The mayor's reaction on the new GOP gubernatorial candidate, storm water fee updates, Gilbert Park vagrants, mobile food vendor ordinance and the government efficiency panel.
On this week's installment of Ask The Mayor, Mayor Duke Bennett addresses these issues and more. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: What do you know of newly nominated gubernatorial candidate Eric Holcomb and what does that choice say as far as the strategy for choosing him?
Bennett: I've known Eric Holcomb for a long time. I think Eric is really more like Mitch Daniels, in my opinion. I think he seems more of a structured, process kind of guy, get things done - yes, I think there's a lot of influences on Mike Pence, but I just think he's his own man
Hren: The storm water fee being proposed hit a roadblock a couple weeks ago, what happened?
Bennett: There are over 90 communities in Indiana that are doing this, some for over 20 years, so I've been accused of creating this thing like I just dreamed it up for another revenue source, that's simply not true. I think there were three different areas of push back, one was from non-profits and churches, another was that we take a pile of a payment in lieu of taxes out of the waste water treatment plant and the third just being what are the other options. So the council wasn't ready to make a decision. So they moved it back to September.
At the end of the day, we have to have a new revenue source and so we do a sewer rate increase or a storm water fee. We have to fund into the future. It's not a tax, it's a user fee, we're a utility. People are saying we are taking the money and using it for the general fund which is 100 percent false. All of our money is segregated, separate funds.
Hren: But wasn't part of this fee is to help relieve some of the money what would have gone from the general fund to the water treatment plant?
Bennett: What comes out of the general fund is a PILOT fee and we take $2.7 million out and that's all funded. The new fee will help solidify to make sure we don't have to take that away. We actually want to increase it a little bit. We could increase it to $6 million, but that's not what we're looking for. We think it's somewhere around $5 million right now and probably end up at $3 million in a couple of years once we get some other things in place. So all it does is help solidify the fact that we don't have to pull that out of the budget to fund the storm water part and then not have any revenue for the general fund that we've been dependent on for five years now.
Hren: Churches and nonprofits are not happy because it eats into their budget, how much will this hurt them?
Bennett: For small churches you're talking $6 or $8 a month. Some of the bigger mega churches it will be hundreds of dollars a month, but it's based on how much you contribute to the problem. And state law does not allow to exclude non-profits, you can't treat them differently.
Hren: Then came this agreement with the Sanitary District and the Indiana Finance Authority that says September 1st of this year, you must increase rates 15 percent, but it seemed to come as a surprise to everyone especially on city council.
Bennett: Well, it shouldn't have been a surprise because when Umbaugh and Associates came in January and met with the council, they told us. It should have been worded a little bit differently as we look at it in hindsight, it should have said the administration will take it to the council by September 1st, not the council approve it by September 1st. But when September 1st comes it's not going to be approved and the world's not going to fall apart, there's no penalty to us, we'll need to renegotiate a new agreement.
