Lawmakers debate CIB funding solution-WEB ONLY

State lawmakers on a joint House-Senate conference committee met for two
hours yesterday talking about possible solutions for the Indianapolis Capital
Improvement Board, which expects to be $47 million short in its operation of
professional sports stadiums and the city’s convention center.

Lawmakers suggested new financing options to help raise money for the CIB,
and Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard suggested that lawmakers could allow the
city to further expand a professional sports development area. That would allow
the city to collect more taxes that would otherwise go to the state.

Kenley, who has been working to find a solution for the agency before the
legislative session ends Wednesday, said the meeting yesterday was a good one.

“I think there were some good ideas brought out there,” Kenley said.

Ballard asked lawmakers to give the city a wide array of options to raise
money for the agency. The proposal in its current form would allow Marion County
to create a local alcohol tax and raise its hotel tax, car-rental tax and ticket
tax. It would expand the sports development area to include a new downtown
hotel.

Ballard suggested possibly expanding the sports development area even
further, which could allow the city to collect state taxes from a downtown mall
and existing hotels connected to the convention center.

“Those sorts of things make sense to me,” Ballard said.

But Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels said yesterday that he generally doesn’t favor
expanding professional sports development areas unless the projects included in
the area – like hotels or malls – wouldn’t exist without the sports stadiums or
convention center they are near. Kenley has said the new downtown hotel wouldn’t
exist unless the convention center was expanding, so it made sense to include
that in the professional sports development zone.

But it may be more difficult to convince lawmakers to expand the district
further since it would mean even more money funneled into Indianapolis – cash
that would otherwise go to the state. Kenley said that option would depend on
whether enough lawmakers from outside Marion County would support expanding the
area past the new hotel.

“Whether they’re willing to go beyond that is something that needs to be
explored,” Kenley said.

Legislative leaders and Daniels have repeatedly said the Indianapolis Colts
and Indiana Pacers also need to pitch in on a solution. The current proposal
calls for each team to pony up $5 million, although neither team has agreed to
the deal.

The Colts issued a statement Thursday that said they’ve already done their
part to help the CIB. Colts president Bill Polian did not say yesterday whether the
team would pay the $5 million, but said he would continue to discuss any
proposals with lawmakers.

“We are completely happy to honor the lease we signed four years ago, we are
completely happy to play in the stadium at the present cost under that lease,”
Polian said. “We’re not asking anybody to do anything for the Colts.”

Rep. Jeff Espich (R-Uniondale) said he hoped the Colts would help.