But I asked tough questions, as I have been doing for several years now, primarily aimed at Fishers' rising debt. Here are some highlights, or lowlights, depending on your viewpoint.
- Fishers total debt is $274 million, up from about $70 million in 2008.
- Of that total debt, over $150 million is in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) debt, the form of corporate welfare that keeps our tax base from actually growing and requires non-TIF homeowners and businesses to subsidize core services like police and fire for the TIF areas.
- Of the $69 million in spending for 2016, over $12 million is for debt payments, roughly 17% of the total.
As I was making my remarks, the Council President actually tried to cut me off because he does not want the word to get out about these facts. After my remarks, he, the Mayor, and other Council members tried to defend this as being "fiscally conservative". I am sorry, but if that kind of debt is "fiscally conservative", then that term is meaningless.
Do you want pretend fiscal conservatives to continue to run everything without someone who will stand up, ask the hard questions, and say "Wait one minute!"? If you are troubled by that, then please support me on November 3rd.
Wow, I'm absolutely flabbergasted that it's gone from $70M to $274 in such a short time. It sure seems like all the construction, TIFs, and debt aren't really related to making Fishers residents' lives better, but making construction companies richer.
ReplyDeleteExcuse me for being cynical, but what, realistically, can be done? I'm hoping more people will see this and vote. You are the only reason I'm going to the polls in November.