Gas Tax "Windfall" - Not What the Mayor Makes it Out to Be

Here's how it looked back on August 14, 2013, when IBJ reporter Kathleen McLaughlin penned an article about Mayor Greg Ballard's proposal to float a bond to add revenue to the nearly depleted RebuildIndy fund:

City officials said Thursday that they intend to spend $350 million over the next three years to improve streets, sidewalks, trails and bridges.

Most of that money will come from existing funds, but $135 million will be borrowed against increased state transportation funding.

...The city expects its share of state gas tax revenue to increase by $7 million, and will leverage that into the bond issue.

The increase in gas tax revenue sent to the City from the State was refined to $7.8 million.  That's were it stood on August 29, when the Public Works Committee of the City-County Council rejected Proposal 250.  I noted in a blog entry the next day that the Mayor's statements to the press were far from the truth.

Well, add one more lie to the list.

I received the real gas tax revenue numbers from the State Auditor's office.  The estimated 2013 distribution of the "Motor Vehicle Highway" revenue to the City of Indianapolis and the County of Marion is $20.25 million.  The estimated 2014 distribution is $23.75 million.  That is a difference of $3.5 million.  Less than half of the $7.8 million the Mayor, Bond Bank Director/Deputy Mayor Deron Kintner, and DPW Director Lori Miser have been touting as the windfall that will pay for the bond.



I added the color highlights to better direct attention to the figures applicable to the City and County

As I noted earlier, the Proposal actually called for annual payments of $9 million on the bond.  So, given that the real gas tax revenue increase is a paltry (by comparison) $3.5 million - they had plans to tap $5.5 million every year for 30 years of money that is usually needed for other things in DPW.  That's not only taking the next generation's increased gas tax, its also trading existing services that by rights should remain in place for the next 3 decades.

There still remains the $240 million of revenue that is already earmarked for road and sidewalk repair over the next 3 years - and that is no small amount of money.

But, to hear Greg Ballard tell it, if the Council does not allow the City to float this additional bond, there will be no infrastructure improvements at all.  That's the story he and his administration are repeating to the media, to the neighborhoods, and to the Council.  It is all a pack of lies.  Mayor Ballard even went so far as to accost Democrat At-Large Councillor Zach Adamson at the Hob Nob with "We're going to murder you guys on this.  You're dead."

They must think they have a lock on the press, a lock on what information gets to the neighborhoods, and a lock on the facts as they prefer to make them out to be.  They must think we are all stupid.

As more of the truth comes out, and it will, I am increasingly grateful to the members of the Public Works committee who voted against this fiscally unsound and cynically presented Proposal to float these bonds - Councillors Vernon Brown, Pam Hickman, Bill Oliver, Monroe Gray, and Zach Adamson.

There's Exaggerating - Then There's Outright Lying

I attended last night's Public Works committee meeting for two items - the proposed hike in stormwater management fees and the budget.  Among other agenda items, there was Prop 250, which looked to use some new gas tax money from the state, to float bonds to pay for infrastructure improvements.

Gary Welsh over at Advance Indiana, and Jon Murray over at IndyStar, both did a good job relaying particulars.

The late night newscast by WTHR, channel 13, however, did not do a good job.  All they did was quote the Mayor's press release - which was so far beyond exaggeration as to be an outright lie.

Here's what the press release said, from Murray's report:

“Democrats on the City-County Council turned their backs on every neighborhood in Indianapolis,” Ballard said in a written statement. “By placing politics ahead of the best interests of the community, they rejected a plan that would have provided sidewalks in many of our neighborhoods, repaved every one of our worst streets, made our bridges safer and fixed flooding problems in some of our poorest neighborhoods.”

Lie, lie, lie.

Here are the particulars from last night's debate on floating these bonds.

The state is sending the City/County an additional amount of money from the gas tax revenue it receives.  Lori Miser, head of DPW, and Deron Kintner, head of the bond bank/deputy mayor, said it was $7.8 million in new money.  Hope Tribble, CFO for the Council, said it was $6.2 million.  This is not guaranteed every year, although it appears that the State has committed to try to send it - if they can.  The gas tax has been a hot topic in Washington for years now, as it is not as much of a revenue source for transportation as they would like.

In either case, the proposal was to pay $9 million per year in debt service on new bonds.  Depending upon the interest rate at the moment the bonds were floated, this could generate anywhere from $135 - $150 million.  The bonds would be paid back over 30 years - so the taxpayers would spend $270 million over time to get maybe $150 million now.  That computes to paying $120 million in interest and fees - nearly half.

The City would add this $135 million to money it will spend on infrastructure anyway, to make a grand total of $350 million in spending over the next 3 years.  Without bonding, they would have $242 million to spend over the next 3 years (I added the $9 million per year to the base $215 million).  So, the City can still repave 'every one of our worst streets', and make 'our bridges safer'.  The flooding issues I'll leave to another blog post.  Suffice it to say, the City doesn't direct stormwater projects to the poorest neighborhoods in any case - they direct the money to flooded neighborhoods.

DPW has been circulating a list of infrastructure projects that total between $500 and $600 million.  Of course, any neighborhood looks to see if it's roads are listed.  But that is clearly far more projects than can be done with the money - bond or no bond.

So, the pivotal question was, is it fiscally sound to borrow additional funds using a shaky revenue source as collateral?

The committee vote was along party lines - 5 to 2.  The Democrats were fiscally responsible, choosing to avoid the situation where an unreliable stream of money from the State would be used to float bonds that would have to be repaid even if the State stops sending that extra.  If the extra money continues to come in, well we and the next generation will have $270 million to spend on streets and sidewalks.

I just don't understand why $242 million is somehow chump change to spend on infrastructure over the next 3 years, and why we have to continually reach into the pockets of the next generation to get what we want today - and wasting half of the money we steal from them on interest and fees, to boot.  There should be no sin in patience, prudence, and protecting the next generation.  There is, however, a sin in lying to the public.  Shame on Mayor Ballard for lying and shame on WTHR for passing that lie along as the entire story to its viewers.

The Insane Priorities of the Ballard Administration

The first half of at least $5.8 million from RebuildIndy funds to be used for the insane cricket/Gaelic sports complex in Councillor Ben Hunter's district was spent yesterday.  This action comes despite no basis in sanity for such a complex and despite no private partner to help with the cost and/or to reap the Ballard fantasize rewards.

Fellow blogger Gary Welsh put it well this morning over on Advance Indiana:

Streets and sidewalks are crumbling, crime is skyrocketing, IMPD has fewer police officers patrolling the streets than the day Mayor Greg Ballard took office in January, 2008 and the budgets of city agencies across the board are being slashed to make up for a multi-million dollar budget deficit, but Mayor Greg Ballard insists on spending millions of dollars intended for infrastructure improvements on a new world sports park on the city's east side that he hopes will play host to international cricketing events.
 

IndyStar reporter, Jon Murray, reports that none of the three Council appointees showed up for the vote.  The three Board of Public Works appointees from the Mayor's office joined with DPW Director, Lori Miser, to vote 4-0 in favor.

The Council appointees need to explain why they were not there, especially given the gravity of the vote.  The Council Democrat leadership wants to say the Council has been cut out of this decision, but that is not entirely so.  Ducking important issues by standing on the sidelines is not leadership.  The lack of votes by the three Council appointees, if left unexplained, leaves the option that the Democrat leadership wants this cricket nonsense to go forward as much as Ballard does, as a reasonable opinion for members of the public to hold.

I do have to note that some Councillors did weigh in - as I cited two days ago -- Councillors Zach Adamson and Christine Scales, in particular.

Meanwhile, the priorities of the Ballard administration continue to spiral out of the realm of an sane policy and have clearly entered the Twilight Zone. 

Let us all remember this come budget time, when the Council Democrat leadership and the Ballard administration join hands to eliminate the Homestead Credit from property tax bills and when they cut services and when they lay off cops and firefighters (either directly or through attrition).  Let us remember the insanity of this cricket crap.

Public Works Board - August 22, 2012 - Sounds Like Regular Park Improvements

Still scanning through the Public Works Board meetings for discussions of the 'Gaelic Sports' complex to be known as World Sports Park.

On August 22, 2012, the Board voted on an amendment to the lone contract let for this venture to that date.  The way I hear it, it sounds like enhancements to an existing park and not much more.  Certainly not anything that DPW Director, Lori Miser, said would cost between $10 and $15 million.  (BTW, at Monday night's Public Works Committee of the City Council meeting, Miser said the total cost was $6.8 million - no explanation of the difference from the estimated price tag just 4 months earlier.)

A Board member had to ask where this park is located.  Here is the short segment of the meeting that dealt with the WSP.