City Council Actions & Alerts
Bloomington is run by a city charter, although it seems that when it comes to some city ordinances, the council doesn't always take the recommendation of the Charter Commission. The day to day functions are run by the City Manager and his staff who is responsible to the City Council. It is the City Council who votes on the work and recommendations of the City Management and Commissions. We will attempt to keep you up to date on the actions of all here.
Who is running in 2023?
We will update here as we progress to the August 1st Official Registration Date
Ward 2 - Paul King
Paul is already putting signs out and will register in August. He is a current small business owner of James King & Associates Independent Insurance Agency. More on Paul when he registers. Click here to get a yard sign and show Paul your support. Volunteer here.
BLOOMINGTON'S NEW NORMAL - PRIDE 2.0
August 14, 2022
At what point do we draw a line when funding projects with our tax dollars that appear to sexualize our children? The City's first foray into the public event featuring Drag Queens was prompted by one of the key players in our Human Rights Commission. The city spent roughly $4000 to fund this event with council members Coulter, Carter and Martin all attended and courtesy of Nathan Coulter - Bloomington City Council Facebook page, proudly brought his children to the event.
In 2022, The City of Bloomington fully funded the second year of this event that appears to expose our youth to adult-type of performances by accepting "tips" from young children. Unfortunately, Alpha News which has become a National News source, captured Bloomington in an interesting light. Is Bloomington's 'family friendly event making Bloomington Better? You be the judge.
April1, 2022 Read about....
Local Options Sales Tax (LOST)
Time-of-Sale (TOS) Housing Inspection Program
Earned Safe and Sick Leave (ESSL)
March 25, 2022 Read about....
City of Bloomington 2022 Property Tax Valuation Notice
City Council Proposing to Change Public Comment Period at Council Meetings
Organics Recycling Monthly Charges Begin Soon – Whether You Like It or Not
Tobacco Ordinance / Flavor Ban
On April 26, 2021, the Bloomington City Council voted 4-2 in favor of a new tobacco-related ordinance. The 4 in favor were Tim Busse, Nathan Coulter, Jenna Carter, and Dwayne Lowman.
DO NOT RANK Nathan Coulter for At-Large Councilmember this election!
https://www.startribune.com/bloomington-sets-sunset-on-all-tobacco-licenses/600051389
The key pillars of the new ordinance include:
- Eliminating flavored tobacco and vaping products, including menthol cigarettes
- Sunsetting tobacco licenses in the city of Bloomington
- o This effectively wipes out the equity small business owners built up, over decades in some instances, by mandating that if they sold the business to another entity, the tobacco license would not be renewed
- o This includes convenience stores, gas stations, etc. where a significant portion of revenue and profit comes from the sale of tobacco products
This is a "solution" in search of a problem. The Minnesota Department of Health's 2020 Youth Tobacco Survey [https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/tobacco/data/docs/2020mytsreport.pdf] states "Minnesota teens are overwhelmingly rejecting cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco." Prevalence of tobacco use among high school students across the state is at an all-time low (3.2% prevalence of cigarette use, and even lower for smokeless tobacco products).
Notably, across the United States only two cities outside of San Francisco have implemented a similar measure. This is a clear example of an extreme agenda being pushed and promoted by the incumbent Bloomington City Council.
“Green” Initiatives - Time of Sale Audits and Fees
Bloomington has inserted itself into residents’ home selling process with mandatory pre-sale inspections of homes by city inspectors. Apparently, the home inspection normally conducted by an independent inspector hired by a home buyer to represent the buyer’s interests isn’t good enough. Now the additional cost of a city inspection is added into the sales equation.
Just recently, Bloomington added a new “energy” component to the required Time of Sale home inspection citing Portland, OR and Minneapolis as the two (notably poorly managed) cities Bloomington desires to emulate. The justification for adding the evaluation of the the energy efficiency of a home was to somehow improve “equity” – a vague, immeasurable goal.
Ranked Choice Voting
Against the recommendation of the Bloomington citizens sitting on the Charter Commission, the City Council responded instead to the wishes of an outside political activist group FairVote MN to place Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) on the 2020 ballot.
Barely approved by largely uninformed voters, Bloomington now has the same convoluted system for electing city officials as do Minneapolis and St. Paul – two cities who are known for their unaccountable city administrators, all elected by Ranked Choice Voting.
Other Minnesota cities have tried RCV and scrapped it afterwards. Walter Mondale spoke out against RCV and Duluth voters turned it down. But despite these experiences, Bloomington’s City Council overrode the recommendation of its own Charter Commission and instead acted to the benefit of their own personal political agendas.
Notably, like the funding of the incumbent Council’s election campaigns, the pro-RCV campaign was driven by a partisan national interest group (FairVote), raising and spending nearly $100,000 to push RCV in Bloomington. The Bloomington anti-RCV effort was able to raise ~$6,000 in comparison, and nearly defeated the initiative.
Budget Concerns
At least annually, the Bloomington monthly newspaper repeats the claim (true but misleading) that property taxes on a median value Bloomington home are lower than the property taxes for a median value home in just about any other surrounding city.
HOWEVER, the median value home in Eden Prairie is ~50% higher than Bloomington’s median value home. In Edina, the median value home is ~double Bloomington’s median value home. So comparing the taxes on median value homes from one city to another is an apples and oranges comparison.
And it’s still not that simple. Other sources of revenue like fees, government subsidies and commercial property taxes will reduce the share of city government expenses that homeowners pay. A true analysis of a city’s financial performance compared to other cities is much more complicated than simply comparing the taxes on median value homes.
More importantly, Bloomington has been trending in recent years (until COVID) with roughly an annual 5% budget increase despite very low economic inflation (how much are you earning in your savings account?). Bloomington city government has been steadily growing in size and scope by adding staff for new functions while Bloomington’s population has been relatively stagnant.
Single-Family Residential Zoning Concerns
DFL State Rep. Steve Elkins has been vocal about needing to eliminate single-family housing in the name of “equity”.
“Rep. Steve Elkins, D-Bloomington, wants the House to consider a similar bill requiring cities to allow duplexes in any residential area. Other parts of their bills are aimed at reducing the regulatory approval processes that a builders coalition claims is making it impossible for them to build entry-level-priced homes.”
Elkins is working on a bill in the House that will eliminate single-family zoning across the state, while assessing "impact fees" on the remaining single-family residents to pay for municipal upgrades needed to support multi-family housing (in the name of "equity"). E.g.: your next-door neighboring lots could be knocked down to build an apartment complex, and the cost for increased sewer and water infrastructure needs would be paid by YOU, not the new multi-family development.
Martin, Coulter, Lona, et al obviously support this line of thinking, as Elkins is actively supporting their campaigns. It’s also key to note that Martin, Coulter and Lona have made “housing” a key pillar of their campaigns across various public forums. DO NOT let them turn Bloomington into another Minneapolis!
For a summary of the Budget and future council meeting discussion, click here.
MAYOR/CITY COUNCIL MAY SHUT DOWN PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD - KEEP YOUR VOICE AND SAY NO!
September 8, 2021
During the August 30 Bloomington City Council meeting, in addressing the previous meeting's public comment period, beginning at 2:19, Mayor Tim Busse admonished concerned citizens who have been voicing displeasure at many of this Council's recent decisions and initiatives.
After chiding these concerned residents for their "bad behavior" and warning future commenters to be on their "best behavior", at the 3:32 mark, Busse stated "I will also say, Council, if we're not able to achieve that over the next few meetings, I would like to open up the discussion about how we can achieve that through our Rules of Procedure."
Section 4.1 Response to Prior Meeting's Public Comments (2:19 - 3:45)
It's clear that the Mayor and this City Council do not care about your input as residents and taxpayers in Bloomington.
Tell Mayor Busse and the rest of the City Council that they should be ashamed of themselves for even suggesting stifling the speech of residents who are not onboard with this Council's agenda.
Tim Busse - tbusse@BloomingtonMN.gov
Nathan Coulter - ncoulter@bloomingtonmn.gov
Patrick Martin - pmartin@bloomingtonmn.gov
Dwayne Lowman - dlowman@BloomingtonMN.gov
Shawn Nelson - snelson@bloomingtonmn.gov
Jenna Carter - jcarter@bloomingtonmn.gov
Jack Baloga - jbaloga@BloomingtonMN.gov
Council Member At-Large Nathan Coulter and Council Member Ward 4 Patrick Martin both nodded their heads in agreement with Mayor Busse's comments regarding rules and procedures.
Why would anyone want to maintain to re-elect and council plete-with-drag-queens-free-condoms/member who clearly is in favor of disregarding residents he represents?
BLOOMINGTON'S DMV IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED - WHY?
August 11, 2021
Residents will now be forced to suffer longer wait times and travel to renew motor vehicle licenses/tabs, personal driver's license renewals, record vehicle purchases etc. The convenience of running to Logan Avenue to accomplish the required notices for motor vehicle operation in Minnesota is now not so convenient for the fourth largest city in Minnesota.
Apparently the city manager and the city council determined that the DMV needed $376,000 in subsidies to stay afloat from the 2020 after losses of lodging tax revenue during the pandemic.
Budget Manager Kari Carlson, wife of 50B State Rep Andrew Carlson, told the Star Trib that in 2020 the DMV cost $251,000 to run. OK, how were those costs covered? What has been the cost in the past pre-pandemic years? What was the revenue the busy DMV received from the filing fees it charged? Carlson indicated that filing fees did not cover the total operating costs so the DMV started processing passports. She said a subsidy of property taxes of $125,000 was given to the DMV in 2020. Did the city do everything it could like any business to balance the DMV budget with innovative marketing ideas - like soliciting all the Bloomington Car Dealerships for their needs? One candidate for Council At-Large says no, the City of Inver Grove did everything it could, including pickup and delivery service to Bloomington Car Dealerships for their constant registration dollars. This could have been at least break-even office had our city done their work. Bloomington missed the boat.
Bloomington had a grandfather clause in their DMV contract due to the proximity of the other 10 DMV's in the Metro. We have lost that grandfather clause by permanently closing a wanted service that was not maximized to at least break even or be profitable.
In a comment to the Star Tribune on January 21, 2021:
City Council Member Dwayne Lowman, one of three council members who voted against closing the office this spring, said it's going to be difficult to explain the cut to taxpayers if the city adds staff this year, which officials are considering. "That doesn't make sense," Lowman said. "We said we were reducing this because we had a budget crisis."
So what do you think the city has done? How many new hires has the city brought in since January 2021 and for how much? So we rid ourselves of an under achieving service, convenient for residents, cutting $251,000 operating costs to plug a $7 Million hole in the 2021 Budget and an appointed Budget Commission that said they didn't think people would miss the DMV much. For what end?