The Bloomington city council wrapped up 22 hours of preliminary discussions for the 2022 budget Thursday night with the city’s Planning and Transportation, Engineering and Public Works departments.
Within the Public Works are seven divisional budgets:
- Administration
- Animal Control
- Facility Maintenance
- Fleet Maintenance
- Parking Services
- Sanitation
- Streets
A majority of the council supported each budget, except for parking services. In total, parking services is asking for a 13 percent decrease from it 2021 budget, dropping the total to $4.7 million.
However, some councilmembers raised concerns about the lack of parking statistics the city administration made available.
“I remain disappointed, and frankly baffled, that the financial information on parking revenues and subsidies is not something the administration tracks without even being asked,” councilmember Isabel Piedmont-Smith said.
READ MORE: City Council Questions Parks, Sustainable Development Budget Proposals
Councilmembers Dave Rollo, Susan Sandberg, Jim Sims and Ron Smith supported the proposed parking budget, but Steve Volan and Piedmont-Smith did not. Councilmembers Matt Flaherty, Sue Sgambelluri and Kate Rosenbarger abstained.
“I think we had a lot of abstentions in these last four days,” Rosenbarger said. “I think that means we all just have a lot of questions to ask in the next month or so.”
The city council will take the next few weeks to submit questions and recommendations, so that all the city departments can prepare their final budget requests.
The process will begin on Sept. 29. The council will cast a final vote on the budget Oct. 13.
