CIB Countdown II
The Capital Improvement Board approved a budget resolution today that eliminates most of its budget deficit, grant funding for Black Expo, the Arts and the Sports Corporation and includes no money for taking over the operation of Conseco Field House from the Indiana Pacers.
However, that budget includes funding that depends on the City-County Council passing tonight a one-percent increase in the hotel tax. If not CIB members say they will have to make more cuts, cancel more conventions and layoff employees.
The total budget is $$94 million, $63 million in operational expenses and $31 million in debt service. There is no money for capital projects and officials had to dip into more than $3 million of cash reserves to close the gap, which is still slightly more than $100,000 in the hole.
The Council is expected to vote on the hotel tax tonight, however it’s passage is still in doubt at this hour. If the vote doesn’t pass the CIB will have to make more than $20 million in additional cuts. Right now the situation between Democrats and Republicans can be defined, as one source put it, as “a staring contest to see who blinks first.”
Below is some audio from today’s meeting…
You can follow tonight’s CCC meeting on my Twitter feed.
