Normal Money Crunch

After hearing the discussion about finding new sources of revenue and making cuts in order to maintain general fund reserves in the Normal budget, I thought about how these changes might or might not affect me. Increasing property and sales taxes will have a slight impact on my finances, but increases to towing fees and parking fines will not (hopefully). Ending electronics recycling will affect me when my “old model” TVs die. I guess I’ll have to put them on the curb, unless there won’t be any more bulky waste pick-up. In that case, I’ll have to get creative and find new uses for them (coffee table stands?) or find alternative recycling opportunities.

If there is no more brush or leaf pick-up, I think someone should start a business providing curbside mulching for Normal residents. I can mow over leaves as long as they’re dry, but I don’t know what I would do with all of the branches that I prune off the trees and bushes. I’d rather see a less frequent brush pick-up instead of no brush pick-up.

I don’t apply for Harmon Arts Grants, so suspending that program won’t affect me. And I can read the Newsline newsletter and P&R booklets online. “City Vision” has some information that I don’t usually seek out on my own but if Normal is no longer included in the broadcast, I’ll just have to make more of an effort to locate any information of interest.

Raising summer camp fees and discontinuing preschool programs won’t directly affect me, although there might be an indirect effect if young children in Normal are left to their own devices and wreak havoc in the area.

And I sure hope I won’t have to pay an “auto extrication fee,” although the older I get, the more difficult it has become to climb out of my subcompact car!