Mayor Hamilton formally introduces 2022 Budget Ordinances
Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton will formally introduced the 2022 budget resolutions for City Council review last night. The 2022 City budget requests $107 million for the civil city and $179 million in overall expenditures. Beyond usual sources, the 2022 budget revenues include federal support of $1 million in Coronavirus Aid, Recovery, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds and $10 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, as well as $5 million in ARPA funds for Bloomington Transit. The proposed budget has been developed with extensive input beginning in April from all nine council members, as well as from local organizations, City department heads and staff, and members of the public, including data collected in the 2021 community survey. Since outlining the 2022 budget in late August, the administration has incorporated several adjustments relating to the Bloomington Police Department (BPD).
The August presentations outlined new funding for 16 positions in public safety, including 13 in the BPD. In order to respond to continued challenges in recruiting and retaining officers, and to maintain the BPD’s excellent record of protecting the community, to increase diversity, and to continue investing in innovative practices for public safety, the administration proposes the following additional changes:
- $400,000 of one-time federal ARPA funds for additional investment in BPD recruitment and retention, including increased compensation, benefits, talent recruitment services, or other programs identified as effective. (This increases the original proposal of $250,000 to $650,000)
- All sworn police officers from the rank of Sergeant and below will receive special retention pay of $5,000 paid over the next five calendar quarters beginning in the fourth quarter of 2021.
- Contract negotiations with the police union (Fraternal Order of Police) for the next contract including base pay and other conditions are scheduled to begin in October 2021 rather than early 2022 (to be effective January 2023) .
- Pay of the BPD’s top seven positions below Chief are to be increased, based on a past salary survey and recent internal analysis. This adjustment is being made effective January 1, 2021.
As previously announced, all BPD employees will receive either the 2022 cost of living allowance increase of 2.9% as determined by their union-negotiated contract, or of 2.75% as prescribed by salary ordinance for nonunion employees. Additionally, the 2022 budget funds five more sworn officer positions (for a department total of 105) and five new non-sworn positions in the BPD, as well as two new public safety positions in the Bloomington Fire Department focused on emergency health responses, and three more 911 dispatch positions. Hamilton also announced two new pilot programs to be included, based on feedback from council members since the August budget presentations. One program will pilot a downtown city employee parking cash-out program to reduce the use of single-occupancy vehicles for commuting. A second pilot program will expand public access to new restrooms in parking garages to a full 24/7 cycle, as recommended in the Safe and Civil City Task Force report of 2017.
AG Rokita objects to newly proposed EPA standards
Attorney General Todd Rokita today expressed his strong objection to new standards on greenhouse gas emissions proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which are based on a unique consideration of California priorities.
“These proposed new standards completely disregard the distinct conditions and economies of the individual states, and they neglect important national interests critical to America as a whole,” Attorney General Rokita said. “President Biden’s EPA bureaucrats openly admit that they developed the new rule with a special focus on California. On behalf of Hoosiers, I contend that California liberals should not set environmental policy for Indiana and the rest of the nation.”
Attorney General Rokita and 15 other attorneys general submitted a letter to the EPA registering their adamant concerns regarding the EPA’s notice of proposed rulemaking titled, “Revised 2023 and Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards.”
“California’s unconstitutional favoritism under the Clean Air Act, and attempted domination of federal policy, is not a valid basis for promulgating nationwide emissions standards,” states the Ohio-led letter. “Moreover, the proposed standards rest on an overly speculative cost-benefit analysis and entirely fail to consider how reliance on China for raw materials and manufacturing will harm our national security.”
By granting California special status, the letter states, the Clean Air Act itself “violates the doctrine of equal-sovereignty — a doctrine inherent in our Constitution and express in Supreme Court precedent — by allowing California to exercise sovereign authority that the Act takes from every other State.”
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage and Culture Poetry Out Loud Collection
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Poetry Out Loud has shared a collection of poems that celebrate Hispanic heritage and culture. The poems can be used in a classroom setting with the Poetry Out Loud program, or can be enjoyed by individuals. Read the poems here.
Arts Midwest Grow, Invest, Gather Fund (Deadline Approaching)
Arts Midwest’s Grow, Invest, Gather (GIG) Fund provides financial support to arts organizations for rebuilding and re-imagining creative engagement in their communities amidst the challenging uncertainty affecting all corners of the creative sector. Funds are intended for organizations to build their capacity by having multiple points of access to support presenting performing and visual artists of high artistic merit, virtually or in-person. The deadline to apply is October 5. Learn more and access the application here.