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Dear Editor:
Carmel’s municipal establishment can no longer hide its feeble deception where budget and spending are concerned.
Using the city’s own data – as reported to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (IDLGF) and published reports in the press – we learn:
- The mayor’s budget since 2014 has declined 22 percent;
- Spending per resident actually declined 26 percent as population grew 16 percent;
- Official city budgets filed with the IDLGF for 2016 (the most recent filing) showed the city budget to be $83.7 million, not the $125 million the mayor claimed in print;
- Property tax revenues since 2014 increased 45 percent;
- The city’s actual deficit in 2014 was $10.8 million and in 2020, $42.5 million.
And yet, the city propeller heads have approved another $150 million or so in new borrowing (plus interest) to add to the $1.3 billion burden it’s already run up by exploiting loopholes in state law.
If Carmel were a publicly traded corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission would shut it down.
Bill Shaffer
Carmel