From the Richmond Palladium-Item:
Richmond Mayor Sally Hutton’s showdown with Richmond Common Council over her spending of Economic Development Income Tax dollars fizzled Monday night.
And to hear Hutton tell it, she will now only follow their direction.
“If that’s what they want, that’s what we’ll do,” Hutton said, moments after she told council members the city was not selected for a $2 million federal highway grant that would have paid for 80 percent of the rebuilding of South E Street from 16th to 23rd.
Several council members have questioned the mayor’s use of EDIT money for things such as consulting fees and local matches for projects to repair of streets, sidewalks and curbs.
The issue came to a head earlier this month when council stopped progress on Hutton’s plan to use $511,000 in EDIT money as a local match for the South E Street project.
On Monday, the project was back on the common council agenda, but any showdown that loomed dissipated when Hutton said the city had not been selected for the grant.
...
Half of the city’s share of EDIT dollars goes to a fund and is spent on economic development by the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County.
The other half, this year about $690,000, can be used by the mayor for a variety of projects as broadly defined by the Indiana Legislature.
But council has final approval on such expenditures.
...
Hutton said she had no other plans to use EDIT money at this time.
But council member Ron Oler said he believes infrastructure projects — street, curb and sidewalk repair — are indirectly economic development.
“During budget season we’ll have that discussion,” he said about uses of EDIT money. “I think that infrastructure repair indirectly benefits job creation and job retention. I think infrastructure is a good use.”
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http://www.pal-item.com/article/20120702/NEWS01/307020017/City-not-selected-highway-grant?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
