The Bloomington City Council passed Mayor John Hamilton’s proposed 2024 city budget Wednesday night.
The council gave its final approval— more than a month after hearings on the $131 million budget began.
Highlights include raises for city employees and elected officials, including the city clerk and council members; five new civilian police employees to respond to some 911 calls; and $20 million in one-time expenditures.
The City administration made one last-minute change to a salary ordinance: instead of getting $500 one-time bonuses, certain fire department employees will receive additional compensation in the form of retention pay.
The concluding deliberations were mostly non-controversial, as the council had already endorsed but not formally approved the budget in parts at previous meetings.
An ordinance covering police salaries was disputed, however.
Under the approved ordinance, police and fire personnel will get raises depending on their rank next year. The City will also offer an additional $5,000 to new probationary officers.
Council member Stephen Volan sponsored a failed amendment seeking to reduce the number of budgeted police officer positions from 105 to 95.
He said the intended purpose was to redistribute funds for unfilled positions to increase current sworn officers’ salaries.
“Why fund 10, 15, 20 positions that won't get filled next year?” Volan said. “Make a permanent increase to the salaries of the remaining officers by cutting positions, you know you can't fill — that’s all this says.”
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The Bloomington Police Department currently employs 84 sworn officers — 21 short of the 105 budgeted for.
Volan considered adjusting his amendment, but Deputy Chief Scott Oldham says it was a non-starter.
“We think it’s very important that we maintain our numbers at 105,” Oldham said. “The officers most certainly need a raise so that we can reach parity with other agencies; but compromising the number of officers that are available for us to hire is something that we would oppose simply because of call volume — because it continues to rise.”
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Volan also opposed Hamilton’s plans to use former Community Redevelopment Economic District (CRED) funds for projects not related to its originally intended purpose.
Those funds were previously designated for now-expired CRED districts in the downtown area, which Volan represents. The money moved into the city’s general fund after the districts expired.
Volan introduced an amendment to that ordinance but later withdrew it.
