City debts may total in the billions, as indicated by a 1994 report prepared by the Census Bureau. The report showed outstanding long-term debt for cities with populations of 500,000 or more. But the story doesn't end there. Like other cities across the county, Normal had issued bonds to help finance capital improvement projects. Investors buy these bonds, and the money they pay is used by cities to cover project costs.
Cities then repay the loaned money with interest, just as a homeowner repays a mortgage.
In 1988, a member of Normal's city council, Kent Karraker, proposed that the city establish a policy of not using bonded indebtedness to finance capital projects. Karraker was re-elected in 1997 with 80 percent of the vote. This brought Normal's sales tax in line with that of surrounding cities. Because Normal and its twin city of Bloomington are popular shopping areas for people in surrounding counties, the sales tax has generated a substantial amount of revenue. Normal is a university community with a large student population, and much of the city's police effort is concentrated on alcohol-related problems.