Economic enhancement district fee headed toward spring tax bills. Here’s what it will pay for.

Monument Circle.

The board governing the Downtown Enhancement District has earmarked nearly $2 million of its new funds for cleaning initiatives.

Downtown Indy Inc. and the nine-member Downtown Economic Enhancement District Board of Directors have proposed a $4.53 million budget for 2025, the first year the new fee will generate funds. The budget is expected to be introduced at an Indianapolis City-County Council meeting Monday night.

Its proposed largest expenditure would be cleaning initiatives in the 1.5-square-mile district, which encompasses the Mile Square (bound by North, East, South and West streets).

Downtown property owners, excluding apartments and single-family homes, will see a fee of 0.17% of their gross assessed value on their property tax bills this spring. That fee is expected to raise up to $4.65 million each year to fund cleaning, public safety and homelessness outreach efforts led by Downtown Indy Inc. within the district.

The district was first passed into law through the 2023 state budget. Later that year, the Indianapolis City-County Council first passed it into city code. However, the Republican-led state Legislature reopened the measure in 2024 and exempted apartments and single-family homes from the pool of taxable properties. That leaves the bulk of the tax burden on hotels and offices.

Here’s a look at how the board and Downtown Indy Inc. plan to spend funds in the district’s first year, which runs from July through July 2026:

• $1.96 million toward cleaning initiatives. The funding would cover salaries, taxes and benefits for a Wholesale District operation manager, four cleaning ambassador supervisors and an additional 28 cleaning ambassadors.  The money would also fund supplies and uniforms, the cost of contract services for high-demand clean-up services involving hazardous materials and a restroom on Monument Circle with year-round weekly cleaning. $160,000 would be reserved for additional beautification through landscaping.
• $449,997 for public safety, including nearly $294,000 for additional off-duty bike patrol hours from Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officers and non-law enforcement safety ambassadors.
• $436,231 for homeless outreach. Those funds would cover the salaries of a community outreach coordinator and five full-time housing navigators in partnership with the nonprofit homelessness organization Horizon House. About $168,500 will be paid for overtime and incentives to IMPD officers in the Homeless Outreach Unit.
• The remaining $1.6 million will cover operations for the first half of 2026, plus administration fees and expenses.

The Indianapolis City-County Council must approve the taxing district’s budget, similarly to neighborhood-based tax districts in the Woodruff Place and Fountain Square neighborhoods. The council will introduce the budget under Proposal 50 Monday night but won’t hear details about it until the Feb. 10 Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee meeting.

Although the district funds can also be used for business development, Downtown Indy Inc. CEO Taylor Schaffer said property owners and Downtown Indy Inc. board members want the funds to focus on the “core services” of cleaning, public safety and homeless outreach.

The tax district will eventually fund the operating costs of a low-barrier shelter in the 1000 block of East Georgia Street, just north of Fountain Square. That city-owned shelter is expected to be complete in late fall 2026.

Downtown Indy Inc. currently funds cleaning and other services in the Mile Square through federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, which was allocated to the nonprofit by Mayor Joe Hogsett in 2022. But those funds are running out.