City of Bloomington, MN The BUZZ 2022, 14 Dec 2022

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From YouTube: Bloomington Today: The BUZZ December 14

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Learn about the City Council’s approval of the budget for 2023, participate in the Winter Lights Tour and shop at Artistry’s annual Gifts in the Gallery.

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Thank you welcome to Bloomington today, I'm Emily taplin thanks for joining us. First, we bring you the Buzz for the week of December 14th through the 20th on Monday December 5th. The city council approved the 2023 budget. The general fund budget approved is 94 million dollars and the property tax levy increase is 9.15 percent.

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Since May the budget has been discussed at eight different Council meetings, staff have been out in the community seven different times, engaging with residents directly about the budget, and the mayor and council members hosted Town Hall forums where the budget was discussed. Ultimately, the feedback from residence was about Public Safety. The 2023 budget includes three new full-time firefighters that will be hired halfway through the year, along with the 18 firefighters that will be added in early 2023.

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Thanks to the federal safer Grant the city received and the police department will be adding two new officer positions in January and in June two more will be added along with a new dispatch training coordinator, those hires along with The Debt Service associated with the construction of the new Fire Station 4 means 85 percent of the property tax levy increase in the budget is directly related to Public Safety.

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The Bloomington city council will have a vacancy for one of its at-large seats. Nathan Coulter is currently an at-large council member and will resign from his position with the city council on January, 2nd after being elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives Bloomington residents may now apply for the open seat. Council members are paid twelve thousand three hundred and ninety seven dollars annually for the part-time position. Candidates must submit a cover letter resume and completed application by December 22nd. The application is available for download at blm.mn council members.

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The city council will conduct interviews and make an appointment by late January. The person appointed to the open seat will fill coulter's unexpired term until the next regular municipal election on November 7th 2023. The election results will determine who fills the remainder of the term, which expires January 5th 2026.

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feel the glow of the holiday season all across Bloomington. By taking the Winter Lights tour, more than 40 residents have submitted their displays to the first ever Citywide Winter Lights tour from Bloomington, Parks and Recreation. You can vote for your favorite lights displays now through January. 2Nd categories include best animated display, most unique display and the Clark W Griswold Award for best overall display to see a map of all the submissions and to cast your votes visit. Blm.Mn winter dash lights have some holiday shopping. To do. Artistry presents its annual gifts in the gallery.

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This Unique, Boutique style holiday sale, features handmade items by more than 50 local artists, including jewelry Ceramics, wood turned home goods and more you can shop. The gallery December 16th through the 18th in the Inez Greenberg gallery, go to artistrymn.org for a full list of dates and hours.

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That is the buzz on Bloomington today for the week of December 14th through the 20th. If you would like to watch other stories from the show go to this week's playlist, there you'll find a look at how the city is working with Community Partners, to connect Bloomington residents with energy resources, plus a check in on the latest in city news with mayor Tim Bussey in the council minute. Thanks for watching foreign.