This is Part 1 of a series of stories about the mayoral election in Bloomington. Election Day is April 1. Coming Friday: What the candidates say about housing and homelessness.
Over the past several years, Bloomington's budget numbers have tended to trend upward.
In 2022, the city council passed a $239 million budget. In 2023, the figure grew to $290 million. And in 2024, the budget ballooned to $332 million.
This year marks the first in several that the city's budget is expected to shrink, though it's also facing a nearly $6 million deficit while still being considered balanced.
Incumbent Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe said in an interview it's important to note that Bloomington's budget increases are largely a byproduct of increased spending on capital projects.
"When we have really large projects that have been planned for awhile and now we're executing them, that's really where you're seeing a really big part of the increase," Mwilambwe said. "We're getting ready to embark on a $400 million improvement of our water system... when you have a big road that's being fixed like Hamilton Road, that's going to add to the budget."
Spending on capital projects for fiscal year 2026 is projected to total $77.2 million, a decrease of $11.3 million from fiscal year 2025. In 2024, nearly a quarter of the budget — about $70 million — was also dedicated to capital projects, up $13 million from fiscal year 2023, making up the majority of the budget's increase that year.
Mwilambwe notes some of the city's planned spending is mandated — including $100 million over 10 years to remove lead lines in the city. But he takes credit for getting other large projects over the finish line, including the downtown streetscape plan, the O'Neil Aquatics Center in west Bloomington, and the library renovation — all years in the making.
"I am most proud of how we have been able to move forward, across the finish line, certain projects that had proven to be elusive in the past," he said. "In the midst of all of that, we were still able to make some significant improvements when it comes to infrastructure, road repair, sidewalks, sewer projects and things like that."
Playing catchup
But first-term city council member Cody Hendricks said the city has deferred too many projects for too long, leading to increased costs for projects that weren't entirely necessary. Hendricks, who joined the council in 2023 after a term on Pekin's city council, was one of seven members who voted to approve 33% increases in the city's water rates. He said upgrades to the city's water system — funded by the rate increases — were long overdue.
"For 8-12 years, they just decided not to increase it. Now we're facing that backlash and also the community is facing the increased cost in such a quick fashion because we didn't focus on infrastructure the way that we should have," Hendricks said in an interview. "For me, I want to make sure we really focus that. The office of mayor isn't political, so it shouldn't be, 'How do I cut costs so that I can use that in my next campaign?' It should be, 'Here are the decisions. Here's what we're dealing with. We'll accept the fallout when the election comes back around.'"
As a council member, Hendricks said he championed keeping the property tax levy flat this year after talking with constituents. He acknowledged it was a "difficult decision" given Bloomington's budgetary challenges, but believed the city had money available in reserves to keep the levy flat for another year.
"It may be in the future that we need to reevaluate," Hendricks said at a WGLT forum. "We need to look at what our priorities are and set our levy based on that."
Mwilambwe, while not typically a voting council member, said he believes the levy should catch up to Bloomington's growth as a municipality and keeping the levy flat for two years has hindered the city.
"The past two years of not capturing some of that growth is hurting us because residents expect a high level of service from us," Mwilambwe said at a WGLT forum.
Mwilambwe said later he feels confident a city plan to reduce positions through attrition — and not layoffs — will help ease the city's budget concerns.
And that's essentially the plan that former Republican state Rep. Dan Brady proposed when asked about the budget by WGLT, though Brady added Bloomington's budgetary concerns are not unique to the city.
"The biggest area is personnel. What can we do? What agencies can we look at that are able to be merged? What type of a delay of major capital equipment for the city could be an aspect of things? How do we tighten those belts before we talk about asking the taxpayers for more?" Brady said, adding the city could explore offering early retirement incentives to employees.
Brady said he's supportive of the fact the city's leadership so far has not pursued a 1% grocery tax like Normal. Gov. JB Pritzker in 2024 repealed the state grocery tax, but left the door open for municipalities to implement it themselves. It may cost the city $3 million not to have the tax.
"I think before we can fill that hole and say that we're going to put on another tax, we have to look at what we can do internally with the city's operation," he said.
Downtown streetscape
All three mayoral candidates said they support the continued implementation of the downtown streetscape plan, even as the city tightens its belt amidst a challenging financial outlook.
Mwilambwe said as the city looks at prioritizing capital projects in the shadow of the deficit, it's not likely that any of the $59 million project's 10 phases will be put on hold due to the budget.
"We're going to go through those as we go and as funding is available — whether from the city or grant funding or things like that. It's a step-by-step kind of thing," he said.
Hendricks said he's championed the downtown streetscape because it's largely an infrastructure project that, like others in the city, has been long overdue.
"The downtown streetscape plan at its core, one, really focuses on infrastructure, but two, really highlights the work that downtown business owners have done for so many decades: Holding onto historic buildings that are just prime for renovation and rehabilitation," Hendricks said. "So the fact that we as a city are putting in place plans to update the infrastructure that should have been updated anyway... I think just shows a commitment to a historic area within our community," he said. "It's so crucial to me that we continued forward with this, in this mayoral election, to make sure we don't walk away from it yet again."
Brady suggested that a tax increment finance [TIF] district approved by the council in 2024 to fund downtown's rehabilitation may not deliver the financial results hoped for — and touted his 22 years in politics as a potential stopgap.
"When that TIF doesn't bring in what you expect, the other area then is to look at capital grants that you can work with state and federal representatives and delegations on, which I think I'll be very, very equipped in which to do so," Brady said. "It's obviously going to be done in phases, but you're going to need a mayor who's going to be the loudest cheerleader for Bloomington and to be able to attract back to Bloomington not only funding... but also investors and people that want to be a part of our downtown."
Mwilambwe noted that Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, a Republican, and U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, a Democrat, already have relationships with the city that have pulled in funding: LaHood secured $2 million in federal funds for the Hamilton Road improvement project, and Sorensen brought back $2 million for the Locust-Colton sewer separation project in recent years.
"You don't want to overplay the connections because I think what is really important is the quality of the projects. If you have a quality project, it's going to go through. It's also a competition that you're in, depending on what people have different priorities," he said.
Hendricks touted his endorsements from state Sen. Dave Koehler and state Rep. Sharon Chung as evidence he's prepared for a strong partnership between Bloomington's executive leadership and state and federal partners — something he said is especially necessary in an era of federal uncertainty.
Earlier this year, an executive order from President Donald Trump led to a temporary shutdown of a portal the city uses to manage the federal Community Development Block Grant, a federal decision that could have had local consequences were it not reinstated shortly after. The city uses CDBG funds for housing rehabilitation, sidewalk improvements and repairs, homeless services and more. The city also manages a lead hazard removal program through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD].
"I don't see that collaboration as much right now between the mayor's office and the state and federal government, and that's something that would be really crucial and important to me in this role," Hendricks said.
Early voting in the April 1 election is already underway.
