By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – The proposal that Bloomington raise its sales tax one-quarter percent for schools on top of the one-percent hike it approved this week came as a surprise to some.

District 87 Superintendent Barry Reilly said the district was put in a time crunch.

“I felt I was obligated to go before that council and express our needs, because the vote was to come one week later,” Reilly said.

Reilly said he heard some sentiment that the voters already spoke last year when they struck down a county-wide sales tax. He called that an unfair comparison.

“The county was asked to pass a full-cent sales tax for a specific purpose (school construction and maintenance),” Reilly said. “Asking for a quarter is vastly different.”

Reilly added he hopes the additional revenue the city generates from the tax will stop them from pushing the entire cost of its school resources officers onto the schools.

“I’m totally against that. I think the department and the city get more than their money’s worth out of that,” Reilly said.

Bloomington’s budget task force has recommended the city stop funding the officers, to save about $300,000 per year. Bloomington city officials haven’t taken any action on that plan.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].