Hooray for Whitney Downard’s coverage of the Indiana legislative wake-up to the horrors of tax increment financing gone amok [“Tax-increment financing districts get more scrutiny under House Bill,” IBJ.com, Feb. 14].
The lack of transparency, diversion of much-needed property tax revenues away from schools and libraries, and overall mismanagement of the wacko financing scheme appears over-ripe for overhaul.
Carmel is the classic case with a $1.5 billion debt borne by 100,777 people who never voted once on a penny of the debt.
Three-fourths of the debt was created by the unelected and largely unaccountable Carmel Redevelopment Commission.
Co-dependents in the Carmel addiction to borrow-and-spend is the Hamilton County Republican organization—a few members of which seem to be waking up to resident unrest.
That appears to be one of the reasons the city’s longest-serving mayor has decided to call it quits.
—Bill Shaffer
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