Monroe Co. is one of only three in the state's yellow COVID metric, annexation final vote is scheduled for tonight, the mayor disagrees with FOP city salary ranking, and Bloomington is home to the fastest growing co-work space in the state.
In this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton addresses these issues and more during a Facebook Live Zoom event Monday. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU. Here are some highlights.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb calls President Biden’s recent COVID vaccine mandate "a bridge too far" – what’s your response to that?
Hamilton: Well, I disagree. I respectfully suggest that this is kind of an example of politics intruding into science. I mean, I understand the governor's position - he's trying to navigate an even more conservative legislature probably in concerns he's obviously in disputes with them about his authorities and he's trying to navigate that.
I appreciate the governor continues to let local jurisdictions like us have tighter rules. That's really important. But I absolutely do not think it's a bridge too far. This country should be out of this pandemic by now. We have the answers. Most people are doing the right thing. But we have millions and millions of people who are not using the vaccine, which will help all of us be safer. We have Americans dying. We have our economy still hurt. And I appreciate the President's leadership to say it is time to move beyond this pandemic.
Hren: I assume you saw a full stadium at the IU game this past weekend, does that sight scare you or give you hope that the vaccine is working?
Hamilton: Well, I suppose it's both. I mean, I actually went to the inter-city High School football game Friday night. And I have to say, it concerns me to see so many people so close, even outdoors, which is definitely better, but almost all unmasked and yelling and screaming and excitement and it is certainly a place where the variant can get past. So that's of great concern.
We understand how valuable it is to be able to get out and do those kinds of things. And it's just a reminder to that it is the vaccine that helps and they're safe and they're effective.
Hren: Annexation final vote is scheduled for Wednesday night - can you give us a rundown of how this will unfold?
Hamilton: There should not be any more amendments. One of the factors is you have to have an up to date fiscal plan and legal description. And that takes time to do. So we really worked with counsel to make clear those amendments when they had to be and they were considered 10 days ago or so, to be able to let us get the ordinances into final passing position.
Now, of course, the council has to vote up or down on each of the of the ordinances and there are eight now, we expect them not to pass one of them [Area 7], we all agree on that one, and then hope they'll pass the other seven.
I expect there'll be some opportunity for public comment Wednesday night, but I'm not I'm not positive how that will be handled.
READ MORE: Annexation Petitioners Going Door To Door; Mayor Says Remonstration Could End Up In Court
Eric via email: "Annexed residents will be paying city taxes for at least a few years before they will officially be able to vote for the office of mayor or for the members of city council. Why can't you delay the annexation effective date until 2027 when all of the people paying city taxes would get to have a say in city elections? Alternatively, why not move the annexation date up to 2023?"
Hamilton: Most of this is really set by state law, there's only a window of time under state law that you can make an annexation effective between one and three years or so from the date it is adopted. So I think most people would agree that trying to do this in one year would not make sense. That's how fast you'd have to do it - to get to the 2023 election.
Of course, this timing was all affected by the legislature's illegal interference, or it would all be done by now. I will just point out - we are doing it effective 2024. It's important for people to know that you actually don't pay any additional property taxes until spring of 2025. And your income taxes don't actually kick in fully until 2027. So the first vote that folks will have in a municipal election would be May of 2027. So there is a couple year period there. But there's just no perfect solution to that.
READ MORE: Pushing City Limits: Bloomington Annexation Coverage
Susan via email: Please provide a yes or no answer to the following. Do you support the grandfathering in of pre-annexation property tax rates (so that low- and fixed-income county residents slated for annexation would be able to afford to stay in their homes)?
Hamilton: Well, no. Primarily again, that's all determined by state law. There's no way to adjust taxes for individuals. I will note that it's very important protection for seniors on fixed incomes those 65 and over that own a home that have that's a modest value home that are relatively low income individuals have, in state law, a limit on no increase in your property taxes more than 2% per year.
So if you're paying $400, it can't go up more than to $408 the next year and that's an important protection that we support. But otherwise, the the impact on taxes is set by state law. Bloomington and our county have among the very lowest taxes in our area, both income tax and property tax, we have very low rates compared to the 20 largest city in this state and compared to our surrounding neighbors, we have among the very lowest taxes.
Hren: Just this past week city council wants to boost police salaries, calling this a dire situation. I did talk to the Fraternal Order of Police President Paul Post. He says the bottom line is competitive salary, the city's police salary ranks, he says 68 in the state for municipalities in the pension system. So and I know we've talked about this before - you said there are other benefits but Post says that doesn't add up. Why?
Hamilton: One of the most important things America does is make sure we have public safety. And I take it very seriously. I'm incredibly proud of our Bloomington police department, we have in my view, the finest police department in the state. We want to keep it that way.
As certainly policing has evolved over the last several years and decades, Bloomington has been an innovative department with a very early adoption of lots of things like body cameras and social workers and community policing and those kinds of efforts we're very proud of.
Now, it's also true that in the last few years, the police marketplace, if you will has gotten challenging across the country and in the state. There are fewer people choosing to go into policing. Mr. Post to who I know shares this data point, and it's not accurate from our perspective. It's referring actually to pension rates and not salaries. And sometimes pension rates and salaries are very different.
But the general point we agree with - we want our police officers to be fairly compensated and competitively compensated. And we negotiate that every three years. We were in a contract that we negotiated a couple years ago that the Fraternal Order of Police union endorsed and voted for and we're going to be negotiating actually starting next month for the next round.
But I think in the budget for 2022, you will also see significant investment in public safety, including compensation and support for our officers.
Hren: I really wanted to get to this $3.5 million federal grant for the Trades District Tech Center. So the first really major development in the Trades District in a while.
Hamilton: It's exciting news, we really appreciate the partnership with the federal government. Many people don't know that Bloomington is home to the fastest growing co-workspace in the state. When we opened The Mill, just three or four years ago, that has become a terrific beehive of activity of entrepreneurship and innovation.
The admin building and the kiln building are both either sold or shortly to be sold. But this project is very exciting. It's really a new office building that will in a way be a sibling to The Mill for companies graduating, for companies wanting to bring their employment downtown. That place the Trades District is really meant as an employment center and kind of the new economy energy center, gravity center, if you will, working with IU and with our entrepreneurs around the city.
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