McLean County Times

The Bloomington City Council met on April 10 where they voted to pass the Fiscal year 2024 budget which starts on May 1.

Finance Director Scott Rathbun gave an overview of the final budget, which amounts to $290 million. This is a $21 million increase from last year. Of this amount, $129 million is in the general fund. City Manager Tim Gleason praised the work done on the budget, as well.

“It's exciting because this is a budget that I believe captures the vision of the council, captures the desires of the community,” City Manager Gleason said to the council. “You know, we're in a period of more and we're very fortunate that as a municipal organization, we can deliver that to the community. Something else that I'd like to share is the scrutiny that we talk about being stewards of taxpayer dollars. There's no greater scrutiny than what we place on ourselves as city staff. It's something that we take this very seriously and we hear this very clearly from the elected officials that we work for. And truly an exciting evening just thinking about all that, we're going to be able to provide this community.”

The city is also planning for almost $70 million in capital improvement projects during the fiscal year, Rathbun explained in the meeting. This includes nearly $37 million to go toward streets and sidewalk projects. He also said the city is proud to report their pension funding is at 100% of the expected contributions, and have maintained the growing infrastructure in their water supply lines, increased first responder calls and also parks and library visitors.

Several aspects of the budgets were clarified by the council during the meeting. This included $10 million from city funds and $26 million from the state motor fuel tax for road and sidewalk funding. The council also approved an annual contribution to the McLean County Museum amounting to $45,000.

Deputy City Manager Billy Tyus spoke with the council about how proud he was of the city for working through the COVID-19 pandemic. He said they put together a strong budget that they had been able to create for their residents that provided the necessities like water and sewer improvements. He also commented on the growth of the community that is inviting new people to the city, while also improving the quality of life of the residents already there.