Group of Bloomington aldermen discuss approach to budget cuts

Posted on September 30, 2015

A group of Bloomington aldermen discussed how the council should prioritize potential budget cuts Wednesday at the Bloomington Police Department. (Joe Ragusa/WJBC)

By Joe Ragusa

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington is trying to get serious about budget cuts as the city approaches the next fiscal year with a projected $7.3 million budget deficit.

Aldermen Karen Schmidt, Scott Black, Diana Hauman and Joni Painter met Wednesday to figure some things out.

“The purpose of this meeting was for as many council members as possible to come together to talk about process and procedures for how we continue to talk about our city’s services and programs,” Schmidt said. “Whether they need to be redesigned or that they need to be cut in some way and how we prioritize that.”

The group is going to ask the rest of the council to take a look at the recommendations the Budget Task Force laid out earlier this month and bring back their priorities to the council’s Committee of the Whole meeting Oct. 19. A special work session will likely be called for prior to the next city council meeting on Oct. 12 to formalize that plan.

Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].

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