2013 Salaries - City, County, and Township Employees Over $100,000 and Elected Officials

With budget time soon upon us, I began wondering what salaries are being given out.  I was familiar with the huge hike that those in the Mayor's Office took last year, but didn't have any idea what others made.

To gather the salary information, I visited the State's Gateway information website and downloaded the 2013 salaries for all City, County, and Township employees.  The only ones I could not find on the site were the Constables.

Here are the salaries of those making over $100,000 that year, as well as the salary of each elected official, with the exception of the Constables.

City of Indianapolis

There are 79 City employees who made over $100,000, including Mayor Greg Ballard, who was compensated with $102,620.10.  Public Safety folks take home very nice paychecks.  A couple stood out, which I emphasized in red, as they seemed to make a higher salary than their superiors.  I think it might be interesting if the press asked questions about IMPD overtime again.

(The salary of Vernon Brown is the combined figure for his IFD duties and his Council duties)

Employee		Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
Riggs, David T		Department of Public Safety	Director Of Public Safety	$138,859.52
Sanford, Brian L		Department of Public Safety	Chief Of Fire	$135,067.70
Malone, Ernest V		Department of Public Safety	Assistant Chief	$130,859.14
Duke, Michael E		Department of Public Safety	DWI Enforcement Sergeant	$129,590.77
Borel, Art J		Department of Public Safety	Deputy Chief	$122,832.22
Arney, Matthew E		Department of Public Safety	900 BIWK 649	$121,324.78
Bacon, Kenneth A		Department of Public Safety	Deputy Chief	$120,272.50
Vaughn, Michael		Mayor's Office	Chief Of Staff	$120,119.88
Kloth, Jason		Mayor's Office	Deputy Mayor of Education	$119,999.88
Williams, Olgen		Mayor's Office	Deputy Mayor-Neighborhoods	$119,999.36
Wager, Jeffrey L		Department of Public Safety	Homicide Unit Supervisor	$119,635.17
Stovall, Alphonso		Department of Public Safety	Deputy Chief	$119,223.89
McAtee, Joseph B		Department of Public Safety	Traffic Enforcement Lieutenant	$118,767.73
Hite, Richard A		Department of Public Safety	Chief Of Police	$117,307.20
Riddle, Barry K		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$117,054.18
Hiser, Dennis P		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$116,817.58
Owens, David W		Department of Public Safety	Battalion Chief	$115,321.57
Hicks, Ronald W		Department of Public Safety	Assistant Chief	$115,116.83
Lorah, William D		Department of Public Safety	Deputy Chief	$114,916.37
Brown, Vernon A		Department of Public Safety	Battalion Chief, Councillor	$114,784.78
Haslar, Scott L		Department of Public Safety	East District Commander	$114,358.43
Crowe, Lloyd E		Department of Public Safety	Deputy Chief of Training	$114,146.66
Bates, Michael G		Department of Public Safety	Homeland Security Bureau Comm	$114,104.32
Cunningham, Valerie J		Department of Public Safety	Deputy Chief Admin/Prof Stds	$113,450.48
McCrary, Paul A		Department of Public Safety	Deputy Chief	$113,135.12
Hansman, James D		Department of Public Safety	Division Chief	$111,199.15
Crooks, George E		Department of Public Safety	Traffic Invest Section Supv	$111,001.59
Ruegsegger, Glen I		Department of Public Safety	Strategic Tech Unit Supv	$110,998.17
Turner, James D		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$110,856.77
Thies, Adam		Department of Metropolitan Dev	Director-DMD	$109,999.76
Breedlove, John J		Department of Public Safety	Homicide Unit Supervisor	$109,025.43
Martin, Jerry		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$108,882.29
Harris, David A		Department of Public Safety	Senior Battalion Chief	$106,809.97
Walker, John F		Department of Public Safety	Division Chief	$106,662.34
Brandon, David		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$106,339.99
Medvescek, John A		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$106,095.80
Bieberich, Gregory P		Department of Public Safety	Major	$105,974.44
Boomershine, Christopher N		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$105,529.64
DeHart, Michael D		Department of Public Safety	Field Lieutenant	$105,432.16
Arnett, Karen D		Department of Public Safety	Downtown District Commander	$105,224.60
Lotter, Marc		Mayor's Office	Director-Communications	$105,118.40
Baughman, Timothy A		Department of Public Safety	Division Chief	$104,821.91
Koppel, Thomas J		Department of Public Safety	North District Commander	$104,563.03
Roach, Bryan K		Department of Public Safety	Southwest District Commander	$104,547.63
Price, Michael A		Department of Public Safety	Assistant Division Commander	$104,412.29
Williams, Wayne A		Department of Public Safety	Engineer	$104,355.24
Reuter, Phillip D		Department of Public Safety	Battalion Chief	$104,312.40
Basey, Carl O		Department of Public Safety	Engineer	$104,300.54
Waters, James		Department of Public Safety	Prof Standards Admin Asst	$104,105.40
Taylor, Randal P		Department of Public Safety	Community  Affairs Commander	$103,586.04
Fries, Gerard T		Department of Public Safety	Homeland Security Asst Cmmdr	$103,458.42
Graham, Steve A		Department of Public Safety	Private First Class	$103,364.10
Kern, Thomas J		Department of Public Safety	District Crime Specialist	$102,869.87
Dehner, James J		Department of Public Safety	Engineer	$102,856.74
Felgen, Todd R		Department of Public Safety	Battalion Chief	$102,705.51
Hopkins, William A		Department of Public Safety	Engineer	$102,685.08
Ballard, Gregory		Mayor's Office	Mayor	$102,620.10
White, Kevin F		Department of Public Safety	Lieutenant	$102,530.31
Mahone, Brian L		Department of Public Safety	Northwest District Commander	$102,501.52
Musgrave, Dennis L		Department of Public Safety	Battalion Chief	$102,113.13
Longerich, Richard F		Department of Public Safety	Battalion Chief	$102,108.72
Todd, Warren C		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$102,057.09
Williamson, Anthony P		Department of Public Safety	Battalion Chief	$102,006.12
McCardia, Mark E		Department of Public Safety	Field Lieutenant	$101,873.45
Garza, Mario		Department of Public Safety	Lieutenant	$101,844.00
Feeney, Daniel J		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$101,758.37
Culver, Mark D		Department of Public Safety	Battalion Chief	$101,742.58
White, Brian F		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$101,712.62
Rech, Donald M		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$101,681.29
Converse, Craig M		Department of Public Safety	Homicide/Robbery Branch Cmdr	$100,870.61
Olofson, Scott A		Department of Public Safety	Battalion Chief	$100,578.48
Kautsky, Ronald S		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$100,513.28
Grass, Shawn		Department of Public Safety	Battalion Chief	$100,458.83
Greatbatch, Mark L		Department of Public Safety	Lieutenant	$100,346.84
Conley, John M		Department of Public Safety	Commander	$100,343.86
Vansant, Richard A		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$100,198.56
Reith, Rita L		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$100,069.90
Hofmeister, Eric		Department of Public Safety	Lieutenant	$100,069.33
Zeronik, Robert J		Department of Public Safety	Captain	$100,012.77

City Elected Officials

The salaries shown for Vernon Brown and Steve Talley are the combined paychecks from their City jobs and their Council duties.  Mary Moriarty Adams made an additional $70,470.29 from her job in the Assessor's office, which is reported with the County salaries.

Employee			Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
Brown, Vernon A			City County Council, Dept Public Safety	Councilor-Majority Leader, Battalion Chief	$114,784.78
Ballard, Gregory			Mayor's Office	Mayor	$102,620.10
Talley, James S			City County Council, Dept Public Safety	Councilor-Committee Chair, Crimewatch Specialist	$52,716.53
Lewis, Maggie			City County Council	Councilor-President	$17,281.94
Robinson, Leroy			City County Council	Councilor-Committee Chair	$16,406.86
Moriarty Adams, Mary B*			City County Council	Councilor-Committee Chair	$16,035.12
Oliver, William			City County Council	Councilor-Committee Chair	$16,031.12
Hickman, Pamela			City County Council	Councilor-Chair	$15,619.16
Gray, Monroe			City County Council	Councilor-Committee Chair	$15,427.12
Simpson, Joseph			City County Council	Councilor-Committee Chair	$15,423.96
McQuillen, Michael			City County Council	Councillor-Minority Leader	$15,317.98
Barth, John			City County Council	Councilor-Vice President	$15,289.20
Mascari, Frank			City County Council	Councilor	$15,051.96
Mansfield, Angela			City County Council	Councilor-Committee Chair	$15,017.12
Adamson, Zach			City County Council	Councilor	$14,927.96
Pfisterer, Marilyn			City County Council	Councilor	$14,927.96
Sandlin, Jack E			City County Council	Councilor	$14,704.22
Hunter, Benjamin			City County Council	Councilor	$14,703.96
Miller, Jeffrey			City County Council	Councilor	$14,617.96
Freeman, Aaron			City County Council	Councilor	$14,505.96
Osili, Ifeanyi			City County Council	Councilor	$14,467.96
McHenry, Janice			City County Council	Councilor	$14,365.96
Cain, Virginia			City County Council	Councilor	$14,331.96
Gooden, William W			City County Council	Councilor	$14,245.96
Lutz, Robert			City County Council	Councilor	$14,121.96
Holliday, Jason C			City County Council	Councilor	$13,997.96
Scales, Christine			City County Council	Councilor	$13,944.22
Mahern, Brian			City County Council	Councilor	$13,463.96
Evans, Jose			City County Council	Councilor-Committee Chair	$13,336.22
Shreve, Jefferson S			City County Council	Councilor	$11,912.58

County of Marion

Below is the list of the 31 County employees who made more than $100,000 in 2013.  Terry Curry's salary is almost entirely paid by the State, rather than the County.

Employee			Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
Curry, Terry R*			County Prosecutor	Marion County Prosecutor	$141,648.58
Hill, Robert J			Public Defender Agency	Chief Public Defender	$135,440.49
Layton, John R			County Sheriff	Sheriff	$132,345.20
Sutton, Ann M			Public Defender Agency	Chief Counsel	$110,110.31
Talley-Sanders, Eva C			County Sheriff	Chief Deputy	$106,279.79
Howen, Elizabeth			Information Services Agency	Chief Information Officer	$100,855.47
Logsdon, Shannon L			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner, Seasonal Election Clerk	$100,637.82
Alt, John S			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,518.08
Batties, Mark D			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,518.08
Ferree, Marcia J			Circuit Court	Court Commissioner, Seasonal Election Clerk	$100,518.08
Flannelly, Anne M			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner, Seasonal Election Clerk	$100,518.08
Flowers, Shatrese M			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,518.08
Hart, Peggy R			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,518.08
Johnson, Kenneth H			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,518.08
Kern, Marie L			Circuit Court	Court Commissioner	$100,518.08
Kroh, Stanley E			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner, Seasonal Election Clerk	$100,518.08
Marchal, Jeffrey L			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,518.08
Shook, Deborah J			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,518.08
Boyce, John J			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,517.82
Broadwell, Marshelle D			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,517.82
Hooper, David M			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,517.82
Horvath, Valerie			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,517.82
Jones, Mark A			Circuit Court	Court Commissioner	$100,517.82
Klineman, Christina R			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,517.82
Lynch, Sheryl L			Circuit Court	Court Commissioner	$100,517.82
Murphy, Alex R			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,517.82
Murphy, Hugh P			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,517.82
Renner, Mark F			Circuit Court	Court Commissioner	$100,517.82
Reyome, Jason G			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner	$100,517.82
Vivo, Tiffany U			Marion Superior Court	Court Commissioner, Seasonal Election Clerk	$100,517.82
Medler, Michael M			County Forensic Services	Director Forensic Services	$100,019.88

County Elected Officials

Below are the salaries of those elected to County Office.  Mary Moriarty Adams made an additional $16,035.12 for her duties as City-County Councillor, for a total of $86,505.41.

Employee			Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
Curry, Terry R*			County Prosecutor	Marion County Prosecutor	$141,648.58
Layton, John R			County Sheriff	Sheriff	$132,345.20
White, Elizabeth L			County Clerk	Marion County Clerk, Election Board	$80,499.54
Breaux, Billie J			County Auditor	Marion County Auditor	$76,619.54
Fuentes, Claudia O			County Treasurer	Marion County Treasurer	$76,619.28
O'Connor, Joseph P			County Assessor	Marion County Assessor	$71,500.04
Voorhies, Julie L			County Recorder	Marion County Recorder	$70,500.04
Moriarty Adams, Mary B~			County Assessor	Director Of Administration/CFO	$70,470.29
Jenkins, Debra S			County Surveyor	Marion County Surveyor	$57,766.80
Lloyd, Frank P			County Coroner	Marion County Coroner	$38,620.80

Township Elected Officials

Of the Townships, only Wayne had employees making over $100,000 in 2013.  Those are listed along with the pay for Trustees and Small Claims Court Judges.  Only Decatur, Wayne, and Pike Townships still have their own Fire Departments.

Center

Employee			Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
Akers , Eugene W				Trustee	$92,249.82
Smith Scott, Michelle				Judge	$68,971.24

Decatur

Employee			Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
Rink, Stephen C			Decatur Civil Township	Twp. Trustee	$78,306.00
Hockman, Myron E			Decatur Civil Township	Judge	$62,602.00

Franklin

Employee			Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
Kitley, John A			Elected	Small Claims Court Judge	$104,020.06
Hughes, Ross P			Elected	Trustee	$54,119.79

Lawrence

Employee			Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
Rehme, Clark				Judge	$59,999.94
Brown, Russell L				Trustee	$40,000.22

Perry

Employee			Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
Spear, Robert S			Small Claims Court	Judge	$59,501.00
Moriarty, Daniel T			Trustee's Office	Trustee	$51,519.78

Pike

Employee			Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
Patton, Lula M			Sm Cl Court	Trustee	$69,440.13
Stephens, A D			Sm Cl Court	Judge	$69,439.50

Warren

Employee			Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
Graves, Garland			Small Claims Court	Small Claims Court Judge	$67,657.00
Bennett, Jeffrey D			Trustee's Office	Township Trustee	$47,520.00

Washington

Employee			Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
Poore, Steven			Small Claim Court	Judge	$70,573.29
Short, Frank			Township	Trustee	$51,966.25

Wayne

Employee			Department	Job Title/Duties	Compensation in 2013
KONZEN, GENE R			Wayne Township Trustee	Firefighter	$107,837.08
SCOTT, RICHARD			Wayne Township Trustee	Firefighter	$105,650.70
STEWART, MATTHEW D			Wayne Township Trustee	Firefighter	$103,209.50
HARRIS, ANDREW			Wayne Township Trustee	Trustee	$84,397.04
VAUGHN, DANNY			Wayne Township Trustee	Judge	$63,846.12

Make of this information what you will.

School Board Candidates Can File Now

The Election Board began accepting the paperwork for School Board Candidates on July 23.  These forms must be received by noon, Friday, August 22.

This is the first year that school board elections will take place in the general election, where turnout is much greater than in the spring's primary election.

Here is what the Election Board website has to say about school board offices:

School Board candidates follow a different process to run for office. The do not run in a primary election as their offices are considered non-partisan. These offices appear on the ballot in November’s general election. Candidates also file petitions with their local Election Board in order for their name to appear on the ballot. Before downloading the resource packet below, candidates are encouraged to contact their local school corporation to understand their residency and other office requirements adopted by their School Board as required by state law.

If you are interested, the Marion County Election Board has put together a somewhat intimidating School Board Candidate Resource Packet.  The first page contains an excellent summary of the high points and you should read that thoroughly.  The packet includes all the forms you might have to use (some usually aren't needed as most school board candidates don't raise or spend over $500).  Most of the rest of the information is from the State and includes information for everything from a political party to candidates running for statewide office to those running for local offices.  So look for those items relevant to school board candidates.

In order to get your name on the ballot, there are two forms that must be completed, notarized, and turned in together.  Both are included in the packet.  Again, the deadline for filing these is noon, Friday, August 22.

Of particular interest is the information regarding required disclaimers that must appear on any literature or goodie you would hand out.  There is a nice summary on page 35 of the pdf and a thorough discussion on pages 200-202.

The Election Board website lists the following as school board seats up for election in November:

IPS (1 At-Large Seat and Districts 3 and 5)

Beech Grove Schools (3 At-Large Seats)

MSD Decatur Twp (3 Seats)

CSC Franklin Twp (1 At-Large Seat, NE District, SE District)

MSD Lawrence Twp (1 At-Large Seat, District 2)

MSD Perry Twp (District 1 - 3 Seats)

MSD Pike Twp (3 At-Large Seats)

MSD Warren Twp (3 At-Large Seats)

MSD Washington Twp (2 Seats)

MSD Wayne Twp (4 At-Large Seats) 

You'll have to scroll down the page for the school districts, but here is a link to the various school board districts:  http://www.indy.gov/eGov/County/Clerk/Election/Voter_Info/Pages/Precinct%20Maps%20and%20Information.aspx

If you have questions, the Election office is very helpful.  327-5100 is their number.

Vernon Brown Resigns Council Seat

One of my favorite Councillors is resigning his Council seat, effective August 1. 

Vernon Brown has represented parts of Warren Township since 2003.  He works as a Battalion Chief for IFD, and according to a new state law, cannot serve on the Council in a new term, since the Council oversees IFD's budget. 

He is currently running for Warren Township Trustee.  The City-County 2015 budget process should begin within the next couple of weeks and stretch through to early October.  The budget is time-consuming and effort-zapping.  Brown doesn't want to short change either the budget process or his campaign, so has taken the step to move forward with the campaign.

I'll miss Brown on the Council.  We certainly don't agree on everything, but that's not why I like someone anyway.  Whenever I asked Brown a question, he always answered it straight.  He's a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy; and I appreciate that forthrightness.

I'll particularly miss his occasional back and forth repartee with fellow Warren Councillor, Ben Hunter.  It was often the only real public discussion of some rather important issues.  I don't know if Hunter will miss them as much as I, but he gave as good as he got.

So, I just wanted to take a moment to thank Vernon Brown for his service to the community through his work on the Council.  Good luck, be safe, and thank you.

IndyStar Needs Better Fact Checking

It is imperative in a one-daily newspaper town, that said paper get important facts correct.  That is even more imperative when said paper was just awarded $3 million of taxpayer money by the Mayor of that town, for improvements to property it is currently trying to sell.

Such is the situation with the Indianapolis Star.

In an editorial in yesterday's paper and a front page story in today's issue, the Star takes on the topic of fixing Indy's roads and sidewalks.  Neither time did the Star take the opportunity to mention that one side portrayed in the debate, Mayor Greg Ballard, just awarded them the $3 million taxpayer gift.

Here are the facts that the Star apparently cannot grasp.

There have been 3 proposals put on the table and 2 still to be introduced to the Council.

1) Last year the Mayor proposed the City undertake a $350 million project, dubbed Rebuild Indy 2.  Most of the money was already on hand and would be supplemented with a $135 million, 30 year, bond issue.  The bond issue alone was presented to the Council - not the remaining $215 million cost of the proposal being touted by Mayor Ballard. 

Now the wisdom of taking a 30 loan for at best a 20 year improvement is debatable.  Never to my knowledge noted in the press was the circulation of a list of projects that neighborhoods were led to believe could be paid for if only RBI 2 was passed.  Not true.  The list was for twice as much money as RBI 2 would raise. 

Important questions never asked were : Why not go forward with the $215 million in projects for which the cash was already in hand?  Why were you misleading the public with the list of projects?

2) After this year's severe winter, the spring pothole problem was far worse than usual.  According to the Mayor's own estimates, the tab was an additional $24 million - yet he only requested $8 million.

Unasked questions : Why only ask for a third of what you say you need?  Why not clarify to the public that RBI 2 has nothing whatsoever to do with pothole repair? 

The $8 million proposal was passed by the Council after changes were made to ensure that every Council District saw some of the pothole money and repairs.

3) The Council Democrats put forth a proposal for the remaining $16 million that Mayor Ballard said was needed for pothole repair.  This proposal passed the Council, as well.

4) The Mayor still has $215 million in cash on hand for street and sidewalk projects.  But, he continues to hold that money and those projects hostage.  He now proposes that the $215 million be supplemented with only $85 million bond to be repaid over 20 years. 

The same question still applies : Why don't you do the projects you already have the money to do, and work out the remaining funding piece later? 

This new version of RBI 2 is being paraded around to the press and the public in generalities only.  Concrete details have not been released and the proposal has not yet been introduced to the Council.

5) The Council Democrats say they have a plan, to be introduced soon, that will fund street and sidewalk repairs and serve as a more fiscally responsible plan than either of the two versions of RBI 2 the Mayor has offered.  No details have been provided.

There is little doubt that street, sidewalks, and pothole repair are issues worthy of much coverage by local media.  The public, however, deserves an accurate recitation of the facts and presentation of both sides' motivations.  So far, Mayor Ballard's motivations have not been questioned, and they should have.  And, so far, the fact checking by the IndyStar has not been nearly as robust as the reading public deserves.

Indy Income, Wealth, and Poverty - 1990 to 2012

Over the last twenty years, much of the focus of City government has been on downtown.  Of course, we also endured the Great Recession in the last ten years.  So where were we and where are we? 

To get a better feel for things, I went to the Census Bureau's Census Explorer website and found some mapping functions that make the data kind of painless.

I'll go ahead and apologize right now for the quality of the animations - its the best I can do with the programs I have.  I also included crisper single versions of each map that appears in the animations.

The maps illustrate the data from the level of census tracks.  For each map, I added a blue line that shows three sides of the downtown mile square; I-70, the split, and I-65.

So - let's start with median income.  The data are from three Census years - 1990, 2000, and 2012.

Animation of maps of Indianapolis-Marion County, Indiana, showing median household income by census track for 1990, 2000, and 2012.

 What can be seen is that median income increased between 1990 and 2000, but was served a huge setback by 2012 - pushing median income throughout most of Indy back by more than two decades.  The mile square maintained its income base just fine through this time; after the infusion of hundreds of millions of public dollars.  However, there is a lot more to Indy than downtown.

Here are the individual maps with a greater definition - click on one to maximize.


Median Household Income - 1990

Median Household Income - 2000

Median Household Income - 2012

     

 To get another view, I pulled the data for the percentage of households with incomes over $150,000 - the wealthy end of the income spectrum.  Below is the animation of the maps, again from 1990, 2000, and 2012.

Animation of maps of Indianapolis-Marion County, Indiana, showing the percentage of households with incomes over $150,000 by census tract for 1990, 2000, and 2012.

Looking at the trend for the wealthy, we see that the same pattern as before - things got better through the 90's, but were pretty tough through the 00's.  However, between 2000 and 2012, downtown grew in the percentage of those with incomes over $150,000, unlike the rest of Marion County.  The broader maps, showing the donut Counties, have a similar pattern to the bulk of Marion County - suggesting it is not mainly a migration out of Marion County, but rather a lowering of actual income.

Below are the three individual maps used in the animation.

Percentage of Households with income over $150,000 - 1990

Percentage of Households with income over $150,000 - 2000

Percentage of Households with income over $150,000 - 2012

The Census website mapping for the percentage of households below the poverty level only allowed for census years 2009 and 2012 - so it is a very condensed timeline. 

Animated maps of Indianapolis-Marion County, Indiana, showing the percentage of households with incomes below the poverty line by census tracts for 2009 and 2012.

Between the two maps, we can see that things got worse for a lot of folks during those 3 years.  The mile square was affected only slightly - but the ring around downtown, still inside Center Township, suffered great increases in poverty.  All of the donut Townships saw increases in poverty, as well.

Here are the two individual maps.

Percentage of Households below the poverty line - 2009

Percentage of Households below the poverty line - 2012

With this limited information we cannot draw quality conclusions.  The loss of median income could be from net migration in of the poor, a net migration out of the wealthy, a loss of wages across the board, or a shift to lower paying service jobs being offered in the 'new' downtown - or any combination of those factors.  The shift to service sector jobs would have a more structural and permanent hold on Indianapolis than the alternatives. 

Regardless of the causes, which are important to figure out, we can certainly see much more clearly that the entire City needs attention, not just the downtown area.  While the thought that you can't be the suburb of nothing has a ring of truth to it, it is equally true that a downtown requiring a substantial, ongoing infusion of cash from an ever weakening surrounding base cannot long endure either.

$3 Million of TIF Money (Taxpayer Money) Going To Enrich IndyStar

Resolution 2014-B-002 goes to the MDC for a vote Wednesday.

This resolution would float $5.5 Million in bonds as taxpayer investment in two projects - the "Pulliam Place" and "Millikan-On-Mass" projects.

The Pulliam Place project will take about $3 M of the money.  The agreement was worked out an unknown number of months ago, and has been wending its way through the MDC system - first being discussed at the Economic Development Committee meeting in early May, and then again by all of the Commissioners at their May 21 pre-meeting.

During this time, the Star failed to inform readers of its many editorials and opinion pieces that the deal was pending, a clear violation of the Code of Ethics as expressed by the Society of Professional Journalists.  Under "Act Independently", the third item on its Code of Ethics webpage, the SPJ says in part:

Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.

Journalists should:

—Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
— Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
— Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
— Disclose unavoidable conflicts.

The Ballard Administration gift of taxpayer money would be repaid by revenues of the Consolidated Downtown TIF.

And what do you get for your gift?

 Some vaguely described improvements to N. Talbot, E. New York, and E. Vermont Streets, a dog park, and improvements of the existing Star building parking garage.

And how does this benefit you, the taxpayer?

Why the Pulliam Project is anticipated to create 49 new full-time jobs by mid-2017.  There is no mention in the resolution of the average salary of those positions.  And, there is no requirement that this number be reached.  That works out to a taxpayer investment of over $61,000 per job.  Of course the sales price of the Star building will rise concomitantly with the taxpayer gift.  One would also expect the time to sale would shorten with this sweetener, as well.

What also interests me is the last part of the resolution, where it states that the resolution to float the bonds will not be effective unless the Bond Bank "consents to and approves the adoption" of the resolution.  Anyone who follows City government knows that the person who envisions these projects is the same person to negotiates the taxpayer terms of these projects and is the same person who runs the Bond Bank; one Deron Kintner.  Why are they even pretending that there is any independent review of the taxpayer financing of these projects?

The taxpayers who pay attention to such things, are familiar with the extravagant accumulation of TIF funds and equally extravagant expenditure of the same, all while elected officials, including Mayor Ballard, seek tax increases to pay for basic services.  This one is different in that it calls into question the independence and integrity of the Indianapolis Star.

IndyStar Fails Journalistic Ethics Test

In two days, the Metropolitan Development Commission will vote on a $3 Million bond to enrich the Indianapolis Star owners by improving the existing Star building, thereby increasing its sales price.  Resolution 2014-B-002 bundles the "Pulliam Square" and the "Millikan-On-Mass" projects for a total of $5.5 Million in taxpayer dollars.  The project has already been through the MDC's Economic Development Committee and has been discussed at its Pre-Meeting.

The $3 Million gift from Mayor Greg Ballard to the Indianapolis Star has been in the works literally for months.  When approached by the Ballard folks about the gift, the Star could have said, "No thank you.  Such a handout would cloud the credibility we have built with our readers, and set up the perception of a conflict of interest."

But, they did not.

They also failed to alert readers of the many editorials and opinion pieces penned during these months, that supported Ballard or scolded those who did not agree with the Administration's policies, of Ballard's gift. 

The readers had an absolute right to know, and the Star had an absolute obligation to inform them, that they were awaiting $3 Million of taxpayer money.  Each reader had the right to decide for themselves if Ballard's gift was irrelevant to a Star position, slanted an editorial stance, or outright bought and paid for the Star employee's praise.  Each reader has the right to decide for themselves if this is an advance payment for another endorsement of candidate Greg Ballard in next year's run for re-election.

The Indianapolis Star failed its readers.  They also failed this fundamental test of its Journalistic Ethics.