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Commission urges city to restore urban forestry funding, adopts resolution
Summary
The Bloomington Commission on Sustainability adopted Resolution 2025-02 urging city decision-makers to address a decline in real-terms funding for urban forestry as tree inventory and responsibilities grew. The commission amended the resolution to cite the city—s Urban Forestry Plan and to note costs of removing and replacing invasive trees.
The Bloomington Commission on Sustainability voted to adopt Resolution 2025-02, urging the city to address a decline in real-terms funding for the municipal urban forestry program as the number of trees the department manages has grown.
The commission—s action calls attention to data discussed during the meeting showing the inventory of public trees had roughly doubled since 2019 while the department—s budget has not kept pace once adjusted for inflation. Tara Dunderdale, chair of the commission, said the amendments were intended to point council and the mayor—s office to the city—s own Urban Forestry Plan and the plan—s goals for health, equity and tree canopy management.
"Whereas the city's Urban Forestry Plan states ..." Dunderdale proposed, and the commission added text quoting the plan to the resolution during discussion. Commissioners also added language noting that the cost of removing and replacing invasive species (for example, Norway maple and other nonnative trees) can be substantial and is a reason to sustain proactive maintenance funding.
Commissioners framed the resolution as urging the city to consider long-term costs of underfunding reactive tree care. Commissioner Justin Vassell and others described research the commission reviewed showing that jurisdictions that under-resource urban forestry tend to spend more for episodic contractor responses and removals, rather than routine care and planting.
Alex York proposed, and the commission approved, an amendment to highlight the expense of "removing and replacing invasive trees such as Norway maple" as an additional justification for steady funding; York said the clause was meant to strengthen the budget case, not to prescribe operational tactics to the forestry crew.
Council Member Dave Rallo, participating as the council liaison, confirmed that the mayor—s office and city council would be appropriate recipients of the commission—s recommendation and that budget reconciliation could follow. Dunderdale said the commission would finalize the resolution text and forward it to city council and the mayor—s office.
The resolution passed in a roll-call vote recorded as 10 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain (final tally announced in meeting). The commission voted earlier to amend the agenda so the urban forestry resolution would be heard prior to final budget-related items.
The commission asked staff to deliver the finalized resolution to the mayor—s office, the city council, and the city—s urban forestry program for consideration during budget and planning discussions.
The adopted resolution and its amendments now form a formal advisory request from the commission to Bloomington City decision-makers to revisit real-dollar funding levels for urban forestry and to consider longer-term, proactive staffing and maintenance strategies.
