From the Indianapolis Star:
Democrats made their mark on Indianapolis' spending priorities by rewriting parts of the nearly $1.1 billion city/county budget for next year.
Now it's up to Mayor Greg Ballard to sign off, reject the budget outright or take a scalpel to it using his line-item veto.
A statement issued by the Republican mayor Monday night -- after the City-County Council passed the budget 18-11, mostly along party lines -- didn't bode well.
He said the council-passed budget "is unfunded, increases spending, more than doubles the deficit for 2014 and strips support of our Downtown economy in order to give tax breaks to a select few." That said, he held off on rendering a verdict.
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In a committee last week, council members of both parties opted to keep a homestead tax credit that Ballard wanted to eliminate. On another panel, Democrats voted to force the Capital Improvement Board to pay a onetime $15 million tax in its separate budget -- in part to offset the nearly $9 million cost of continuing the tax credit.
Democrats hope to use the rest of the CIB cash to combat mounting retirements by paying for recruit classes of 50 police officers and 30 firefighters.
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Complicating the issue: While Ballard has veto power over the main city/county budget, he doesn't have final authority over the CIB's separate budget.
That means he can't directly stop the $15 million CIB charge.
The council passed the CIB budget 16-13 along party lines Monday.
In criticizing the council's decision to keep the homestead credit, the Ballard administration has pointed to a study showing that well-heeled homeowners benefit the most from the credit. It's funded by diverting county income taxes to help reduce property taxes -- by an average $22 a year for the 60 percent of homeowners who benefit.
But Ballard argued the credit was outdated in the era of tax caps.
Lewis said Ballard was wrong to build his budget around elimination of that credit, before the council had a chance to consider ending it.
It was one of several items Ballard used to close a $65 million budget gap in the nearly $600 million general fund budget, which covers day-to-day operations.
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If Ballard rejects the city/county budget, he and the council will have until the end of the month to reach agreement.
Otherwise, this year's funding automatically would continue next year, likely requiring immediate deep cuts across all agencies and departments.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012121015045
