In this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson addresses this issue and more at City Hall. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU. Here are some highlights.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: It's summer in Bloomington. Students are gone, but there's a lot going on in the world. Just had protests on the square. There're Pride events going on, assassinations in Minnesota, war in the Middle East, but life continues in cities and towns.
Thomson: I just talked to my cabinet about this this morning, and now is a good time to really focus on local and how we care for each other locally. There's so much going on in the world that can be disheartening, but the truth of the matter is that we show up every day here at City Hall, we have many people in the community who show up every day, either to run restaurants and take care of people that way, or run nonprofits who lead us at the university and in our companies in various ways, making sure that Bloomington remains Bloomington.
Hren: The convention center official groundbreaking was last week. And we learned that the companion hotel seems to be taking steps forward. I believe there’s talk about a public, private partnership with that hotel?
Thomson: Well, we don't know yet exactly how that's going to work. The city's role in that, of course, is that the hotel has decided that they'd like to locate on land that is owned by the city. So while it is currently not an official city project, what we do see with these large hotel projects, that are really focused on economic development, is that they usually do need some incentives in order to really make them go and so certainly, one of the things on the table is the potential of a public private partnership.
Hren: And that's really the only way to connect to the B-Line Trail, because the convention center expansion is going east, and so there's really no direct contact. So I assume that would be a top priority?
Thomson: Absolutely a big priority. And really to keep people moving down the trail, which is great for our health and well-being, but also just for our community interactions. It’s important to have points of interest along the way and not space them out too much. And so right now, between Second and Third street, especially, there's not a lot going on.
Hren: Can you give us any background on the 30% increase in water utility rates, which does sound like a really big jump, and not only for residents, but if you think of like big corporations that use a lot of water, even restaurants?
Thomson: Whenever we do a rate case for utilities, it's important to understand that we actually are putting together real numbers for what's needed in order to maintain that water supply. We're not adding in padding for our city administration, etc.
That's how much the cost has gone up and is expected to go up. We can forecast some, but that's the structure of the rate case and it's not a profit machine, and that's what's important for the public to know. My concern anytime that we do any kind of cost increase to our residents, whether that's in local income tax or with water and other basic city services, is we want to deliver a phenomenal product, right? We want our streets to be great. We want our water to be great, and we want to do it for the least amount of money that we can.
And there really are some significant improvements that are maintenance-related, that had to be made, and they were not made in a timely way. They were overdue. And so those are included in this case.