At their Oct. 27 meeting, the Bloomington Council voted 9-0 to approve the nearly $107 million city budget for 2022.

Two weeks ago, the council had delayed action on the budget, citing the need to further negotiate with Mayor John Hamilton. Some councilmembers want to add a full-time climate action director who would oversee implementation of the city's climate action plan. Other councilmembers are concerned about the city's ability to recruit and retain Bloomington Police Department sworn officers, and want to increase officers' base pay.

However, the budget adopted on Oct. 27 was unchanged from the previous proposal. Rather, councilmembers approved the budget based on the expectations laid out in a press release from the administration. In it, the mayor proposed a quarterly retention bonus for BPD officers and further investment in staff to implement the climate action plan. None of those changes affected the 2022 budget. More information about the city's budget is available here.

At their Oct. 13 meeting, the Bloomington Council expressed frustration with the city's budget process and voted to recess their meeting until Oct. 27, in order to further negotiate with Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton. 

Some councilmembers want to add a full-time climate action director who would oversee implementation of the city's climate action plan. Other councilmembers are concerned about the city's ability to recruit and retain Bloomington Police Department sworn officers, and want to increase officers' base pay.

​The deadline to act on the budget is Nov. 2. After that, the 2021 tax levy is carried over automatically and the city would lose about $1.2 million in general fund revenues.

​Watch the council's Oct. 13 meeting on CATS here.

Bloomington City Council will be voting to accept the city's Climate Action Plan on April 21. It is a companion document to the Sustainability Action Plan, which was adopted in 2018.

The CAP focuses on ways to reduce community greenhouse gas emissions and build climate resilience. 

Click here to read the full Climate Action Plan.

The Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute presented a report to Monroe County Commissioners about this area's climate resilience.

The Hoosier Resilience Index is a survey to help local governments understand how prepared they are for the impacts of climate change. The main impacts are increases in extreme heat and extreme precipitation. The most vulnerable populations, including low-income and minority residents, will be the first to feel the impacts, according to researchers Andrea Webster and Zach Richardson.

Watch the presentation at the commissioners' March 24 working session here. A written report is forthcoming.

A draft of the City of Bloomington's Climate Action Plan has been released. It will be reviewed by the Bloomington Council's Climate Action & Resilience Committee at their Nov. 17 meeting.

The city hired paleBLUEdot as a consultant to help develop the plan. It lists goals in these eight categories: 1) transportation and land use, 2) energy and built environment, 3) waste management, 4) water and wastewater, 5) local food and agriculture, 6) health and safety, 7) greenspace and ecosystem health, and 8) climate economy.

The city is also asking for feedback on the draft plan. Click here to take a survey.

​Click here to read the draft Climate Action Plan.