The Bloomington City Council discussed priorities for the upcoming budget in Wednesday night’s work session. No votes were held due to the meeting being classified as a work session and four council members present, the others attending over Zoom.
In mid-to-late August, department heads will present their individual departmental budgets to the city council, followed by the council’s public hearing of the annual city budget in September and approval in mid-October. The 2024 budget totaled $248 million, which was a 1.4% increase from 2023.
Council President Isabel Piedmont-Smith asked members to come to the work session prepared with a list of their top five budget priorities which factor into an outcome they’d like to see in the community so the council can attempt to find points of agreement.
Of the priorities shared, the interests most agreed upon by council members included a salary review of elected city officials, infrastructure maintenance— specifically roads and sidewalks— affordable housing incentives and increasing the Jack Hopkins fund.
The Jack Hopkins funds grant money to programs which provide food, housing, healthcare and other necessary services to residents of low or moderate income, under 18 years of age, elderly, disabled or are at a disadvantage otherwise.
The 2024 budget reserved $350,000 for the Jack Hopkins fund. The Jack Hopkins Committee Chair and Council Member Isak Nti Asare said the fund should be increased and Representative Dave Rollo suggested the fund be tripled.
The council also discussed combining the Jack Hopkins fund application with the application for Community Development Block Grants to make the process simpler and to increase the applicants' likelihood of receiving money.
While desired outcomes were generally met with concession, ideas for where funds necessary for initiatives could be sourced were limited.
Representative Matt Flaherty suggested increasing local income tax, finding more information regarding remaining funds from the American Rescue Plan Act and Tax Increment Financing funds. Piedmont-Smith suggested ending the general fund subsidy to the sanitation program, increasing fees with scooter companies and taking funds from cash reserves.
Council members said they wanted to review the evening notes for further research and consideration before the body agrees on specific priorities. Council President Piedmont-Smith wants the council to come to a consensus of priorities to present to the mayor in a statement.
“I have been looking for some way that we as a body can wield our influence in a more concrete fashion,” Piedmont-Smith said. “There is a power in saying the majority of us want to see something.”
Asare suggested the council be open to different initiatives and to agree on desired outcomes rather than having non-negotiables for what's included in the budget.
“I somewhat misspoke earlier when I said increasing the Jack Hopkins fund was a make-or-break deal for me,” Asare said. “The outcome I want to see is how we can better work together with social services and meet the needs of the residents in our city. We have to be open to the fact that there are seven other ways to do that. We want to be involved in that conversation.”
The work session was in preparation for the council’s budget advance meeting June 11, which will be conducted with Mayor Thomson and her administration.
CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to accurately name a representative.
