City Council Update 10/23/24
Hello Neighbors! So sorry we missed an update earlier this month. As some of you may know, I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to Nepal to hike to Everest Base Camp! I'm thrilled that we reached the camp safely and am now back in town more motivated than ever to get back to work. Thanks to everyone for your well wishes!
As a note, I was in attendance of all the budget hearings prior to my departure and very involved with all the conversations regarding the city budget. I was also kept aware of the concerns regarding one of my favorite events in the city, the Christkindlmarkt. You will hear more about this in the update.
Quick note: Carmel Diwali!
This Saturday, October 26 marks the first official Diwali Festival for the City of Carmel! Come join me from 5-8pm in Midtown Plaza for an evening of food, performances, local vendors, and cold-spark fireworks as we celebrate the Festival of Lights!
I had the chance to sit down with Fox59 News alongside my friends on the organizing committee to talk about the event. Check out our interview below!
CITY COUNCIL MEETING UPDATES
This week's council meeting was a long one (ended at approximately 10:30pm) and the day was even longer with multiple meetings and discussions with the mayor, fellow city council members, and others in city leadership. In the end, I believe we were able to work on a budget process that was informative and responsible to our taxpayers.
I've done my best to summarize this meeting for you all as it is critically important for our city's future --- if you want the play by play it is available on YouTube alongside all of our meeting livestreams!
Invocation
JR Sandadi delivered the invocation from the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh in honor of this being the month of Diwali.
Special Recognition
The Carmel Police Department introduced two new officers that were sworn in by the Mayor! We're glad to have Joshua Norman and Mitchell Sobek with us.
Special Citizen Award
At the meeting, we honored Sky Simpson, a CHS grad and Special Olympics athlete, who will be competing in the IPF Equipped World Masters Powerlifting Championship in Iceland in November. Best of luck to Sky!
Council President Update
President Green explained the importance of the budget process and summarized an independent debt study our city undertook to better understand our debt position. We are currently, as a city, in a good debt position and feel that we could responsibly restructure our debt and issue bonds to fund our roads and infrastructure. However, we also found that we are in a cycle where our expenses are outpacing our revenues. We need to be responsible with our budget and our ability to increase revenue and have more oversight over the city's spending.
I'm grateful to President Green and the Mayor for sharing the results of this debt study with the public in order to increase the fiscal transparency of our city and to give our council a better means to center fiscal responsibility into our long term planning.
Committee Updates
None
Ordinances & Resolutions
Ordinance D-2726-24- Third Amendment to the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement
Remains in the Land Use Committee.
Resolution CC 10-07-24-04: Preliminary Resolution Designating an Economic Revitalization area and Qualifying Certain Personal Property for a Tax Abatement.
As a note, This resolution was sponsored by myself and Councilor Worrell.
I believe this particular proposal for the business Alliance for Cooperative Energy Services Power Marketing on the west side at 4140 W 99th St has a positive benefit for the community. This area of my district will benefit from 45 additional jobs created with an average annual wage of $118K. It is a $6M personal property investment, but only $4M of this qualifies for the abatement. This means that they will continue to pay all taxes on the additional $2M. I believe this plan as presented is fiscally sound and deserves to continue along in the process of possibly being granted this tax abatement.
Ordinance D-2737-24: Creating the Carmel Surtax Fund and Imposing a Motor Vehicle
License Excise Surtax
Creates the Carmel Surtax Fund and Imposes a Motor Vehicle License Excise Surtax.
As Councilman Worrell noted, both this and the following ordinance are not things we take lightly. However, this represents a common tax practice both here in Indiana and around the country that will benefit our city through funding many municipal improvements in the coming years.
Ordinance D-2738-24:Creating the Carmel Wheel Tax Fund and Imposing a Municipal
Wheel Tax
Creates the Carmel Wheel Tax Fund and Imposes a Municipal Wheel Tax. The ordinance was returned to the Finance Committee.
Like the proposed excise tax, this is a common practice across the country that funds the construction, reconstruction and repair of our streets and roads.
CITY BUDGET DISCUSSIONS AND APPROVAL
This portion represented the bulk of our meeting as each councilor took the opportunity to look through the first mayoral budget presented during the workshops on Sept 25 and 26, and then again on Oct 7. We addressed concerns and questions line by line. Many of us brought forward concerns in a variety of categories. This was a challenging process as this was the first city budget preparation for many of us. However, I believe that the budget as it stands now and approved streamlines our previous projects while still maintaining our city's growth and attention to quality of life for all residents.
The section below is a brief summary as the discussion in its entirety spans about four hours. If you have additional questions or require clarification on a specific item, please reach out to me via email.
The mayor and Carmel CFO Zac Jackson made initial changes to the budget that resulted in a proposed reduction of $1.7M from the city's budget. By the end of the council meeting, we had agreed to substantially more removals from the original budget on 10/7 of $234,766,604 to now a total budget of $232,908,712.59. This represents a total budget removal of $2,257,892.41. Among the changes made were cuts to the Carmel Make My Move plan. I believe that this is a good decision as people are increasingly moving to Carmel while we undergo a housing shortage. Incentivizing more people to move, therefore, isn't the best use of our funding. Other removals included city rebranding plans, an intergovernmental affairs position, marketing positions and smaller department-specific redundancies in operating expenses.
In order to keep arts funding for our city at 1% of the expected general fund revenue, we agreed to add approximately 100,000 to the arts line item which was being held at a constant dollar amount from last year. I expressed my opinion that the arts in this city is what makes this city special and we must continue to fund it so that it remains the vibrant calling card of our city.
I am proud of the work we did in finalizing the budget on the council. I hope that all of you know that I have kept my promises to be an active representative of the West District and to promote the arts and culture that make us the amazing city we are.
A Note on the Christkindlmarkt
I and others on the council have heard concerns from members of our community on the setting aside of $600k (unrelated to labor costs) for the Carmel Christkindlmarkt as well as the reorganization of its board. I want to assure all of you that this festival will continue to be the crown jewel of Carmel's many events . This set aside represents a step in the evaluation of the expenses incurred by the market and it may be reallocated as the city council and mayor's office continue to discuss how we navigate our city's new organizational role. It is the role of city council to be fiscally responsible and to ensure that all city events are managed in that way. The Christkindlmarkt remains one of my absolute favorites of Carmel's annual events and something my family and I look forward to attending every year. I believe that the unique traditions, celebration of our community's German diaspora, arts, food, and programming are critical to the overall culture of our city. I will work tirelessly in City Council to ensure that this reorganization does not negatively impact the Christkindlmarkt experience we have come to adore.
West Side Concerns
On a final note there was a very well attended and spirited discussion at the Village of West Clay about development on the west side of Carmel . As a west side resident, I am acutely aware and sensitive to the importance of keeping the character of our neighborhoods. I am not in favor of high density development on the west side.
That's all from me today, I hope to see you at the Diwali Festival this Saturday! I know there's a lot to digest here but remember, if you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please reach out to me. I’m always here to listen and advocate for you. If you wish to review the details of our city meeting, the recording is available here, and the meeting agenda is available here! If you’d like to attend a city council meeting, committee hearing, or other council events, please visit our website for the calendar!
Comments