Renner: Bloomington could revisit sales tax sharing after 2017 election

Posted on June 15, 2016
Tari Renner
Bloomington mayor Tari Renner says the city council’s decision to not pursue the concept of a shared sales tax with Normal shouldn’t strain relations between the Twin Cities. (Photo courtesy Facebook/Tari Renner)

By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington mayor Tari Renner said he was surprised to see the city council cut off any discussions on the idea of sharing sales tax money with Normal.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Renner on WJBC.

“I certainly had a feeling we had some, I think, misunderstanding about this,” Renner said. “This is a concept, this wasn’t really a proposal yet. City policymaking sometimes happens in very different ways in the real world.”

The council discussed the sales tax sharing idea in a work session on Monday. A majority of alderman said they weren’t interested.

Renner told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin the idea could come back again, but likely not until after the municipal elections in April 2017.

“There may be new council and new mayors at each end,” Renner said. “Any kind of intergovernmental cooperation so we can do the best for the entire community I think will continue.”

He added there are many examples where the two neighbors work together.

“We’ve got over 100 intergovernmental agreements between Bloomington and Normal,” Renner said. “We work together on a lot of things.”

Renner was among the local leaders who attended the One Voice trip to Washington in March when the shared sales tax idea was hatched.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

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