Daniels: No more bills to help CIB-WEB ONLY

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and Democratic House Speaker Patrick Bauer don’t agree on much, but both said yesterday they were tired of trying to find ways to help the cash-strapped agency that runs Indianapolis’ sports stadiums and convention center.

Daniels said he doesn’t want to see any more legislation to help the Capital Improvement Board – which faces a $47 million deficit – for his remaining three years in office. Bauer said the growing resentment toward Indianapolis made it tougher to reach Tuesday’s agreement on a new budget, and he doesn’t want to deal with the issue again.

“It was just something that made this difficult budget year, because of the recession, much, much more difficult,” said Bauer (D-South Bend).

Supporters of the plan said it’s essential to keep the economic engine of downtown Indianapolis humming, and that tax revenue generated there helps communities all over the state. But plenty of lawmakers from outside Indianapolis have slammed the proposal, saying Indianapolis shouldn’t be bailed out while other cities in need of economic development help went home empty-handed.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard’s administration said the plan, approved by lawmakers as part of a new state budget, wasn’t enough to overcome the CIB’s projected deficit for next year. City officials said they could be back as early as next year to ask lawmakers for more help.

“If we run into problems we simply can’t fix as a city, it’s certainly possible that we would have to go back,” Robert Vane, a spokesman for the Republican mayor, said yesterday. “You simply can’t rule that out.”

Daniels said the CIB is capable of managing the problem under the plan he signed into law Tuesday.

“The question isn’t can they, it’s will they,” Daniels said.

Daniels said city officials changed their minds more than once about what they wanted for the CIB. Just last month, Ballard and Daniels held a joint press conference to announce a plan they said would fix the budget problems that emerged after the board started running the new Lucas Oil Stadium.

That plan included some tax hikes and relied on cutting $13 million in addition to $10 million the board previously said it would cut. Most of the reductions in Daniels’ plan would have come from pooling marketing, purchasing and sales efforts.

But later, Ballard said there wasn’t enough room to cut out an extra $13 million.

During the regular legislative session that ended in April, several lawmakers suggested alternative plans to help the CIB. Ballard told lawmakers the city needed a rescue package, but wasn’t keen on raising some of the taxes suggested.

“That thing was not well done from the very get go,” Bauer said yesterday. “It seemed like any time a legislator, Republican or Democrat, offered a plan, everybody they were trying to help hit them.”

The plan approved Tuesday will allow the city to raise its hotel tax from 9 percent to 10 percent immediately. In 2013, the city could raise taxes on car rentals and tickets to stadium events. It allows the CIB under certain conditions to capture up to $8 million in taxes that would otherwise go to the state. But it still relies on cuts that Ballard’s administration finds unpalatable.

The CIB has cut more than $12 million from it’s budget so far and is still looking for ways to trim costs, but cutting too deep would hamper efforts to attract revenue-generating convention business, said Vane, the mayor’s spokesman.

Some lawmakers called the plan approved Tuesday a temporary bandage to stop the CIB’s bleeding while a better solution can be found. Sen. Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis) predicted that the city would again appeal to lawmakers during the 2010 legislative session.

“This isn’t a Band-Aid,” Taylor said. “It’s a piece of tape that doesn’t even have a sticky side.”