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You mean eliminating the tax for some taxpayers meant others have to pay more, just because they couldn’t throw a few thousand at a legislator and in exchange be exempted from millions in taxes like the Apartment Association did?
I’m always amazed at how cheaply our legislators … lower their principles …
Right? This was a HIGHLY predictable outcome.
The JW Marriot pulled in $63.1 million in revenues last year. They’re fine.
The original tax district was more equitable and better balanced the downtown tax across properties, but the landlord special interest lobby is powerful in Indiana and they are good at greasing the palms of legislators in the corrupt and inept General Assembly to get what they want.
Nonetheless, I do not feel sorry for big commercial landlords who built their properties with massive tax breaks and other public subsidies whining because they have to pay a few bucks more (comparatively) in new taxes
DING DING DING! That’s what really rubs me the wrong way. So many of these hotels and commercial buildings got TIF support and/or property tax abatements and now they’re upset about having to actually pay a small tax (relative to the overall tax rate and their total revenues). Don’t get me wrong, the Indiana Apartment Association is a nightmare and absolutely caused this mess, and their lack of accountability is horrific.
You are so correct in that most of these developers all got big tax breaks and it’s time they pony up some of the money back that they got.
their customers will pay the bill ultimately in higher lodging fees and increased prices on goods.
I never hear anything about the government trying to run more efficiently though – only time i hear about cutting costs a teacher will lose their job. it’s all a load of crap.
My rough back of the napkin math on the JW Marriott indicates that this would increase the cost of a room by one half of one percent. This is something that people who are already paying $300+/night for a room can easily afford and the overall negative impacts would be negligible while adding significant value to our city center in cleanliness, comfort, safety, and aesthetics.
You also never hear Marion County Republicans proposing any actual different ways to run the government of the city of Indianapolis, they just complain about the job Joe Hogsett does and then blame the voters for being idiots when they vote for him instead of their nebulous “plans”. Then they run off to the state house and pass various laws by fiat instead of giving the voters of Marion County a say.
This Issue where an actual functioning Marion County Republican Party would be proposing where the spending cuts should be to instead pay for all this with existing revenue.
This isn’t “raising taxes to cover general expenses”. This is a specific fee for a specific service that will have benefits to the people paying the fee, who would otherwise be “free riders” on the City’s efforts to do what the landowners want: “clean up downtown”.
Okay, D.D….time to put up. Please identify up to 25 efficiency improvements that will not result in decreased service to Marion County residents, and will result in savings from budgeted expenditures of at least 5% to10% in each category for which you make an efficiency improvement. Once you submit that list, we’ll put it up for review and vote of the readers. Ready, set, go…you get 10 days, and you can just put your list into some other IBJ article the week of August 12 .
Is this too harsh? Sorry, not sorry. I’m fed up with people saying it would all be better if government was just run more efficiently, like a business. Well, that hasn’t worked for Indiana; as a state, we’re regressing compared to larger, higher tax states. Our roads are generally worse than our neighboring states, our K-12 achievement is lower, and our university grads tend to move away. The new high school diploma programs apparently won’t be recognized by IU or Purdue as sufficent to enroll in those schools.
Well I can tell you some significant savings at the top of the list should be elimination of the dei office at the mayor’s getting ready to create.
Spot on D.D. Spot on. Businesses never pay the increased costs of doing business. They never have. Customers of that business pay those increased costs in the form of higher prices.
I can’t imagine downtown hotels, which cater to business travelers, are really that price sensitive to any potential increase due to these taxes.
Hey Indy, Welcome to the BIG LEAGUES. Most major cities around the country have some form of this tax distribution in their downtowns as well. This is just another creative tool to help do the things that a lot of folks complain about when they’re visiting downtown. It’s economics and if you can afford to enjoy the pleasures in life you won’t even notice the small increase no matter who ends up footing the bill.
Maybe the 5 mil would be better spent retaining our Police Force. As fast as these folks are leaving for greener pastures and better working conditions we won’t have any Public Safety left before long.
A portion of the funds are going to public safety, homeless outreach, and O&M for a secular shelter. These are all objectively good things that will help reduce public safety and sanitation issues.
They increased the budget $10 million for the police from last year’s budget. Maybe they’d have more money for police if the state of Indiana wasn’t underfunding roads in Marion County.
Maybe, with this extra funding, we can now close the entirety of Monument Circle to traffic. If there’s anything left over, it’d be great to also “activate” a few interstate on-ramps with ping-pong tables and porta-potties. Cars are bad, mkay?
It’s funny that you think the Circle (not legally classified as any kind of thoroughfare) is comparable to a freeway on ramp. Talk about disingenuous…
The cheapest room downtown today is $1000. Cry me an ocean. Pay your taxes.
Where did you i get information the cheapest room downtown is a thousand bucks?
I find this better than selling off city assets like previous administrations did for short-term gains (parking meters, as an example).
You guys are quibbling like kids.
Back up and see how well run are the organizations that will be gifted the doe.
I’ve asked the city and INDOT to mow lawn that’s grown over two years. No luck there.
1. 3rd party clean up crews. Maybe there is a more efficient way to get that done.
2. I’m a victim being put upon by a plan to save the homeless. The city spent over 2 million on land they don’t have a good plan to solve the homeless problem. Now they want to tax you 1 mike square folks to pay for a poorly assèmbled plan. They probably had to by something or lose the money. Now they are penalizing the mile square for their mistake. If you think this will keep homeless out of Dodge, or solve the homeless problem, you need to see how well it’s working across the country.
This is all an ego trip that attaches taxes to solve mistakes. ( Ie..indy 11).
And those of you who think I should leave indy after 30 years of my contributions are probably right.
3. All this crime is not the homeless. Lack of laws and cops on the beat and training the parents is a crime fix.
These are solutions to why your taxing in the first place.
But noooo, you want to make the hotels and skyscrapers taxes while your giving incentives to the new contractors and the homless.
Thanks
Ha. The hotels and skyscrapers were all
built with massive tax breaks and other subsidies. And, these downtown landlords want the city to plant flowers and pretty up downtown to make their properties more desirable. No one from the city comes and plants flowers and pretties up the neighborhood my mother has lived in for decades.
It is nothing *corporate welfare*, and then they cry when they finally have to pay their fair shares. No tears from me for them.
They can pay up and deal with it.
They certainly seem to have more of a plan in place than you do…
This may come as a shock to you, but the nice things that Downtown wants costs money and there’s no reason for the rest of the City to continue to prop up wealthy landowners. If they want the nice things, they can pay for them. Your homelessness commentary was absolute nonsense and speculation, completely void of value.
John, outside of being located next to your property that you were hoping to flip for a profit, what’s poorly assembled about a plan that’s been discussed for years?
I understand your frustration but “just move it away from me” is probably less effective than asking the city to prohibit people living or loitering outside the shelter.
If the money was spent well by the City…it would make sense. But our current City of Indianapolis government has shown no ability to affect positive change. It’s the first administration in my lifetime, from either party, that has allowed so much deterioration of our City. Just one opinion.
The city should vacate the valet area in front of the Conrad to complete the cultural trail as well as the sidewalks in front of JW to complete its sidewalk network.
Hard to stay on topic, Murray?
My problem with this plan is that we give the properties who are responsible for the majority of the problems, exempt from the tax. For example, drive down East Street and look at the problems between Ohio and Market Street. Homeless people hanging around, drugs, fights and problems! This is a result of the mission be located on that block. Police and ambulances there every day! If this was a bar or business, it would be closed! But what do we do, we make them exempt from the tax that the rest of us are paying to clean up their mess! Discussed that we tolerate this!