Monday, June 3, 2013

Homestead Credit Dog and Pony Show On the Road This Week

It turns out the Commission on whether or not the Homestead Credit should be eliminated has the same agenda every night.  This includes a presentation by Policy Analytics and another by City Controller, Jason Dudich.  The Commission webpage provides links to the two PowerPoint presentations as well as a report by Policy Analytics.
Here are the public meetings this week:
Monday, June 3, 2013 (6:00 p.m.)    Library Services Center, 2450 N. Meridian Street
Tuesday, June 4, 2013 (6:00 p.m.)    Fay Biccard Glick Neighborhood Center, 2990 W. 71st Street  
Wednesday, June 5, 2013 (6:00 p.m.)  Warren MSD Education and Community Center, 975 N. Post Rd.
A final meeting will be held on June 24, beginning at 6 pm in room 118 of the City-County Building.

2 comments:

Gary R. Welsh said...

I don't know if you caught it but the report by Dudich was useless garbage. Only the presentation by the other outside analyst presented a well-rounded, unbiased view of the credit. That broken record known as Marilyn Pfisterer started up again claiming that Marion Co. was one of only a handful of counties that had not eliminated it. Fortunately, someone with a brain in the room pointed out to her that only a small minority of the counties in the state had ever enacted the credit, and that it was adopted in Marion Co. to deal with issues peculiar to this county. Of course, she doesn't care. She and her husband have lived off the taxpayers their entire adult lives and could care less if taxpayers are required to pay higher taxes. It's disappointing that so many of the members of the Commission are people who have already made up their mind that eliminating the credit was the thing to do. The commission's focus is too narrow. Instead of looking at the financial gain to the city by getting rid of the credit without regard to the impact it has on other taxing districts, there should be a broader focus on how much the property tax base has been decimated by the actions of this administration in expanding TIFs and continuously granting new tax abatements to select businesses, while passing out hundreds of millions in tax dollars for private real estate development projects.

Had Enough Indy? said...

Actually, I was fascinated by the numbers he provided relative to next year's tax revenues. Tax revenues will rise by some $30 million, and yet, somehow, we are in dire straights.

I think the real reason they want to rescind the homestead credit is in order to clear the decks with the Legislature - hey look, we did everything you allowed us to do and we still need more money - in order to get a tax increase.

You might note that an agenda item included whether or not there is need to change how COIT money is distributed. I expect that is so the schools, etc, join with the City in lobbying for COIT changes. But, you can bet your last tax dollar that the city will not share its COIT funds. The only solution will be for a fat increase in local income taxes.