what that might mean for compensation what that means for structure what that means for the open
rules that we have in our office.
And I say it again in hopes that eventually we will all warm to this idea. I know that Councilmember
Piemont-Smith and I have been saying it a lot. But again, I do think that this is another chance to
have that conversation. And so I am generally supportive of the sort of small increases. But I mean,
again, I just feel like we're missing a chance to do this. And it's going to be another year before
we're able to structurally have that conversation. And so I just love
while the books are open, I feel like we should read them. Yes, go. I second a lot of those feelings.
But I also just wanted to say that the clerk's office really helped out the council office this year
when we lost our legal team. And so I just want to publicly say thank you for that. And we all recognize
that that was a very large extra burden to take on.
and we appreciate it. Other comments? Clerk Bolden. It's unusual, but I do want to clarify, this is
not the first time in the last several years that the clerk's office has been stepping in to assist
with the council office in terms of additional work that needed to be done or training your incoming staff.
So if I may take this opportunity to say thank you to the clerk staff specifically, Susan Stoll, Sophia
McDowell, Jennifer Crossley, and Colleen Williamson for their work over the last few years in doing
things that when I hired them, I didn't expect them to have to do. And they've done so with grace and
cheerfulness and a twisted sense of humor that I enjoy on a regular basis. So thank you for allowing
me to say that.
You're welcome. It is committee of the whole so we can make our own rules a little bit just a little
bit. OK. So that was our final comment. I would like to say to on council member sorry his comment.
When is the time to have this discussion. Is it our upcoming work session for that. If you if there's
two people. OK. I think if we're considering amendments and
The like we could look at that or if it's more of a council processes question I'm happy to support
or hear you know I'm interested in changing some things around a bit too. I would say OK. Other we are
done with those comments. OK. Let us vote on a recommend a do pass recommendation on 26 28 will the clerk
Please call the roll. Yes. I hope so. Okay. Councilmember Rallo. Yes. Ruff. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Stasberg.
Yes. Piedmont Smith. Yes. Zulek. Yes. And Rosenberger. Yes. The vote on the do pass recommendation is
seven in favor.
Can we would anyone like to make a general comment. Council member sorry said yes. Yes I'll just say
just maybe just one summarizing thought. Well maybe a logistical thought and then a summarizing thought.
First the logistical thing. I really like the proposal that we have a working session further one among
council members You know I Think a well a potential critique that somebody could make of a
Of our approach and you know across the board saying that we want to cut down things in the budget May
lack some context. It might be useful to give namely that and and and and let me also say that us making
any proposal for cutting anything in the budget is first off the only thing that we are able to do to
the budget we cannot raise the budget and
but we can make cuts to the budget. I don't think in any way that that is a reflection on some, I think
it could be framed as though this was animosity or that it was some type of targeted, you could think
of a lot of different ways of characterizing it that would make it seem as though we're trying to pick
fights or something like that. But to me, fundamentally,
This is a question about surfacing choices. And you all know that my number one priority sort
of legislatively because when I got to office was influencing and indeed changing the way that we think
about our budget and the way that we do our budget. And I've been very clear and open about my sort
of, I think,
Disappointment displeasure at whatever word is best suitable for this moment about our lack of progress
in that direction And I think we've pointed in all types of directions about well It's because council
doesn't come up with good enough outcomes or because we don't have good technology or because we haven't
had enough time or and and and to me There's just a simple part of all of this that we're that we've
missed in the last three years which is that our budget is
is a values document, and I really appreciate what Mr. Keough said. There's also story there. There's
choices that we're making, and we recognize that it's like we can't do all things, but I think too often
the answer to no matter what it is that we propose, no matter what policy we put in, no matter what
ideas we bring forth, the answer and refrain has continually been
We cannot afford it. We cannot afford to make investments. We can't afford to try to do the new things.
We can't afford to be the city that we were elected to try to move towards because we're too busy affording
to be the city that we are or something like that. And I think that we need to start having conversations
about these choices. They're not the path dependency of we fund things because that's
just keeping things going as they are, I think it's something that has to be challenged, right? And
so even all of the amendments that I'm going to be putting forth, I think they too should be challenged,
but in hopes of surfacing the tension and choices that we're making. And then the last thing that I'll
say in this is that when we started off in this process of outcome-based budgeting,
We said and I wrote this down and said it publicly various times and said it in the speech representing
outcome based budgeting and then in our many meetings that I don't think it's appropriate for council
necessarily to be setting, you know, specific outcomes. Like it's not for us to say we want to see five
more yards of road paved or something like that.
But we decided as a body that what we would do is set outcome areas. And this wasn't something we made
up. This is what the literature says. This is what other cities who have done this say and do. But in
the lack of being presented with evidence about what we're being asked to spend on, the best that we
can do is make our own assumptions.
And I also think that that shows one of the reasons why we as a body, nine zero, said that this is the
way that we want to do budgeting, this is the direction that we want to go in. And so I just,
in all of this, I'm just reiterating the fact that it's like, look, if we're not gonna make progress
toward that, then we need to, things need to be shaken up in some way, shape, or form so that we can
start having a better institutional grammar or a better way of speaking, if you will, about this motion
important thing because everything that happens or does not happen in our city flows from the decision
that we make about our budget and so I think we can make some minor changes again in hopes that that
sort of dislodges some of our thinking around some sort of larger structural thing so I hope that's
somewhat setting the tone of where I'm coming from with all of this
Anyone else. Okay. I what I was going to say I'm going to go really quickly. I love what you're saying
and I do like putting context toward it which none of us really did tonight and that is okay that I
think this council has tried a lot over the last two and a half almost three years to also be involved
and engage and
work on pushing projects and programs and funding that align with our comp plan and all of our goals.
And I guess for me, I don't see that happening often. And so I really like the idea of saying, OK, we
asked if we could collaborate. That's not happening. And now we are, I guess, again, trying to force
collaboration. I think we've tried to force collaboration by saying,
Ordinances need a council sponsor. I don't know how that's going. We haven't really checked in on it,
right? But I think the idea of holding back some funds until a better plan is created makes a lot of
sense. And then if outcome-based budgeting is not what the administration is focused on at a high level,
there is some degree that we can work on it
our level in terms of appropriation. I think even though I agree that we're not the best to lead that
charge, all we can do is input our priorities and hope that they are taken up, which we did, and I think
this year seven of the 11 are in the budget. So I think cutting anything is almost more of a collaboration
And I will say it's not that our only thing is to cut at this point. Our only thing is to cut. But we've
had a year of working as a council to create priorities and I would say working with the administration
on tweaking some aspects of the budget. And then now we have arrived at a time where we cannot no longer
add anything like we could months ago. But now we can only cut. So I think as a council we are working on
I don't want to say collaborating again, but getting more ahead of our priorities and sending them to
the administration with ample time to consider them for the budget. And so I think that's always a work
in progress. And as a council, I think we're getting better at that. Council member Stossberg and Piedmont.
Thank you. I guess to the chair, I appreciate having kind of a last wrap up comment. That's nice. I also.
I just wanted to say a little bit more about where my majority kind of coming from with the three things
that I listed, which maybe I mentioned a little bit when I said them, but maybe I wasn't as clear as
I could have been or as direct as I could have been. I think that my prime motivation comes from government
transparency, which we did cite as something that was really important to us. And I think when it comes
to especially, you know what I mean? Our budget is massive, right? There is a lot of money that's going
through, but a lot of it
Like you could break it down and say well, they're pretty small pieces in a lot of ways I mean like
salaries. This is be huge thing. But when you think about the individual Positions, they're smaller,
right? But when we think about three million dollars in the Housing Development Fund, which may go to
two or three projects That's a lot of money going to each project and I think that that kind of thing
deserves more
certainty of transparent process and due diligence. And, you know, I really appreciate that, you know, we
a lot some of that money in large amounts to say, planning and transportation. And the planning and
transportation department, I think, has done a pretty good job doing those charrettes, having a lot
of public process and engagement around those different plans and design elements. And now there's the
transportation commission that they have to run things through. And so I think that in those ways, those
particular expenses right now have a level of government transparency that
That $3 million in the Housing Development Fund doesn't.
And then similarly the parking meter fund like doesn't have the guaranteed transparency and I think
our staff do a good job and I'm not accusing our staff of trying to like do things behind closed doors
But sometimes it really feels that way I think to the community. There's so many things that happen
in this community It is 100% Impossible to keep track of it all and so the more we can guarantee certain
things happening in certain places I think the better and so in the way that we've like
Guaranteed transportation projects have to go through the Transportation Commission we can guarantee,
you know a couple big expenses planned for next year Have to go through council in terms of that additional
allocation and appropriation of money I think that that is just a service that that we're giving to
our community You know regardless of how many people actually tune in in person at the time because
these meetings are easily found
On cats and they're they're kept and the minutes are kept very well. And so there's that documentation
At a certain level which it does not always happen in all of the other places And so for me that's where
I'm coming from right now in terms of what I'm thinking about is that transparency of process and making
sure that our community knows what to expect especially in some of these areas where there's been a
lot of discussion and a lot of concern affordable housing the
license plate reader technology and that kind of stuff like those are huge areas of concern and I think
that our community deserves as much transparency as we can give them. Thanks. Yeah just to respond a
little bit about the outcome based budgeting. I think we haven't gotten further partially because of
What we have failed to do, it's not just because of what the administration has failed to do. I mean,
the memo we sent to the administration with our priorities was not outcome based. I mean, we had maintenance
and enhancement of city assets. What is the actual outcome? Do we want, you know, it's so vague. And
then there were things on here that,
didn't really have budget implications at all, like, or very tenuous, create vibrant third
places, neighborhood hubs. Yeah, sure, that'd be great, but how does the city actually do that? What
are the actual expenditures that we wanna see in order to have that outcome? I think it was very vague,
I think there are some,
council members who prefer to keep things vague because it's easier. Or maybe they just don't understand
that this is not an outcome. Strengthen food security networks. What does that actually mean? What do
we actually want the city of Bloomington to do? Some of these things are outside of the city. There
was air quality is maintained at a high level. Air isn't just within city limits.
I mean, how can the city government actually enact these things? So I think there was a little bit of
pie in the sky here with the list that we created. And it was so vague. It was vague. And so there was
never the actual work done to sit down with the people who actually crunch the numbers and do the public
service and drive the sanitation trucks and whatever.
to actually hammer out measurable outcomes, not to mention the whole point that they can't be measured
given our current fiscal system, which I don't think is a made-up excuse. I think that's an actual thing.
So, I mean, I think we need to take some responsibility here ourselves and not just say, hey, you didn't
do outcome-based budgeting, and so now
we're going to do something completely different. I mean, I'm not averse to doing something different.
I mean, I think there are other good reasons to pursue some of the big changes that Council Member Sari
mentioned. But I really caution all of us against blaming that outcome-based budgeting is not a reality
yet, because it's a hell of a lot of work. And some of it we should have been doing. Some of
the administration should have been doing.
Most of it we should have been doing together but it takes two to tango. So it's sometimes I think we
have these lofty ideals and we don't actually have time or energy to put in the work required. And I
think some of that happened with outcome based budgeting. Sorry. So anybody other comments sparked from that.
I just want to very quickly thank Comptroller McKim. That's all. Thank you. Thanks. And that is the
end of no no sir I we have moved on. Go ahead. I just wanted to say that this is part of budgeting and
that is we've heard of a lot of capital projects that are probably going to be needed in the coming year.
and that has me concerned. I can't help but note that it's a reflection of the fact that costs are generally
pushed to the future in terms of development costs and that's why I'm not the only one, but why I'm
judicious about this idea that growth can only be good because it comes with a cost and eventually it
has to be paid
in the form of a new service center, for instance, for utilities. So I'm just putting that out there
to say I'm very trepidatious about the extent of debt just in our society. Total credit market debt
is something like $120 trillion. I don't see that as sustainable, and I want to limit the exposure of
Bloomington to eventuality of the day of reckoning.
Whenever it comes but in any case Being judicious about what sort of capital projects that take on through
accumulating more debt. I think Is going to be part of my focus and whether that direction is the appropriate
direction I mean I hear from a former utility service board member that the new service center really
isn't needed in to the scale that it it's proposed and
There are already some some costs with that. Unfortunately, it's been approved by Utility Service Board,
but we're still proceeding with a yearly water quality crisis. Maybe it's not a crisis, but at least
a water quality problem. And is this new service center attending to that problem or is it something
that we need capital investment for things like
Settling ponds or something like that to improve water quality so that people aren't affected every
summer because we're drawing out of a eutrophied lake and Maybe we need may seems to me that there must
be some sort of technological answer to this I haven't I haven't seen a presentation about that nor
have I seen a presentation about the needs of the new service center So I'm going to be asking a lot
of tough questions and not necessarily approving of those bonds
I'll have to rank them in terms of priority. So just to say heads up that's where I'm going to be landing
this coming year. Thanks. Thank you for the heads up. Now we can talk about a work session and we don't
have a session next week. Let's talk look at the clerk see what kind of availability the clerk's office
has for a work session.
Give me a second. I'm going to pull up my calendar and check. OK, yes. Everyone up here. I would have
to double check with staff to see if somebody is available next Wednesday night.
Also is the next Wednesday the board training board commissioner training in here. Is that or do you
look at that calendar too. I guess I can look. Go ahead. I would love a work session to be in a different
room. Yeah like Allison or McCloskey or let's do something else. Like you know OK so we have figured
out we would like to do McCloskey one week.
from today is the 30th pending clerk availability. Can we go with that. I think we can. Yes I think
we can do the 30th for staff and then you wanted to know about McCloskey and it is available. OK let's
do that. And do we just keep our 6 30 6 30 to midnight. Council members can invite.
Well yes it's the Wednesday we don't have a meeting so 630 not know the midnight is a joke. It's just
that we only have a start time. We just have a start time. OK. And anyone you can invite staff or maybe
do work if you there are cuts or negotiations you want to do in between then. Good good good good. OK
we're adjourned. Yes.