By Sabrina Burkiewicz
I’m frustrated at the City of Bloomington’s recent decision to raise sales tax as part of an effort to close a budget deficit of more than five million dollars, closer to seven million if I recall.
It feels like each week I see the closure of another Bloomington business. Kmart , AMC, Wild Berries, The Cub, Office Max, Big Daddy Dawg’s,Mitsubishi, and all of which will impact sales tax for the city and equal jobs lost in our city. We have picked up a few new businesses, but ten Red Robin and Chick Fil A(s) won’t fill the giant void of sales tax left behind from the now barren strip mall that once held Kmart, Michaels, and Circuit City.
If Dave Ramsey were on the City Council he’d be having a heart attack and telling us to reduce frivolous expenditures, and balance our budget in a responsible way, and face reality when we make financial plans for the short-term future, and not take the easy way out by taxing citizens. BTW, if you don’t know who Dave Ramsey is, you need to Google him.
The state of Illinois isn’t in much better shape, we can’t pay the lottery winners, we’re not paying our bills, Medicaid bills are unpaid to service providers like doctors, and there is a real possibility the lights will actually get shut off at the Capitol, which is a huge embarrassment for the people of Illinois, and by the way, you’re not going to get a reminder from Jesse White that your license plates are about to expire.
So, if any of this irritates you, I’d love nothing more than for you to call your state representative and your city council rep and ask them to make fiscally responsible decisions for us. If we remain silent, we are complacent and accepting of this nonsense. I don’t have the answer because I don’t have all of the information, that’s not my job, that’s the job of our elected leaders of the city and state. But, maybe I’m so disgusted that I just might run for elected office and make it my job.
Sabrina Burkiewicz currently works in Marketing at the Illinois Farm Bureau and is a graduate student at Illinois State University. Sabrina spent nearly a decade at Home Sweet Home Ministries where she worked to create awareness about the invisible people in our community. Sabrina is an avid reader, enjoys baking, gardening, skiing and snorkeling with her husband Chris. Sabrina and Chris live in Bloomington where they attend the Evangelical Free Church.
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