WISH-TV
City officials are gathering this month to discuss more than $101 million dollars in economic development bonds and attendance at a City Council Finance Committee meeting overflowed the caucus room at City Hall.
Tuesday evening marked the first of what could be several committee meetings to iron out specifics with projects including a carousel and a luxury hotel among other attractions. Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard said 25 issues are rolled into the $101 million bond and the committee’s role is to investigate funding and logistical avenues; it could make a recommendation to the City Council before it votes.
Some Carmel residents WISH-TV spoke to are in complete support new developments. Others, including former resident Philip Selby, miss the Carmel from decades ago.
“Some people, and I’m kind of one of them, that like the quaintness of the old town,” said Selby, standing on the sidewalk in the Carmel Arts & Design District, “but this is kind of nice where it seems like there’s always people out.”
Big changes have come to the city in recent years: expansion of the Arts & Design District, The Palladium, the Keystone Parkway project, and dozens of roundabouts to name a few.
“I know that (the city) is constantly spending,” Selby continued. “Some of the things have been good, some things have been bad, but if I lived here, I would be concerned about where the money’s coming from.”
Henry Mestetsky, an Indianapolis attorney and a mayoral appointee for the Carmel Redevelopment Commission, said the city is scheduled to pay all its debts with Brainard at the helm.
The mayor’s “administration for the last 20 years has really built Carmel into what it is today,” Mestetsky said. “There are over 100 corporate headquarters that ensure that city services are paid for by businesses instead of by residents.”
Mestetsky then explained the tax-increment financing (TIF) model, where the city sets aside future tax money increases from a development to help pay back the up-front costs of bringing it to the city.
“When people think about this Carmel debt,” he said, “if your salary is enough to pay 10 times what your mortgage payment is, that’s not really ‘you’re in a ton of debt’, that’s ‘it just makes sense.’”
Carmel provided these numbers: The amount of debt paid by residential taxpayers is $331,214,561. The Utilities debt of $164,428,053 is paid by rate-payers (which includes most of Westfield, Home Place and other noncity residential customers); and the TIF debt of $385,877,393 is by law paid by commercial properties.
However, some Hamilton County residents still see the city’s big investments as a big risk.
“We moved a year and a half ago, and we did not move to Carmel,” said Linda Ludwig, who now lives in nearby Fishers. “We did a little research on their debt and found out they were so far in debt that it would really affect people by 2024-2025 and we didn’t want to get caught up in that.”
Brainard did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, but said over the phone that this will be one of at least two committee meetings before the City Council votes on the bond. He said the 25 issues in the bond will increase the quality of life for Carmel residents and enhance the business environment.