Councillor Cain, a Republican, was absent.
Admissions Tax Increase --
Voting for were Democrats Barth, Brown, Hickman, Lewis, Moriarty, Osili, Robinson & Talley and Republicans Shreve, Gooden, Holliday, Hunter, Lutz, McQuillen, Miller & Pfisterer
Voting against were Democrats Adamson, Evans, Gray, Mahern, Mansfield, Mascari, Oliver & Simpson and Republicans Freeman, McHenry, Sandlin & ScalesCar Rental Tax Increase --
Voting for were Democrats Barth, Brown, Hickman, Lewis, Moriarty, Osili, Robinson & Talley and Republicans Shreve, Freeman, Gooden, Hunter, McHenry, McQuillen, Miller & Pfisterer
Voting against were Democrats Adamson, Evans, Gray, Mahern, Mansfield, Mascari, Oliver & Simpson and Republicans Holliday, Lutz, Sandlin & ScalesDemocrats each voted the same on each tax increase. Republicans Freeman and McHenry voted no on the ticket tax and yes on the car rental tax, while Holliday and Lutz swapped with them to vote yes on the ticket tax and no on the car rental tax increases.
In both cases there were just enough votes to pass the two tax increases. So, the new Councillor Shreve can be said to have cast the decisive vote each time. Shreve's qualifications to serve as a Councillor have been called into question due to residency issues. [edited to add: I've had a brain meltdown - it takes 15 votes to pass an ordinance by a simple majority, so Shreve was a cushion of one vote]
Meanwhile, Prop 291, the Mid-North TIF that adds another square mile to Indy's already burdensome TIFs saw a motion to amend and a vote.
The bright star of the Council's freshman class, Zach Adamson, introduced an amendment to exclude the Broad Ripple parking garage from the TIF. This garage is being built with $6.4 million of taxpayer funds, which we all were told would be recouped in property tax revenues.
The vote to amend was defeated, with 6 voting yes and 22 voting no.
Those voting yes were Democrats Adamson, Brown, Evans, Mahern & Oliver and Republican Scales
Those voting no were Democrats Barth, Gray, Hickman, Lewis, Mansfield, Mascari, Moriarty, Osili, Robinson, Simpson & Talley and Republicans Shreve, Freeman, Gooden, Holliday, Hunter, Lutz, McHenry, McQuillen, Miller, Pfisterer & SandlinThe vote to pass the proposal garnered 23 yes votes and 5 no votes, with Evans and Oliver siding with the yes votes and Holliday moving to the no vote camp.
Those voting for the TIF were Democrats Barth, Evans, Gray, Hickman, Lewis, Mansfield, Mascari, Moriarty, Oliver, Osili, Robinson, Simpson & Talley and Republicans Shreve, Freeman, Gooden, Hunter, Lutz, McHenry, McQuillen, Miller, Pfisterer & Sandlin
Those voting against the TIF were Democrats Adamson, Brown & Mahern and Republicans Holliday & ScalesOn the 4 Charter Schools proposals, here are those voting no on each:
Prop 429 (Excel Center Lafayette Square) Democrats Evans and Oliver
Prop 430 (Indiana Math and Science Academy - South) Democrats Evans, Lewis, Oliver & Robinson
Prop 432 (VBP Indy, Inc) Democrats Evans, Lewis, Oliver & Robinson
Prop 433 (Vision Academy) Democrats Evans, Lewis, Oliver & Robinson
All other Councillors (except Cain, who was absent) voted for.
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4 comments:
I think Mahern has the right idea, our councilors need to fess up about all the perks they receive and they need to be reporting those perks as gifts and / or income.
Then we need to lobby our state reps to either sunset the CIB tax increases or better yet sunset the CIB.
Anon, a proposal has been introduced into the legislature to sunset the tax increases at 10 years, to correspond with the time frame to repay the state loan extended when the CIB asked for a bailout a few years back. The authority to raise the car rental and admissions taxes was explicitly given by the state legislature to the City if needed to repay that state loan. But even though it's not needed for that purpose, they decided to max out the taxes anyway and give 75% of the revenue to the CIB for general operations.
The issue here in Marion County is the city keeps crying for money, and the CIB keeps crying for money and no one can find where all the money really goes. We paid 1% on food and beverages to build the Hoosier Dome and yet that bond debt was rolled in Lucas. We increased COIT 65% to add police and that didn't happen. We got a federal grant to add police and that didn't happen. Sidebar, when you have a federal grant and you don't spend the money as specified in the grant the feds make you repay the grant. Hint, hint, hey feds you awake out there? The state picked up a portion of the police and fire pensions and yet the public safety budget keeps increasing while police and fire personnel are lower then ever. We consolidated the police and fire departments to save money and those budgets keep increasing. The CIB crys we're broke and a pilot isn't legal and then dump another 10 million in the Pacer's lap. There isn't an honest politician in this town anymore they are all in the pockets of the downtown law firms, construction companies and bond counsels. IKt's only going to get worse!
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