Bloomington Sources of Facts

From The Bloomington Chronicle

Very much a work in progress as of June 23, 2026


Weather


This needs to go somewhere: https://www.in.gov/idem/airmonitoring/smogwatch/

Department of Local Government Finance

Annual Financial reports [DLGF page]

[Tip: Use the "Search by Unit" tab. Each unit's page includes links pre-set to that unit's individual reports]

Budget [DLGF page]

Employee compensation [DLGF page]

Law Enforcement

https://openmhz.com/system/bloomsafet

Other

  • City of Bloomington REST services for geographic information [REST]
  • City of Bloomington B Clear data portal [source]

Get police calls for service Trash volume Scooter data Parking locations Sources of shapefiles https://gis.co.monroe.in.us/portal/apps/sites/#/monroe-county-gis-division


https://bloomington.finance.socrata.com/#!/view-data https://bloomington.budget.socrata.com/api/operating_budget.csv https://bloomington.budget.socrata.com/api/revenue_budget.csv https://bloomington.payroll.socrata.com/api/checkbook_data.csv?search_hash={}&year=All%20Years&employee_types=full_time_employees%2Cothers&pay_types=pay1 https://bloomington.spending.socrata.com/api/checkbook_data.csv?sort_field=amount&sort=desc&search_hash=%7B%7D&conditionalClause=And&year=All%20Years

Employee compensation https://bloomington.payroll.socrata.com/api/checkbook_data.csv?search_hash={}&year=All%20Years&employee_types=full_time_employees%2Cothers&pay_types=pay1 DOWNLOAD CURRENT SETS

LOOKUP STATE links


  • food and beverage tax revenue [source]

DOWNLOAD AND MAKE .CSV

  • Bloomington Transit ridership [source]
  • Lake Monroe water levels realtime [source]
  • Lake Monroe water levels 6-hour increments historial [source]

DOWNLOAD AND MAKE .CSV

  • Election results [source]
  • Property parcel map Beacon [source] Property lookup [source]
  • Year end [source]

==

Sources of Facts for Bloomington-Area Reporting

This page collects recurring sources of facts, records, datasets, and reference material useful for local news reporting in Bloomington, Monroe County, and Indiana. It is meant as an index, not a full how-to guide. Each entry should eventually include links, notes on how the source is organized, and common reporting uses.

Law, Code, and Legislation

Indiana Code

Source: When citing Indiana state law, use this government source: https://iga.in.gov/laws/current/ic/titles/1 Indiana Code URLs on the Indiana General Assembly website follow this basic pattern: 

https://iga.in.gov/laws/[year]/ic/titles/[title-number]#[code-citation]

Example: 

https://iga.in.gov/laws/2025/ic/titles/1#1-1-2.5

In that URL, 2025 is the code year, ic means Indiana Code, titles/1 loads Title 1, and #1-1-2.5 jumps to the relevant article/chapter within that title. The part after the # is an anchor. You can swap in current for the [year], and it will automatically transform to the current year.

For a specific section, the anchor uses the full citation without the “IC” prefix. For example: 

IC 36-1-5-4

becomes: 

https://iga.in.gov/laws/current/ic/titles/36#36-1-5-4

A useful tool to make is a bookmarklet that converts the IC citation you have copied to your clipboard and transforms it into a URL to that code citation, and opens a new browser tab to that URL.

Indiana General Assembly bills

Source: When citing bills under consideration by the Indiana state legislature uses this government source: [https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2026/bills/senate/1/details]

Indiana General Assembly bill URLs follow this basic pattern: 

https://iga.in.gov/legislative/[session-year]/bills/[chamber]/[bill-number]/[page]

Example: 

https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2026/bills/senate/1/details

In that URL, 2026 is the legislative session year, bills means legislation, senate is the chamber, 1 is the bill number, and details opens the bill-detail page.

Use senate for Senate bills and house for House bills. The bill number is written without leading zeros. For example: 

SB 1

becomes: 

https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2026/bills/senate/1/details

And: 

HB 1001

becomes: 

https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2026/bills/house/1001/details

The final part of the URL is the page tab. Use details for the bill summary and status, or actions for the action history. For example: 

https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2026/bills/senate/1/actions

goes directly to the action history for Senate Bill 1.

Bloomington Municipal Code

Source: When citing local law for Bloomington, Indiana, use this government source: https://library.municode.com/in/bloomington/codes/code_of_ordinances

The internal search function for MuniCode is reasonably good. For each code section there is a direct link that is available when you click on the chain icon. Clicking on the icon reveals a side panel showing the URL that links directly to that code section. The URLs themselves don't have a pattern that is easy to decipher. Example: https://library.municode.com/in/bloomington/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT2ADPE_CH2.02BOCO_2.02.050GEPR

NB: There are previous editions of Bloomington city code available. Look for the "Version" at the top of the table of contents in the left sidebar and use the dropdown menu to choose the version of the code you'd like to see.

Monroe County Code

Source: When citing county code for Monroe County, Indiana, use this government source: https://www.in.gov/counties/monroe/Departments/legal/county-code/

NB: The URL to Monroe County code points to tables of contents, which ultimately lead to individual .pdf documents.

Bloomington council ordinances and resolutions

  • Source: [LINK TO CITY COUNCIL LEGISLATION ARCHIVE]
  • Use for: Finding adopted ordinances, resolutions, amendments, vote counts, sponsors, and legislative history.
  • Notes to add: Include where to find pending legislation, adopted legislation, meeting packets, and legislative numbers.

Monroe County ordinances and resolutions

  • Source: [LINK TO COUNTY COMMISSIONERS / COUNTY COUNCIL LEGISLATION ARCHIVE]
  • Use for: Finding county-level resolutions, ordinances, appropriations, contracts, policies, and land-use decisions.
  • Notes to add: Distinguish between county commissioners, county council, plan commission, board of zoning appeals, and other county bodies.

Meetings, Agendas, Minutes, and Video

Bloomington City Council

  • Source: [LINK TO CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS / PACKETS / VIDEO]
  • Use for: Agendas, packets, legislation, amendments, roll-call votes, public comment, and meeting video.
  • Notes to add: Include where to find committee meetings, regular sessions, special sessions, and meeting minutes.

Bloomington boards and commissions

  • Source: [LINK TO BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS PAGE]
  • Use for: Plan Commission, Board of Public Works, Redevelopment Commission, Utilities Service Board, Economic Development Commission, Historic Preservation Commission, and other city boards.
  • Notes to add: Include where to find agendas, packets, minutes, staff reports, and recordings.

Monroe County commissioners and council

  • Source: [LINK TO COUNTY MEETING PORTAL]
  • Use for: County contracts, appropriations, jail issues, budgets, appointments, ordinances, resolutions, and public comment.
  • Notes to add: Explain which body controls which type of decision.

Monroe County boards and commissions

  • Source: [LINK TO COUNTY BOARDS / AGENDAS]
  • Use for: Plan Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, Election Board, Health Board, Redevelopment Commission, and other county bodies.
  • Notes to add: Include packet locations and common document types.

Indiana University trustees and local IU sources

  • Source: [LINK TO IU TRUSTEES / LOCAL IU NEWS / PUBLIC RECORDS SOURCE]
  • Use for: Campus capital projects, property, enrollment, major policy decisions, and IU-related local impacts.
  • Notes to add: Include where to find trustee agendas, minutes, and capital-project approvals.

Weather, Climate, Water, and Environment

National Weather Service forecast

  • Source: [LINK TO NWS FORECAST FOR BLOOMINGTON / MONROE COUNTY]
  • Use for: Current forecast, watches, warnings, advisories, hazardous weather outlooks, and storm timing.
  • Notes to add: Include preferred link for Bloomington and how to cite forecast-office language.

National Weather Service observed conditions

  • Source: [LINK TO NWS DAILY CLIMATE / OBSERVATIONS]
  • Use for: Official high temperature, low temperature, rainfall, snowfall, and daily weather records.
  • Notes to add: Include how to find the official temperature and rainfall amount for a specific date.

Rainfall amounts

  • Source: [LINK TO NWS RAINFALL / PRECIPITATION PRODUCT]
  • Use for: Verifying storm rainfall totals, comparing locations, and checking whether rain amounts support flooding claims.
  • Notes to add: Identify the best source for daily rainfall totals and storm-event rainfall estimates.

Historical climate data

  • Source: [LINK TO NOAA / NCEI / CLIMATE NORMALS]
  • Use for: Long-term averages, historical comparisons, monthly climate summaries, drought context, heat records, and precipitation history.
  • Notes to add: Include where to find climate normals and past weather for Bloomington or nearby official stations.

High-water road closures

  • Source: [LINK TO MONROE COUNTY / CITY / STATE ROAD CLOSURE MAP]
  • Use for: Checking which roads are closed because of flooding or high water.
  • Notes to add: Include whether the map is live, how often it is updated, and which agency maintains it.

Lake Monroe water levels

  • Source: [LINK TO LAKE MONROE WATER LEVEL GAUGE]
  • Use for: Lake elevation, flood pool status, recreation impacts, boat ramp access, beach closures, and high-water context.
  • Notes to add: Include normal pool, flood pool, and the preferred gauge or Army Corps source.

Stream gauges and flooding

  • Source: [LINK TO USGS / NWS RIVER GAUGES]
  • Use for: Creek and river levels, flood stage, storm runoff, and flood trend reporting.
  • Notes to add: Include relevant gauges for Bloomington, Clear Creek, Beanblossom Creek, Salt Creek, and other local waterways.

Public Safety and Courts

Bloomington Police Department calls for service

  • Source: [LINK TO BPD CALLS FOR SERVICE DATASET]
  • Use for: Police activity trends, incident locations, call categories, response patterns, and neighborhood-level reporting.
  • Notes to add: Include definitions, limitations, date ranges, and whether the data reflects calls, reports, arrests, or incidents.

Monroe County Sheriff / jail data

  • Source: [LINK TO SHERIFF / JAIL ROSTER / JAIL DATA]
  • Use for: Jail population, bookings, charges, release status, and jail-related reporting.
  • Notes to add: Include cautions about charges versus convictions.

Fire and EMS runs

  • Source: [LINK TO FIRE / EMS DATA SOURCE]
  • Use for: Fire calls, medical runs, rescues, structure fires, and agency workload.
  • Notes to add: Identify city fire, township fire, county fire protection districts, and EMS sources.

Court records

  • Source: [LINK TO MYCASE / COURT RECORDS]
  • Use for: Criminal cases, civil lawsuits, small claims, protective orders, appeals, hearings, filings, and case status.
  • Notes to add: Include how to verify party names, charges, hearing dates, judges, attorneys, and dispositions.

Original source documents and filings

  • Source: [LINK TO BLOOMDOCS / LOCAL DOCUMENT REPOSITORY]
  • Use for: Lawsuits, contracts, filings, settlement agreements, exhibits, public-records responses, and source documents linked from stories.
  • Notes to add: Include naming conventions and how documents should be cited from news articles.

Finance, Budgets, Taxes, and Payroll

City of Bloomington finance data

  • Source: [LINK TO CITY FINANCE / OPEN DATA / TRANSPARENCY PORTAL]
  • Use for: City spending, payments to vendors, budgets, appropriations, salaries, departments, and fund balances.
  • Notes to add: Include how to look up how much someone was paid by the City of Bloomington as an employee.

Monroe County finance data

  • Source: [LINK TO COUNTY FINANCE / BUDGET / TRANSPARENCY DATA]
  • Use for: County spending, budgets, appropriations, payroll, vendor payments, fund balances, and department-level finances.
  • Notes to add: Include differences between county council appropriations and commissioner contracts.

Indiana Gateway

  • Source: [LINK TO INDIANA GATEWAY]
  • Use for: Local government budgets, annual financial reports, debt, employee compensation, tax rates, and state-filed financial information.
  • Notes to add: Include which reports are most useful for cities, counties, townships, libraries, schools, and special units.

Food and beverage tax revenue

  • Source: [LINK TO FOOD AND BEVERAGE TAX REVENUE SOURCE]
  • Use for: Tracking monthly and annual food and beverage tax receipts, convention center funding, and hospitality-sector trends.
  • Notes to add: Include whether the source is county, state, or local, and how frequently it is updated.

Innkeeper’s tax revenue

  • Source: [LINK TO INNKEEPER’S TAX REVENUE SOURCE]
  • Use for: Tracking hotel-tax revenue, convention center funding, tourism trends, and Visit Bloomington-related reporting.
  • Notes to add: Include monthly revenue source and historical comparison method.

Contracts and claims

  • Source: [LINK TO CITY / COUNTY CLAIMS AND CONTRACTS]
  • Use for: Vendor payments, professional services agreements, construction contracts, change orders, and grant agreements.
  • Notes to add: Include where claims appear in meeting packets.

Property, Land, GIS, and Names

Monroe County property records

  • Source: [LINK TO BEACON / PROPERTY RECORDS]
  • Use for: Ownership, assessed value, parcel numbers, property transfers, mailing addresses, legal descriptions, and land-use reporting.
  • Notes to add: Include how to verify spellings of property owners’ names using property records.

Parcel geometry and shapefiles

  • Source: [LINK TO GIS / PARCEL EXPORT / SHAPEFILE SOURCE]
  • Use for: Mapping parcels, extracting geometric shapes, calculating acreage, checking boundaries, and creating maps for stories.
  • Notes to add: Include how to export shapefiles or other GIS-compatible formats.

Zoning maps

  • Source: [LINK TO CITY AND COUNTY ZONING MAPS]
  • Use for: Checking zoning districts, overlays, planned unit developments, historic districts, floodplain overlays, and development constraints.
  • Notes to add: Distinguish city zoning from county zoning.

Property transfers

  • Source: [LINK TO PROPERTY TRANSFER DATA SOURCE]
  • Use for: Sales, deeds, ownership changes, sale prices, and real estate trends.
  • Notes to add: Include lag time, fields to verify, and how to distinguish sale price from assessed value.

Historic districts and landmarks

  • Source: [LINK TO HISTORIC DISTRICT MAPS / NATIONAL REGISTER / LOCAL REGISTER]
  • Use for: Confirming whether a property is in a historic district, locally designated district, conservation district, or National Register district.
  • Notes to add: Include the difference between local designation and National Register listing.

Transportation, Roads, Parking, and Transit

Bloomington Transit ridership

  • Source: [LINK TO BLOOMINGTON TRANSIT RIDERSHIP DATA]
  • Use for: Monthly ridership, route performance, service changes, fare-free periods, and long-term transit trends.
  • Notes to add: Include where board packets report ridership and route-level metrics.

Bloomington Transit board materials

  • Source: [LINK TO BT BOARD AGENDAS / PACKETS]
  • Use for: Bus purchases, route changes, budgets, grants, contracts, personnel, and service planning.
  • Notes to add: Include common monthly reports.

Road closures and traffic impacts

  • Source: [LINK TO CITY / COUNTY / INDOT ROAD CLOSURE SOURCE]
  • Use for: Construction closures, emergency closures, event closures, high-water closures, and detours.
  • Notes to add: Include separate sources for city streets, county roads, and state highways.

INDOT projects

  • Source: [LINK TO INDOT PROJECT MAP]
  • Use for: State highway projects, closures, bids, letting dates, construction schedules, and project documents.
  • Notes to add: Include how to search by county, route, or project number.

Parking data

  • Source: [LINK TO PARKING DATA / GARAGE REPORTS / PARKING COMMISSION]
  • Use for: Garage use, citations, meter revenue, permit trends, downtown parking debates, and parking policy.
  • Notes to add: Include where monthly parking reports appear.

City Services and Operations

Sanitation tonnage

  • Source: [LINK TO SANITATION DATA]
  • Use for: Garbage hauled by sanitation crews, recycling tonnage, yard waste, seasonal trends, and service workload.
  • Notes to add: Include whether data is reported by month, route, material type, or department.

Farmers Market visitor counts

  • Source: [LINK TO FARMERS MARKET REPORTS / PARKS DATA]
  • Use for: Attendance trends, vendor participation, seasonal comparisons, and public-market reporting.
  • Notes to add: Include where visitor counts are reported and whether methodology changed.

Parks and recreation data

  • Source: [LINK TO PARKS BOARD / PARKS REPORTS]
  • Use for: Park usage, program participation, facility projects, trails, events, and capital plans.
  • Notes to add: Include common monthly or annual reports.

Utilities data

  • Source: [LINK TO UTILITIES SERVICE BOARD / CBU DATA]
  • Use for: Water rates, wastewater, stormwater, capital projects, usage, customer classes, and rate cases.
  • Notes to add: Include where to find rate studies, board packets, and filings.

Elections and Voter Data

Monroe County Election Board

  • Source: [LINK TO ELECTION BOARD AGENDAS / MINUTES]
  • Use for: Candidate filings, ballot access, complaints, vote centers, early voting, polling places, and election administration.
  • Notes to add: Include where election board packets and decisions are posted.

Election results

  • Source: [LINK TO MONROE COUNTY ELECTION RESULTS]
  • Use for: Precinct results, turnout, candidate vote totals, referendum results, and historical comparisons.
  • Notes to add: Include how to distinguish unofficial, certified, and historical results.

Campaign finance

  • Source: [LINK TO CAMPAIGN FINANCE FILINGS]
  • Use for: Contributions, expenditures, cash on hand, political committees, and candidate finance reporting.
  • Notes to add: Include state versus local filing locations.

Schools, Libraries, and Other Local Units

MCCSC board materials

  • Source: [LINK TO MCCSC BOARD DOCS]
  • Use for: School board agendas, budgets, contracts, personnel reports, policy changes, enrollment, facilities, and collective bargaining.
  • Notes to add: Include where attachments and full packets are located.

R-BB school board materials

  • Source: [LINK TO RICHLAND-BEAN BLOSSOM BOARD DOCS]
  • Use for: School board actions, budgets, personnel, facilities, and district policy.
  • Notes to add: Include where agendas, minutes, and recordings are stored.

Monroe County Public Library

  • Source: [LINK TO MCPL BOARD MATERIALS]
  • Use for: Library budgets, branches, capital projects, programs, statistics, and board decisions.
  • Notes to add: Include monthly statistics and annual reports.

Township government

  • Source: [LINK TO TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE / TOWNSHIP BOARD SOURCES]
  • Use for: Poor relief, fire protection, township budgets, cemeteries, and township-level decisions.
  • Notes to add: Include how to find township budgets and annual reports.

Business, Development, and Economy

Building permits

  • Source: [LINK TO BUILDING PERMIT DATA]
  • Use for: Construction activity, redevelopment, demolitions, major renovations, and development trends.
  • Notes to add: Include city versus county permit sources.

Planning cases

  • Source: [LINK TO PLANNING CASE PORTAL]
  • Use for: Rezonings, site plans, subdivisions, variances, conditional uses, annexations, and staff reports.
  • Notes to add: Include case numbers, packet locations, and hearing dates.

Business entity records

  • Source: [LINK TO INDIANA SECRETARY OF STATE BUSINESS SEARCH]
  • Use for: Confirming company names, registered agents, creation dates, business addresses, and entity status.
  • Notes to add: Include limitations and cautions about using registered-agent addresses.

Alcohol permits

  • Source: [LINK TO ATC PERMIT SEARCH]
  • Use for: Liquor permits, permit holders, permit types, transfers, renewals, and alcohol-related development stories.
  • Notes to add: Include how to distinguish permit type, ownership, and location.

People, Names, Titles, and Contact Verification

Property records for name spelling

  • Source: [LINK TO PROPERTY RECORDS]
  • Use for: Verifying spellings of property owners, mailing names, and legal ownership names.
  • Notes to add: Include caution that ownership records may not reflect preferred names.

Court records for name spelling

  • Source: [LINK TO COURT RECORDS]
  • Use for: Verifying legal names, party names, attorney names, case numbers, and charges.
  • Notes to add: Include caution that court records may include aliases or outdated addresses.

Government staff directories

  • Source: [LINK TO CITY / COUNTY / SCHOOL / IU DIRECTORIES]
  • Use for: Confirming titles, departments, email addresses, phone numbers, and official spellings.
  • Notes to add: Include which directories are most reliable for current officials.

Candidate filings

  • Source: [LINK TO CANDIDATE FILING SOURCE]
  • Use for: Candidate names, office sought, party affiliation, filing dates, committees, and ballot names.
  • Notes to add: Include distinction between legal name, ballot name, and campaign name.

Public Records Practice

Public records request portals

  • Source: [LINK TO CITY / COUNTY / SCHOOL / IU PUBLIC RECORDS PORTALS]
  • Use for: Requesting records that are not published online.
  • Notes to add: Include contact points, typical response patterns, and agency-specific quirks.

Frequently requested records

  • Source: [PLACEHOLDER FOR INTERNAL NOTES]
  • Use for: Keeping track of records that are repeatedly useful, such as contracts, claims, police data, salary files, GIS exports, inspection records, and email logs.
  • Notes to add: Include suggested wording for future public-records requests.

Records already obtained

  • Source: [LINK TO INTERNAL DOCUMENT LIBRARY / BLOOMDOCS]
  • Use for: Avoiding duplicate requests and preserving source documents for future stories.
  • Notes to add: Include document naming conventions, date format, agency, and story slug.

Common Reporting Questions and Where to Start

How do I verify the spelling of someone’s name?

  • Start with: Property records, court records, official directories, candidate filings, meeting packets, and business entity records.
  • Notes to add: Use multiple sources when possible.

How do I find out what the weather was on a specific date?

  • Start with: National Weather Service daily climate data, official observation stations, and NOAA historical climate data.
  • Notes to add: Identify which station counts as official for the fact being reported.

How do I find out how much a city employee was paid?

  • Start with: City finance data, Indiana Gateway compensation reports, payroll records, and public-records requests.
  • Notes to add: Distinguish salary, wages, overtime, benefits, and total compensation.

How do I find out who owns a property?

  • Start with: Monroe County property records, GIS parcel maps, recorder records, and transfer records.
  • Notes to add: Include parcel number, deed reference, mailing address, and owner name.

How do I find out whether a road is closed?

  • Start with: City road closure map, county highway notices, INDOT map, emergency management alerts, and high-water closure maps.
  • Notes to add: Confirm whether the closure is planned, emergency, weather-related, or event-related.

How do I find out what a board voted on?

  • Start with: Agenda packets, minutes, meeting video, roll-call records, adopted legislation, and staff memos.
  • Notes to add: Verify whether the action was final, postponed, amended, continued, or only discussed.

Maintenance Notes

  • Add exact source links as they are verified.
  • Prefer original source documents over summaries.
  • Preserve links to PDFs and packet attachments when possible.
  • Add notes about quirks, missing data, update frequency, and known limitations.
  • Use consistent date format for internal notes.
  • When a source moves or changes format, keep the old link if it helps explain older citations.
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