TIPPECANOE COUNTY Purdue wants tax abatement to expand research park The Purdue Research Foundation has received preliminary approval for tax abatement on its research park that would save the foundation $1.5 million in taxes. The abatement for the Purdue Research Park was approved Jan. 7 by the West Lafayette Economic Development Commission. It likely will […]
People think of Indiana as a place of moderation. We’re not known for extremes. We are followers, not leaders. Certainly, we are not risk-takers. How then can we explain some inexplicable behaviors? Indiana’s secretary of state and others were in Washington, D.C., before the U.S. Supreme Court recently to defend the nation’s most extreme voter ID law. No one was prepared to say we suffered from an avalanche of voter fraud. There was not even evidence of a snowflake of…
On the presidential campaign trail these past few weeks, the dominant exit-polling insight seems to be that Americans are hungry for change. Voters have told interviewers they’re weary of the direction we’re headed, tired of the politics of the past and eager to forego the status quo. And so the presidential candidates, Republican and Democrat alike, have jumped on the change bandwagon, ridden it from Iowa to New Hampshire, and tried to explain why they’ve been, are, or could be…
Blessed be our friends at the U.S. Postal Service. They do a great job of collecting and distributing the mail. They face strong competition from private carriers and from the Internet, but they continue to serve the public well. Then, too, USPS always looks for new ways to honor America and Americans through the issuance of new stamps. If a particular series catches on, they can make a pretty penny by selling stamps that are never used. That’s why USPS…
My holiday gift was the latest quarterly data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Santa put them in my e-mail box and I played with them when not attending to ritual family matters. Yes, personalincome numbers for all the states right up to the third quarter of 2007. Oh, joy; oh, ecstasy-feeding my lascivious quantitative desires. And what did I find? Over the past year, the third quarter of 2006 to the same quarter of 2007, Indiana has ranked…
I prevailed on Evelyn Elkhorn to meet at the new Dunkin’ Donuts. “Doughnuts are both fattening and addictive,” she protested. “Doughnuts are delightful, and life should not be conducted as if its extension is its objective,” I insisted. She yielded, ordering a coffee and two over-sized doughnuts. As we found a convenient table, she asked, “What subject haven’t you covered this year that you wish you had?” That was a tough one. I am free to write what I wish….
Lilly picks wisely at tough juncture Lechleiter well-groomed for top job Indianapolis’ business and civic leaders are rightfully worried about Eli Lilly and Co. these days. The entire pharmaceutical industry is under extraordinary pressure, in part because the blockbusters that have been its lifeblood aren’t gushing out of development pipelines anymore. Lilly faces the monstrous task of finding successors to its antipsychotic Zyprexa, whose U.S. and European patents expire in 2011-a milestone that’s expected to send the drug’s sales into…
The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) issued a “Citizens’ Guide to Property Taxes” on Nov. 20. That document contains the following paragraph: “What factors contribute to property tax increases? Local spending is the reason for property tax increases-or decreases-depending on local fiscal management. Other factors that contributed to increases during the 2006-2007 pay cycle include the elimination of the inventory tax and the onset of the annual adjustment process, also known as ‘trending.'” Got that? Property taxes rise…
Another year gone, and yet another Christmas gift for you. Every year, I collect examples of utterly horrendous technological snafus and write about them. No matter how awful your own meltdowns may have been, they can’t have been as bad as these, so enter the new year with a light heart. The first example of disaster is fresh in the news still, at least in reports from the British Broadcasting Corp. The English government has lost disks with personal information…
I love this time of year … the lights, the music, the hustle and bustle of shoppers rushing from optometrist to optometrist trying to use up their flex spending money before the year runs out. And then there are the holiday greetings. How meaningful and thoughtful they are, especially the ones that begin, “Due to lower-than-expected performance in the first three quarters, the traditional holiday bonus will this year be replaced with the enclosed certificate good for 50 percent off…
For me, shopping at any time, any place is an ordeal. However, from time to time, I am pressed into service by our household purchasing agent. My role is either to be a surrogate buyer or just the designated driver/hauler. When a surrogate I am sent out with lists of desired substances. These lists might work for a less conscientious, or more sophisticated, person. After all, five pounds of sugar or flour can mean only just that. However, I find…
‘Tis the season to help others Don’t forget charities when giving If our early December snowfall didn’t get central Indiana’s bells jingling, the overflowing mall parking lots should make it clear: Santa Claus is coming to town, and he’s bringing plenty of credit-card-toting elves with him. The National Retail Federation predicts Americans will spend almost $475 billion on holiday-related purchases this year, up 4 percent from 2006. That’s a lot of fruitcake. Our economy could use the boost, no doubt…
This month, a 17-year-old boy in the Netherlands was arrested and charged with stealing furniture that doesn’t really exist, from a hotel that can’t be visited. He perpetrated his crime completely online, in a social networking Web site known as “Habbo Hotel.” By scamming other residents of Habbo Hotel, he obtained passwords that let him lift the virtual furniture out of others’ rooms, and into his own. In Habbo Hotel, you have to buy furniture with real money, so the…
Uncle Uriah Marcus visited us on Thanksgiving. It took over a week to recover. He blames “the @#%$# unions” for most of our state’s woes. Uncle Uriah asserts “them big unions scares businesses away from Indiannie.” A sample of his views: High property taxes: It’s the teachers’ union’s fault because teachers keep pushing up their earnings and reducing their responsibility. Congestion in cities: Bus workers’ unions keep fares too high for anyone to ride the bus. The battle between the…
Indiana Historical Society leaders are scheduled to make a major announcement tonight about an expansion of programs at its Indiana History Center downtown. The local not-for-profit maintains an extensive research library and archives on the history of Indiana, among other activities. Details will be available at IBJ.com this evening.
It happened on the day that does not exist. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is not a good news day. This year, we got an extra serving of admonitions about obesity from the Centers for Disease Control. Beyond that, we heard the usual stories of indignation and indigestion, miracle recoveries from swallowed wishbones, and promising/disappointing retail sales. Also on that day, Gov. Mitch Daniels deferred for another year his proposal to “privatize” the Hoosier Lottery. Last year, the state…
It’s strange, but we don’t know who will be the mayors of our Indiana cities for the next four years. Ah, yes, you and I read results in the newspapers and saw jubilant winners on TV congratulated by humbled losers. But how do we know for sure until the state tells us? I didn’t find the latest results on the secretary of state’s Web site. It does have the May 7 primary election results, which provide fascinating information for those…
Last Saturday, my wife Cherà and awoke to a beautiful fall day. Having no o b l i g a t i o n s , w decided to take spontaneous trip to Orange County, to see the restored West Baden Springs Hotel Despite the rash of stoplights on State Road 37 and a flurry of pre-game traffic for the Old Oaken Bucket clash, the drive was a breeze. Cherà had never been to West Baden Springs. So the beautifully…
I’m not an athletic director, but I do get to play one in IBJ. So play along with me: Purdue University should keep Joe Tiller as its football coach. Indiana University should do likewise with Bill Lynch. Add this to what I’m sure is plenty of unsolicited advice directed at Morgan Burke and Rick Greenspan, the respective athletic directors at Purdue and Indiana. They can thank me later. Of course, by the time you read this, the futures of both…
With new mayors and council members in many of our cities, it’s time to drag out some previous suggestions for fiscal reform. First, it’s time to reconsider propertytax abatement. But we can’t understand property taxes and their abatement if we don’t understand assessment practices. And, it is not clear what is happening these days with property assessment. For example, does a property’s assessed value change automatically when it is sold, or does it change only in line with the trend…
