The funds get slushier

We’re referring, of course, to use of TIF funds.  And we apologize to the taxpaying citizens of Indianapolis.  On May 27 we wrote and made a suggestion that maybe we ought to make the entire city one big TIF district. Despite the fact that we did say at the time that it was not a serious thought, it has apparently been taken that way downtown.

Revenues being derived from the "consolidated" downtown district are now proposed for use on projects well outside the geographic bounds of that district. Specifically the area around the old Bush stadium at west 16^th Street and Indiana Avenue.

For years the downtown keepers of the till have insisted that the funds could not be spent other than for the designated projects/areas for which they were initiated.  So, among other things, we reduced library hours and staff while the Indianapolis Bond Bank sat on a pile of money which it’s managers held to be a "sacred trust."

Now we have apparently decided that geography no longer applies, and anything with the vaguest link to downtown can be called a part of downtown development.  It’s a reveille call to developers that the city is rolling in money it will hand over to the "right people" who claim their pet projects will bring a couple of bucks to town.

In referring to the Bush stadium project, the head of the Bond Bank says, "These people are going to come downtown to shop, to eat,...."  With this kind of thinking, we can just see the backers of the high speed rail system salivating.  Isn’t bringing people downtown a primary purpose of the mass transit proposals?  Here’s another source of revenue for us!  And we can raise the dough by just playing games with assessed values to get around the so-called property tax caps!

This suggests to us what a tragedy it would be to vote for a new "mass transit tax" before we know precisely and absolutely who will be in charge and how and where those tax dollars would be used.  Three or four decades of experience tell us that local public officials have too strong a resemblance to kids in the candy store to be given any discretion as to disbursements of public money.

There is one other quote from the IBJ article we’re reading.  We would recommend that every taxpayer in the city copy it and paste it on the bathroom mirror where they will see it every morning.  The director of the Bond Bank has this to say.   "This is a pot of funds that can be used."

This is a "two-fer." You get the most honest and direct reference to a slush fund you may ever see in print.  And you get the direct statement of attitude about its usage by the guy in charge of handing it out.  You can bet they’ll use it wherever, whenever and by whom they want to have it.  

 

Comments

[Paul K. Ogden]

Don't forget the waiver of the personal property tax for those businesses in the downtown TIF district. I have no idea how they have the authority to do that.

[Leslie Baker]

You know, since no one downtown gives a damn, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Let's set up a project to rake in millions of tax abatement dollars and whatever else we can get for ourselves, because this city is going to hell in a handbasket anyway. Are you with me?

[sjudge@aol.com]

Absolutely shocking. Why on earth should we assist folks who are trying to develop properties that aren't currently paying ANY takes, and allow them to get those properties back on the tax rolls? If we just let Bush sit empty for another three or four decades, certainly someone will develop it.

[Fred McCarthy]

Aside from the propriety of corporate welfare, sjudge, you miss or ignore the point. The city has a fund of millions of dollars, originally amassed for the purpose of paying debt, which officials have now determined can be used at their discretion. It surely was not the intent of the legislature when setting up the TIF program to provide "a pot of money" for this kind of activity. History tells us that Indianapolis officials, of both political parties, believe in rewarding friends who will use public funds in the "correct" geographic areas. We don't believe using tax dollars to direct the location of business is a proper function of government.