District 3 representative Marty Spechler opposed the movement and criticized the budget’s failure to hire more public safety workers, build a firehouse in southern Bloomington, and its apparent overlooking of new federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations he said could lead to unexpected overtime for city employees.
“With the increase of population in Bloomington,” as well as an increase in bus stations and food trucks, Spechler said, “we should have had at least two new sworn police officers ... to accommodate for new populations and new problems.”
Spechler also criticized the lack of a firehouse in southern Bloomington.
“Some of our citizens are being charged more for insurance than they could be,” Spechler said. “This need has been passed over at the expense of our citizens. Thank God there’s been no loss of life.”
District 6 representative Stephen Volan said overall, Bloomington insurance rates are not high and public safety is good.
“It’s easy to throw around (phrases) like ‘loss of life,” Volan said. “By that logic, we should build a firehouse on every block.”
Council President David Rollo of District 4 said that in his 12 years on common council, funding for public safety with training facilities, personnel and equipment has been a priority.
He said though commercial funds that could go toward another firehouse haven’t yet materialized, they likely will grow in 2016.
“I anticipate that we will achieve another station in the near future,” Rollo said.
Spechler also cautioned against the new OSHA regulations for sanitation that might or might not become law, but could lead to overtime, which he called “the typical way in which a city’s budget goes over.”
“I’ve discussed with the likely new mayor the necessity of doing these things,” Spechler said. He added that he hoped for action from the new administration.
At the Sept. 30 common council meeting, Volan mentioned a $377,500 interdepartmental transfer from the parking fund. The transfer was approved in 2013, before the parking meter fund had been established and become profitable. Underwood emphasized that if the funds had been insufficient, the transfer would not have gone through.
Volan expressed concern that parking meter funds could be moved out of the parking and transportation fund and used to work on projects in other Bloomington areas.
“If you are going to meter an area, the excess rendering must accrue to that area,” Volan said. “I don’t want to go to merchants in that area and tell them, ‘Your dollars are going to fund sidewalks in the downtown.’”
Volan said his concern for the destination of parking meter funds was not enough for him to vote against the budget, but should be determined soon.
“I just want to state that claim now, that any transfer out of these funds will be sensitive to residents in District 6,” Volan said.
Spechler said money from parking meter revenue should be used to repair and build parking lights and sidewalks wherever in Bloomington the need is most strongly felt.
“Yes, it’s the meters of District 6, but it’s the money of other districts,” Spechler said. “I don’t see how council member Volan can credit this claim that money collected in the district should be spent in the district alone.”
City Controller Jeff Underwood told the council that 2016’s overall budget exceeded $72 million, a 1.13 percent increase from 2015.
Since the August budget presentation, Underwood said new tax numbers from the state had added nearly $86,000 to the general budget. About $72,000 of that was budgeted toward unemployment benefits.
The budget, now approved, will be sent to the state offices, which will continue to slightly adjust numbers as revenue information comes in, Underwood said.
