Bloomington residents protest budget cuts at City Council session

A group of boys was clustered around the podium, their shirts inside out, tags sticking up. On the front of their garments, green and red paint read “I AM THE FUTURE. INVEST NOW.”

Their mother, Monroe County resident Jennifer Head, spoke at the Bloomington City Council’s special session Wednesday.

It served as a listening session to hear community concerns about severe budget cuts to social services that might soon take place.

Head and many others, such as Bloomington resident Cecelia Peacock, a single mother of two, spoke on behalf of the local Head Start program, which provides free childcare and education.

“For a lot of kids, this is their only chance,” Peacock said. “It is unique in that it offers more resources, like financial planning.”
 
Peacock said the Head Start program helped her get off food stamps.

Head Start, the Circles Initiative, the Energy Assistance Program, the Weatherization Assistance Program, Stepping Stones, the Boys and Girls Club, the Community Services Block Grant and Martha’s House are among the programs that might face the chopping block.

On Feb. 19, the House voted to cut $60 billion from the federal budget, including billions of cuts from social services.

Bloomington City Council President Susan Sandberg said this legislation, if not altered by the U.S. Senate or vetoed by the president, will amount to 60 to 66 percent cuts in local social -service programs — cuts that would take place as soon as early March.

Many speakers voiced concerns that the cuts will drastically affect local programs that already have small budgets.

“People voted for better government, not crueler government,” Mayor Mark Kruzan said.

Social services should be viewed as “economic developers,” Kruzan said.

Other speakers reiterated his stance by noting that there is a positive return for every dollar spent on unemployment benefits.

Hal Turner, district staff for Rep. Todd Young, R-Ind., attended the meeting on behalf of Young, who said in a recent press statement that “Washington must stop the binge spending and begin setting priorities.”

Todd Lare, executive director of the South Central Community Action Program, compared cutting the deficit by “gutting innovative programs on the backs of the most vulnerable citizens” to removing the engine from an airplane: The feeling of lightness is brief, with the plane plummeting soon after.

All of the speakers from the community said they felt the cuts were misplaced, and emotions ran high. The meeting, which started at 7:30 p.m., didn’t end until about 10:15 p.m. because of open discussion.

“I knew we would get some reductions, but I had no idea I’d be standing before you redoing the entire plan,” said Lisa Abbott, director of Bloomington’s Housing and Neighborhood Development.