June 27, 2009

What has the city council been up to? 

 

June 3, 2009: Regular Session

Legislation for Second Reading and Resolutions

Ordinance 09-09: Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program for W. 7^th St. in the Near Westside Neighborhood. We discussed and approved the traffic calming proposal for W 7^th St.

Ordinance 09-10: Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program for the Diamond Gardens/J.N. Alexander Neighborhood. This proposal for traffic calming was more controversial because the speeds and volume of traffic were not has high as on W. 7^th St., and the neighborhood was divided for and against the proposal. The proposal included construction of curb bump-outs aligning, in some cases, with overgrown vegetation. All other overgrowth (not in the bump-out areas) would have to be cut. Some neighbors felt like all the vegetation should be cut back to the private property lines, and that the city should have been enforcing this all along. Others argued that the vegetation that reached into the streets acted as natural traffic calming. The proposal, which was a compromise of sorts, passed.

June 17, 2009: Regular Session

Legislation for Second Reading and Resolutions

Resolution 09-13: To approve the Jack Hopkins Social Service Fund grants for 2009. The following recommendations were made by the Jack Hopkins Social Service fund committee. They were approved by the Council unanimously. Total granted from the Jack Hopkins fund = $180,000

Resolution 09-10: To approve an interlocal agreement between the city of Bloomington and Monroe County, Indiana to administer a federal Recovery Act: Justice Assistance Grant (JAG). The JAG is part of the American Recovery and

Reinvestment Act of 2009. The city will serve as administrator of the grant, which amounts to $209,038. $172,000 will go to the Bloomington Police Department, which plans to use the funds to upgrade the mobile data terminal system used on police vehicles and to purchase vehicle tracking software. The remainder of the funds will go to Monroe County, which will use them to buy two new Ford Fusion vehicles equipped with standard Sheriff’s office equipment. The interlocal agreement was approve unanimously.

Report on Tax Abatements: Economic Development Director Danise Alano gave her annual report on the status of the tax abatements granted by the city. Each year, property owners who have a tax abatement must file form CF-1 to indicate how much progress they have made toward attaining the benefits that they promised when they applied for the tax abatement. For example, the reports indicate how much money was invested in physical infrastructure and real estate improvements, how many new jobs they created, and what the total new salaries of those jobs are.

The tax abatements decrease the owner’s tax liability on new investment into the property. So if the property initially has a value of $500,000, and new investment brings that value up to $750,000, then the owner still pays full property taxes on the $500,000. The abatement affects only the $250,000 additional assessed value. Usually tax abatements are on a sliding scale, with the greatest percentage of taxes abated in the early years, decreasing amount abated each year for the period of the abatement.

Tax abatements are granted by the city to encourage historic preservation, affordable housing, brownfield redevelopment, housing in the downtown, and development that will increase employment. The Council voted 7-0 to accept the tax abatement report.

Legislation for First Reading

Appropriation Ordinance 09-04: To appropriate from the General Fund and Risk Management Fund additional money to cover worker’s compensation claims

Appropriation Ordinance 09-05: To appropriate from the Telecom Non-Reverting Fund expenditures for a new “enterprise planning system” for the city.

June 24, 2009: Committee of the Whole

The two appropriation ordinances above were discussed.

App. Ord. 09-04: The additional money for workers compensation is needed mainly because claims from 2008 (which was an unusually high claims year) still had to be paid in 2009, thus draining the 2009 budget. Employee Services director Daniel Grundmann said that 2009 looks like it’s not such a bad year as 2008, and that workers comp should be covered with an additional $250,000.

App. Ord 09-05: The city staff has decided that they need a new electronic record-keeping and reporting system for financial information, payroll, human resources, grant management, and utilities billing. Information Technology Director Rick Dietz, Employee Services Director Dan Grundmann, and Controller Mike Trexler all spoke in favor of the new system. They are requesting $500,000 from the Telecom Non-Reverting Fund, which is funded by cable franchise fees and currently has a balance of about $1.2 million.