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Dear Editor:
Hamilton County city governments had kept hidden the size and scope of debt they’ve laid on the poor taxpayer.
Using census estimates of population and data the cities provided the state’s local government finance website, the comparison looks like this:
- Carmel’s population 104,530 has a per-capita share of its $1.6 billion debt of $15,307.
- Fishers’ population of 101,099 has a per-capita share of its $1.5 billion debt of $14,837.
- Noblesville’s population of 75,258 has a per-capita share of its $759.7 million debt of $10,085.
- Westfield’s population of 66,980 has a per-capita share of the $196 million debt of $2,926.
The cities have told the state their debt service payments this year will total $85.8 million in Carmel, $92.5 million in Fishers, $49 million in Noblesville, and $16.3 million in Westfield.
More stunning are the debt increases since 2020:
- Carmel total debt grew from $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion.
- Fishers’ total debt grew from $589 million to $1.5 billion.
- Noblesville total debt grew from $307 million to $759.7 million.
- Westfield total debt grew from $19.6 million to $196 million.
Adding in the U.S. per-capita share of its $38.5 trillion debt – $111,781 – and you’ve got yourself a fine kettle of fish.
Time for a wake-up call.
Bill Shaffer
Carmel