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Dear Editor:
A quarter of a billion dollars in Carmel’s municipal debt disappeared in late December and city officials cannot explain it.
On Dec. 8, the city’s debt obligation listing with the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance was $1.6 billion. The next day, it was $1.3 billion – $247,728,500 less.
I asked the chair of the city council finance committee, Sue Finkam, for an explanation. She had none but asked the city controller, who also had no explanation. How odd.
The surprise $18.5 million overrun boosted the public cost of the Hotel Carmichael to $58.5 million.
What could possibly explain a surprise more than 13 times as big?
Bill Shaffer
Carmel