I report. You decide.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard will announce tonight that the city’s budget is balanced. The Ballard administration announced earlier this year that the city faced a $26 million shortfall. In a Sunday afternoon briefing, City Comptroller Dave Reynolds said they closed the shortfall and managed to have $4.8 million left over.

The overall budget was $1.13 billion dollars which was $108 million less than last year. However, $99 million of that was taken off the rolls when the State assumed the child welfare levy. However the city still faced a revenue shortage.

Administration officials say they closed the budget gap by having most agencies cut their budgets by 5-percent from last year’s appropriations for an $8.5 million savings.  They also took money from the fund balances in the sewer  and storm water management funds.  They consolidated the functions of the township assessors into the county assessor; $3 million in savings assuming the consolidation referendum passes this November. They also reduced the parks budget by $3 million ($500,000 of that is arts funding), the Courts budget by $2.3 million (although there will be an additional court brought on-line) and the Sheriff’s budget by $5.5 million.

When asked about the cut to the Sheriff’s department, Reynolds said he hoped MCSD would be able to find efficiencies, particularly at the jail. The current jail costs taxpayers $100 per day per inmate, while the private run jail costs $42 per day per inmate. Reynolds said he was not expecting the Sheriff to reduce his costs to that of private jail, but hoped Frank Anderson would look for efficiencies.

Reynolds also said the Parks Department had been operating at a $4 million deficit and cuts were necessary to keep them fiscally sound.

Ballard Chief of Staff Paul Okeson said the city has to live within its means and for too long had been living off credit and could not afford to do that anymore.

Despite the cuts, there were increases in the city budget. There was nearly a $20 million increase in police and fire. That money will go for union-negotiated raises, new vehicles, pension obligations and to hire more than three dozen public safety officers to handle police administrative duties which in turn frees up more officers on the street. There also a $5 million increase in the Department of Metropolitan Development to deal with neighborhood infrastructure and abandoned housing. There was $4.4 million increase for roads and transportation.

There was also a $232,000 increase in the Mayor’s budget. Okeson says that increase was a result of putting employees who work for the Mayor under the Mayor’s budget. In the past some employees had been funded by other departments. Okeson says it goes to the Mayor’s objective of transparency in budgeting.

While the city’s short-term financial crisis may have been avoided, Reynolds said the city still has long-term financial problems. Expenditures are still expected to exceed revenues and the city will fall short of having a recommended 10-percent savings in its fund balance. Reynolds says the city will have to address those issues and one way to stop that would be by adopting the Kernan-Shepard government consolidation plan.

The Mayor will address the full Council tonight at 7 p.m. The first budget committee hearing is expected tomorrow. A public hearing will take place on September 8 and a final vote on September 22. Copies of the budget proposal will be available on the city’s website.

Your thoughts?

As I sat watching some of the news coverage of former Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards and his affair, I tend to take a different approach than most. My conservative friends are already yelling about a double standard of media coverage and if John Edwards were a Republican or a Christian Minister, it would be feeding time at the news zoo. How soon we forget.

As the old adage goes, “Democrats get in trouble over sex, Republicans get in trouble over money.” Libertarians tend to get in trouble over sex for money. (Just kidding on that one). The reason why the press gets more excited over Republican-conservative sex scandals because usually the Republican-conservative who gets caught with the guy or gal was out the night before spending a lot of time preaching about moral virtue or making it part of their political platform.

If you need me to jar your memory allow me to throw some names at you, David Vitter, Larry Craig, Glen Murphy, Ted Haggard, etc. etc.

When you spend time and make a living pointing out the moral failings and short-comings of others, the press and society as a whole, tends to get excited when you get your come-up-ins.

Now John Edwards biggest sin wasn’t the crime, it was the lie. He should have been honest and thrown out the line “yes, we’ve had problems in our marriage” or “I’m not perfect and have fallen short, but have worked towards redemption and my wife has forgiven me” blah, blah, blah. All that would have been much better than the flat out denial. That’s what happens when you let the little head do the thinking for the big head.

But as far as there being a double standard, I disagree. We’ve all fallen short; but some of us are midgets.

I’m doing some research this morning in preparation for tomorrow night’s Mayoral Budget address. I’ve already gone over some arts funding figures, parks department numbers, and the possible privatization of the Mayor’s Action Center.

But what’s really interesting is when you start moving into specific areas and certain line items. Take this one for example. A review of contracts between the Marion County Sheriff’s Department and Counsel to the Sheriff, Kevin Murry, has revealed some interesting information,

By my count, Murray has five separate contracts with MCSD and they are all two-year deals. Here’s what they are for and how they cost. By the way, these agreements were all signed the Monday after the Mayoral election in 2007.

• General Counsel Services – $83,442.45 annual retainer.
• Pension Board Services – Up to $60,000 annually.
• Jail Overcrowding – Up to $100,000 annually.
• Labor & Employment – Up to $75,000 annually for services provided to the Sheriff’s Department.
• Labor & Employment – Up to $100,000 annually for services provided to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

Making a couple assumptions, Murray was potentially getting paid $836,884.90. Of course you would have to take into account Frank Anderson no longer controls IMPD as of March of this year and it’s faulty to assume Murray would bill MCSD every last possible dime, but you have to admit, in an era where the city is $26 million in the hole, six figures ain’t bad take home pay.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson made the rounds this morning talking jobs and reform to three Indianapolis African-American organizations.

Thompson addressed the Concerned Clergy, 100 Black Men and the Indiana Democratic African-American Caucus.

Thompson said Indiana has lost too many jobs and needs to do more to create “green” jobs as well as assist companies that are already here.  She also attacked the Governor’s privatization/modernization of FSSA intake services, saying it was responsible for a lack of Hoosiers getting necessary services.

She addressed the need for education reform and says the state needs to do more to improve graduation rates as well as increase opportunities for vocational education and more re-entry programs for ex-offenders.

She also attacked Governor Mitch Daniels’ Major Moves program, saying the $3.8 billion Indiana received for the lease of the toll road will be long gone by the time the 75-year lease expires.

Here are some things I’ll be paying attention to this weekend.

• Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and his staff are putting the final touches on his budget presentation for Monday night.  I’m told to look for changes in cash management practices.
• Barack Obama will be registering more voters this weekend. The campaign also dispute claims about it not opening offices in Indiana.  They even provided a map of one office in Muncie that was accused of being closed.
• Jill Long Thompson will opening more offices in Indiana and addressing Indiana African-American Democrats at the Julia Carson Center on Saturday.
• Mitch Daniels will be in Northern Indiana.  He’ll be visiting the town of Hanna which is celebrating its 150-year anniversary.

Enjoy your weekend.

The city of Indianapolis is closer to having a new code of ethics for public employees. The City-County Council’s Rules and Public Policy Committee unanimously passed an ethics reform package that had been pushed by the Mayor since this past Spring. The proposal now goes to the full Council and a vote is expected on Monday.

The original ethics proposal was amended to apply to both city employees and council members. A separate package will be drafted for the Council. The reform package is modeled after the state of Indiana’s rules. The current proposal includes the following…

• A ban on gifts and honoraria.
• A ban on engaging on political activity on government time.
• A requirement that all board appointees attend at least two-thirds of their agency meetings.
• A requirement that all city-county councilors, officials, agency heads and declared candidates for city-county council file an economic statement of interest.
• A ban on any part-time or other employment that would conflict with official city-county business.
• A ban on post-employment where the government employee would represent another party doing business with the city in that area where the employee previously worked.  However, the city attorneys can grant a waiver.
• A ban on nepotism; however this is going to be amended so that family can work in the same agency but they cannot hire each other.
• A prohibition on voting on any matter where the employee or official would have a financial conflict of interest.
• A ban on using government property for personal use.

There are also penalties for ethics complaints that are filed in bad faith.  Also, the Committee left out dealing with the issue of lobbying until it and Mayor’s office could work on more clear definitions for what constitutes the practice.

More details are coming to light regarding last month’s break-in at Don’s Guns involving two teenage twins with prior records.

According to Marion County Juvenile Judge Marilyn Moores the teens did have previous criminal records, but between the two of them had only been arrested five times this year, as opposed to 14. However what is even more shocking is that the reported break-in at Don’s Guns might not have even had to have happened.

Moores told me today the twins reportedly removed their home detention bracelets on July 11 and shortly afterwards a warrant was issued for their arrests. A Juvenile probation officer spotted them at a gas station two days before the break-in at Don’s Guns and tried to called Marion County Dispatch, however no one would pick up the phone. The probation officer then had to call a building deputy at the Juvenile detention center to come get the twins, but it was too late. They had gotten away.

By the way, the county dispatch is run by Sheriff Frank Anderson.

Moores says they are making changes to the system, which includes increased cooperation with IMPD as the two suspects may have been involved in other crimes.

The John McCain campaign says it is not taking Indiana for granted and is stepping up its effort to compete in the state.   Speaking to a group of Indianapolis Republicans Wednesday, McCain Regional Coordinator Jennifer Hallowell says McCain will carry the state despite Barack Obama’s efforts here.

Hallowell says Obama has spent millions in Indiana however he hasn’t gained in any polls.  She also says Hoosiers by their very nature are more conservative and Obama is the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate.  She also says in this era of voters demanding  “change” John McCain’s maverick reputation makes him the perfect candidate for this enviornment.   And he is closing the gap in battleground states.

Hallowell says McCain is pulling more supporters from Obama’s base than Obama is from his. She points to Deborah Bartoshevich, a Wisconsin Democrat who was a committed delegate for Hilary Clinton who switched her support to John McCain citing his experience.

Hallowell also says McCain is hosting nationwide house parties on August 14 and his wife Cindy McCain will be featured on a nationwide conference call. The organization is also stepping up their Internet campaign and developing a social networking website.

Courtsey IMPD:

The following was received from Dennis Fishburn, Jason’s dad:

Jason is progressing well at rehab.  He’s getting stronger and is able to sit up on his own. He’s graduated from pureed foods to the fine grounded foods.  He’s receiving daily workout routines from speech, occupational, physical, and recreational therapist.  His cognitive skills are improving.  He’s not moving his right side yet, but we were told that they’re seeing some movement in his right hip area, that they state is a good sign.  Jason has times of laughter and moments of sadness when speaking to people about events.