A “New” C.I.B.
Governor Mitch Daniels and Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard are calling for a new Capital Improvement Board that would oversee Conseco Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil, the new Convention Center and the major City-County properties.
The New CIB would combine the Marion County Building Authority and create the Facilities Management Board would be created. It would create a purchasing consortium to achieve savings. The FMB would oversee the jail and arrestee processing center, juvenile justice complex and public safety communications.
The new head of the CIB would be the still be appointed by the Mayor and it is unlikely that current Board President Bob Grand will remain in that position.
The mayor would get three appointees, the governor – 2, the City-County Council – 1, County Commissioners - 2, and the head of the Convetion and Visitors Association would also have a seat.
It would expand the PSDA to include the JW Marriott. And there would also be increases in hotel/motel tax, car rental tax and ticket tax.
The plan would save $47 million by capturing $27 million in expense cuts and $20 million in revenue.
- $13 million – from combined operation efficiencies of the CIB and Marion County Building Authority
- $10 million – previous CIB cuts
- $4 million – credit back up to cover CIB debt service obligation
- $4 million – hotel tax from 9 to 10 percent.
- $6 million – increase in Marion County admissions tax from 6 to 10 percent
- $2 million – increase in car rental tax from 4 to 6 percent
- $8 million – expansion of Professional Sports Development Area
Auditors hired by the Daniels administration did a comparison of the CIB operations to cities of similar sizes and found it spent an average of $3.42 for every $1.36 spent by other cities.
You can download a copy of the CIB Fact Sheet here. New CIB Fact Sheet
And audio from today’s press event can be found here. Daniels/Ballard News Conference on CIB
June 4th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
IBJ:
The plan does not include contributions from the Indianapolis Colts or Indiana Pacers. The CIB sought $5 million each from the teams. But Ballard said he expects “them to step up in another way shortly.” He declined to elaborate.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Public Transparency
Who was on these two teams that reviewed the CIB and Marion County Building Authority operations/finances and were are the reports detailing there findings?
Seems the Marion County Building Authority is just as mysterious to the public as the CIB.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I’d be a little worried about co-mingling jail issues and CIB issues, but heck, it’s worth a look.
Kudos to them on their creativity. No, I’m serious! Not sure if it’ the right answer, but at least it is creative.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
The Building Authority is a different entity, created by statute, but I suppose it can be undone. I wasn’t aware it was inefficient.
The most shocking thing to me is the comparison to other cities and the money CIB spends. These kinds of studies are never a true fair comparison. If the disparities were $.40-.50 between Indy and other cities, I’d probably let it go.
But this kind of disparity begs inquiry and a complete overhaul. A variance of $3.42 to $1.46 is more than a statistical blip. It must be explained.
And don’t ever forget, this entity was established back when Unigov was ripe. You know, that wonderful organism that kept the GOP in power for 40 years. Lots of secret deals and quid-pro-quo nonsense.
Unravel it, investigate it, and if it is this foolish with money, kill it.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Think Again…I am not surprised by what we’re spending compared to other cities. Why do you think the whole thing was so secretive for so long? Think how many people are getting rich at our expense?
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Speaking of secret deals…you should pop over and read a recent post from Advance Indiana about “Fantasyland”.
June 4th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Congratulations to the architects of this new proposal.
I am very hopeful that this basic approach will be successful, however the complete evaluations of the CIB and Marion County Building Authority operations/finances need to be publicly released for a full vetting to insure that the cost reduction/containment targets and operational efficiencies are actually achieved.
Many questions need to be answered.
June 4th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Where’s the part about investigating CIB memebers and profiteers for possible influence peddling and other RICO activities that may have been designed to use public funding as a means to profit private entities?
June 4th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Abdul, I thought you said the press conf was going to be at 3:30pm?
June 4th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
The public is very skeptical of the ability of politicians to deliver on consolidation and cost savings plans. It remains to be seen if any money was saved on consolidating IPD with the Sheriff under IMPD or Eliminating Township Property Assessors under Marion County Assessor.
Heck, taxpayers still haven’t received any saving from the cap on the outrageous compensation paid to County Sheriffs since they instituted a “grandfather clause” for all current Sheriffs and there is a question if they are just bumping up the County Prosecutors salary to avoid the parity cap for new Sheriffs.
June 4th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we haven’t even seen the property tax breaks we were promised yet the “offsetting” sales tax increase was immediately implemented long ago.
June 4th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the unsubstantiated cost savings from consolidating the multiple copy/postal centers at the Indiana Government Center.
June 4th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Greg and Mitch,
When you appoint your members to this new board. How about appointing one member from a non self interest group such as maybe Gary Welch, Melyssa Donaghy, Paul Ogden, Gary Jennings, Ike Randolph, Abdul, Garrison, Amos Brown or one of many other honest individuals including myself that would not lay down for special interest, developers, politicians and big law firms. An appointment like that may put some honesty back in to Marion County Government
June 4th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Interesting about the public safety communications, otherwise known as the Metropolitan Communications Agency (MECA). I wonder if Frank Anderson had any input as to that being taken away from his control?
June 4th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I’m with Flipper! Put someone we can trust on this ‘new and improved’ FMB.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
I don’t think parts of this plan are going to go over well with the political hacks on south Alabama street. They will be screaming bloody murder over that large chunk (APC, jail, communications, etc.) of their fiefdom being eliminated. Fewer jobs available for all of their relatives and campaign contributors…
LMAO, should be very entertaining to watch…
June 4th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Democrat Party inputs and leadership on this mess are where?
June 4th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Abdul,
If the CIB is dissolved. Will the existing contracts with Ursay and the Simon’s also be null and void?
June 4th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Flipper, no the new entity would take over responsibity for the contracts..
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I would note that the plan assumes giving the Pacers $15 million in operating costs a year for Conseco. This is on a building that the Pacers get all the revenue.
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One wonders if Bob Grand will get a cushy appointment on the new entity. Ballard has never seen a conflict of interest he won’t ignore.
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After reading Ketzenberger’s column this morning I was so hopeful. This is just more of the same.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Daniels and Ballard just created a ponzi scheme. This just broadens that scope of taxable entities for the benefit of Lucas Oil and Conseco and does nothing to create a more efficient government. Funny part is this. The convention center is not complete. Has anyone considered those operating expenses/costs????
June 4th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
>comparison of the CIB operations to cities of similar sizes and found it spent an average of $3.42 for every $1.36 spent by other cities.
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Similar sized cities with multiple sports franchises and also running for hosting a Super Bowl?
June 5th, 2009 at 7:29 am
I sympathize with the notion that this consolidates power further, but as a departing Andy Horning noted, we’ve made our choice and it’s authoritarianism. When faced with being vigilant, participative, squeaky wheels & having to sacrifice along with (not instead) of the other party’s constituency, we chose to load another DVD & sit down on the couch instead. I’ve been guilty of this as well. That permits our two parties to “consolidate for efficiency”- out the wazoo.
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In one sense I think we have no choice because babbling for more citizen participaton is falling on the ears of an increasingly uneducated, uncaring rabble accustomed to dependancy. They don’t care that the dependancy isn’t possible without an assumed level of tax revenue from economic affluence. Therefore, as we ignore economic reality and and continue to spend (sorry “invest”) wildly, we search for “efficiency” as a token gesture. If we really, really wanted to keep lower, closer, more representative gov’t like “townships”- then it also requires devoting the time to keep it in check. We haven’t done that. Until on the other side of some revolution, I don’t think it happens. It’s my contention that it’s equally important to acknowlege what we are and aren’t.
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We’re not as uniform in our productivity as our fondest desires in the distribution of that productivity. We’re also always looking for the easy way out, going all the way back to hoping to only drag one beast to the fire or bake one loaf of bread instead of several. When faced with an easier way to survive, rich or poor, we like to take it. Taking it when we shouldn’t is greed, and manifests itself all the way from “a hand up” is now “a hand out” to stashing your corporate revenue offshore to evade taxation.
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I hope to heck Melyssa, Ogden, or somebody who has proven to be a squeaky wheel for the public would be on this new board. More than that I hope Indy will someday face-up to being a AAA town and revel in it. We don’t have to be “big”.
June 5th, 2009 at 7:33 am
I just read the governor’s proposal–all of it–and I’ve got a headache.
Where do these folks get their writing skills? Do they purposely write five sentences when one would do?
I think I understand the proposal, and it’s better than what we’ve got.
Pascal: never forget, CIB was a GOP Unigov creation. Which for decades funneled money and contracts to party elite.
Nick: I live in a former sheriff’s service area. Our protection now is much better, and response time is superb. And my profession requires regular interaction with the assessor. Service, and accuracy, are already vastly improved. Consistency was not the township guys’ forte.
Don’t forget that when the incumbent county assessor ran for the office, he had no idea the outdated and inept township system was going to be folded into the county-wide setup. I’m told he will not run for re-election. For whatever reason…go ahead and make up one if you want.
Here’s an interesting post topic, Abdul: what are the former township assessors doing now? Is Akers supervising janitors again at that paragon of efficiency, IPS? I am particularly interested in the southern townships, where I did a lot of work, and whose assessors were, well…surly, at best. And inconsistent, and incompetent. And who hung onto their taxpayer-provided jobs until the last dying breath.
June 5th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
After a little bit of thought, I wonder if anyone else wonders whether it’s a good idea to have the same organization running the jail and the stadium? Not saying it’s impossible, just a little worrisome.
June 5th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Let the trusties sell popcorn.