Lutz Holds First Town Hall Meeting(posted July 19) (revised July 23) City County Councilman Robert Lutz, representing the 13th district, had his first town hall meeting July 17 since taking office May 12. He wanted the audience of 75 to know that he is the newly caucus elected councilman and is seeking input for the July 23 city council meeting. The July 23 meeting could raise the county income tax by 65 percent to fund public safety. Residents were irritated about their property increase but they were very civil in vocalizing their complaints. Merri Young of West Indianapolis Neighborhood Congress (WINC) said that the increase property taxes does not reflect her immediate neighborhood. WINC boundaries are Washington Street to the north and Raymond Street to the south. The east boundary is White River and the west boundary is Holt Road. She said her neighborhood is facing foreclosures and many mortgage companies do not want to lend in the area. She noted a house nearby recently sold for around $14,000 because the market forces did not believe it was worth the list price of $19,000. She said people will be forced to bulldoze their homes and bring mobile homes onto the site to live in. "How will that look next to Conseco and Lucas Oil Stadium," she asked. Lutz said part of the problem is that government has lost common sense when they agreed to pay the Colts $49 million for tearing down the RCA Dome prior to the contract expiration date. He said the city is already agreeing to build them a new stadium. Lutz qualified that he is not knocking the Colts or Jim Irsay, but this is just poor government policy. He also said it is just not one thing that has contributed to the increase in taxes. It is a compilation of moving to a fair market value system to assess taxes, eliminating inventory taxes and subsidizing businesses with tax abatements. He said there is no quick solution. One lady passed a petition around to end property taxes. Lutz said 2012 is the earliest property taxes could be repealed because it requires amending the state constitution. The next session of the general assembly could repeal the property tax, but to kill it would take a constitutional amendment passed by 2 general assemblies and then approval by the voters in a referendum. Lutz invited several city officials to help answer residents other concerns besides taxes. Public Information Officer Paul Whitmore explained to residents that Hendricks County is installing a round about at Raceway and Morris. He said the project should take only 45 days, so by the time the Indianapolis DPW sought contractors to put in speed bumps to slow traffic cutting through Avon Creek Estates, the project would be over. Others residents wanted to know why the city does not repair Transfer Drive. Whitmore responded that Transfer Drive is a private road, so it is up to the owners to maintain the it. The city really has no way to enforce the maintenance even though the public relies on Transfer Road to go to the assessor's office. The street also serves as part Indy Go's bus route. He said the city has not accepted the road so far because it does not have $2 million in the budget dedicated to maintain it. Earl Salisbury of the assessor's office said that negotiations are in the works for the future developer of the vacant Grande Florist Greenhouse site to fix the Transfer Drive as a condition of a proposed zoning change. Salisbury said the proposed trucking business would be adding more traffic into the area, so the road must be fixed. Salisbury told IMPD Southwest District Major Brian Mahone that he called 9-1-1 to report stolen air conditioners in the area and dispatch said there was no such road in the county. Salisbury noted again Wayne Township Assessor's Office is located on Transfer Drive and it is in the county. Mahone said that often MECA (Metropolitan Emergency Communication Agency) does not have private roads in the system and often times MECA cannot keep up with new subdivision development, so these errors do happen. He encourage people to ask for supervisors to report their problems with 9-1-1. He called the stealing of air conditioners a "crime trend" and said IMPD recently made an arrest that involved a theft of an IPL 800 pound spool of copper cable. |
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