Page last updated on September 16, 2022 at 1:57 pm
Each week, Mayor Hamilton and Deputy Mayor Griffin provide video updates on recent news and key initiatives.
John Hamilton:
Hi, I'm Mayor, John Hamilton.
Don Griffin:
And, I'm Don Griffin, the Deputy Mayor for the city of Bloomington. The 2023 budget is on its way. Today, we're going to talk about the new local income tax, and its impact on equality and quality of life.
John Hamilton:
It's a really big deal. The local income tax is changing our budget, offering us new resources, and we thought it might be helpful just to summarize some of that new change.
Don Griffin:
I know we've got $1 million going towards housing.
John Hamilton:
This is a big deal. The city has never committed regular funding directly to housing support. We've gotten federal money and others, but now every year we've committed a million dollars to support affordable housing, both rental and ownership. It's going to focus on those who have almost no money. The hardest to help people who are maybe experiencing homelessness. All the way up to working families who are doing quite well, but still have trouble buying a home, for example. So rental and ownership, the whole range, we're going to be supporting the housing security group. That's a new community-wide effort. That's really focused on that lowest income area, but we'll also be helping people buy new homes. It's really exciting, really important. The local income tax has added a million dollars a year to support housing.
Don Griffin:
Now, we also have another million going towards an equity fund.
John Hamilton:
When we worked with the city council on this, we were worried that this new income tax, we didn't want it to hurt people. Particularly lower income earners, and workers with low incomes, we want to make sure we're providing them support. This is a million dollars a year that we're going to try to help people who are struggling. It may be supporting things like childcare. It may be helping them save money to buy a house, different kinds of work like that. That million dollars is brand new for the city. It's going to focus on the working folks who are struggling to get by and helping make sure we help them advance.
Don Griffin:
The other thing a lot of people don't realize is that every department we have has a DEI and related goal statement in everything that they do.
John Hamilton:
Yeah, it's infused into the city government and the local income tax helps us advance that in new ways. I'll mention, that there's also even support for local arts, quality of life depends on arts. We've got modest new funding for local arts as well for local food to help advance the local agriculture community because all that weaves together to help advance the quality of life, housing, income support, and then those things. I think it's really an important step forward for us.
Don Griffin:
I do too. We want Bloomington to be a great place for everyone. If you want more information, please go to our website or check out some of the links. Have a good one folks.