Council Meets Monday - CIB Agreement Fast-Tracked

The Council agenda for Monday night's meeting is now available (click here).

Being set for introduction AND final vote this night, is approval of the CIB/OFM agreement for the CIB to kick back 100% of the first year revenue from the increases of car rental and ticket taxes approved last month by the Council, and 25% of those revenues until 2017.  Unless one side backs out in writing, the agreement extends another 4 years.  This is Prop 54 which is posted as a Proposal and an Exhibit A; the latter of which as all the details.  The agreement does say that these monies will go to public safety, but it does not require that it cause an increase in the public safety budget.  So, there is no guarantee that there is any real benefit to public safety.  It is unusual for any proposal, other than those recognition type proposals pronounced with fanfare at the beginning of each Council meeting, not to be sent to a committee for a more thorough review than can be conducted at a full Council meeting.

Being introduced Monday night and sent to committee, are two that caught my eye.  Prop 44 changes the Charter School Ordinance to require the Deputy Mayor for Education to report to the Council whenever it reports to the Indiana State Board of Education on the 4 IPS schools just put under Mayoral control.

Prop 48 changes the body that 'decides' who gets Crime Prevention Grants from the Indy Parks Foundation to the Central Indiana Community Foundation.

On the agenda after going through committee, is Prop 33, which would direct that $3 million in RebuildIndy money go to infrastructure improvements in the Meadows/Avondale area.  The proposal is accompanied by a map of the area in Exhibit A.  This is to supplant the previously tabled TIF proposal. 

Not on the agenda are two proposals tabled indefinitely by the Metropolitan & Economic Development committee.  Prop 274 and 275 urge the MDC and State Legislature, respectively, to adopt the recommendations of the TIF Study Commission.  This Commission was the best thing the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council ever did in the 25 years I've been in this town.  This is the death knell of all that excellent work, killed off by greed and ambition disguised as helping neighborhoods in need.  What the recent work of the Council really does is pull anticipated tax revenues from already developing areas, and uses that money for favored developers and puts basic services at risk - services provided not only by the City, but by the Library, schools, and IndyGo.  The City gets tax dollars from other taxes besides property taxes - the Library, schools, and IndyGo do not.  So, the bottom line is that this Mayor and this Council are quite happy to line the pockets of the favored few, at the expense of the rest of us.

[edited to note:  Councillors Adamson and Mahern voted against the Mass Ave TIF, and Councillors Adamson & Mahern were joined by Brown, Holliday, and Scales in voting against the Mid-North TIF.  Credit should be given where credit is due.]