Now that the income tax increase is set, how will residents know where the extra money is going? More on the possible east-west transit route, combination fire and police headquarters, and more.
In this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton addresses these issues and more during an interview Tuesday at City Hall. 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: The local option income tax increase of about 51% was approved by city council. Will there still need to be a formality with the county tax commission to approve that?
Hamilton: No. Actually, there does not need to be any other voting action. There's a behind the scenes certification up to the state. The three other jurisdictions don't have to, and I'm not sure if they will. I wish they would vote. I think it'd be good for them to take a position on it publicly. But the majority vote has been cast. And it will go into effect October one.
It is a little less than I asked for, but it's fine. It was the democratic process working. We'll make it work. I was really pleased that they debated, they wrestled, we worked very closely with them. And they ended up with a unanimous decision, which is not common in difficult votes like this. So we're very, very proud of them. And I think the result will make our city a much better city.
READ MORE: Bloomington council delays tax hike vote, approves $11.6 million bonds
Hren: I think the next step that taxpayers will really want to see is where that money is going. And so I assume that's going to be part of this next budgeting process.
Hamilton: Yes, under the economic development, local income tax ED lit, we actually produce a specific plan for all that money, which we'll be sharing with the budget process. It'll be in a separate account. So the money will go into a separate account. And we'll get appropriated out of that account regularly.
And I do like to remind people that you know, Joe, of the seven counties that touch, six and us in Monroe County, we had the lowest local income tax rate for the last several years. And this move makes us only into the middle, that is three of the counties are still higher than us.
Hren: I did want to bring up the east to west bus route. That was kind of a key talking point. I think the number one thing that comes from that is with Bloomington traffic and no direct corridor east to west, how does a 15 minute frequent bus work?
Hamilton: Sure. Our Bloomington transit system is the highest per capita transit system in the state of Indiana. We're really proud of it. It serves many millions of people a year. This takes it to the next level. And transit is so important as we continue to grow as we continue to work on reducing our dependence on automobiles.
It's going to offer Sunday service. It's going to increase frequency of all the bus routes so nothing's longer than 30 minutes. And then there's some exciting new things that that will take some strategic planning. One of them which we're very excited about is as you referenced an East West bus rapid transit, frequent buses, fewer stops so that it moves you frequently, once you get on the bus.
It will really help people in those areas have great access to downtown and to the campus and to shopping and other things. And can really change where people choose to live and how they can choose to get around on that line. So the transit system will be doing some strategic planning, some intense planning, they have to do a lot of public engagement on the details of that.
Hren: You also talk about public safety upgrades, the fire station is in temporary building and police station flooded as well - are there plans on replacing them?
Hamilton: If we move from both of those, we probably will explore whether we dispose of them, sell them to somebody to develop affordable housing or we may look at other uses of that. But my expectation would be if we don't need them for police and fire headquarters, it's probably appropriate to consider shifting them to something else, and probably some to the private sector.
Hren: I've been hearing a lot about getting the convention center expansion project back up again. Who or what entity will or should start that process?
Hamilton: Well, it's going to be a collaborative thing, Joe, between city, county, private sector like it was before, we had come close to some plans. And there are some architectural renderings, as you mentioned, for a really significant expansion. I think I hope those will get revived. It's going to take a fully collaborative effort among county, city, and private sector.
Hren: I have a question, Robert writes in, he's curious if the mayor, City Council are aware of or have reviewed sibling city, Palo Altos, to our free downtown parking protocol?
Hamilton: You know, I haven't reviewed that - it is part of our sibling city that will exchange information about that, the parking, the paid parking downtown, which was really developed shortly before I became mayor, so seven, eight years ago, I think, was designed to deal with the pressures of parking, and trying to make sure we that people could go to restaurants and go shopping and those kinds of things. To help downtown. I think most people view it has helped downtown. But if Palo Alto has figured out a different way to do it, happy to learn and look thanks for the tip.
Hren: Additionally, he wanted to ask about the current park mobile app protocol of dictating a 12 hour parking event until an end of parking event button is pushed. IU, other cities, including Indianapolis use the more standard count up from zero minutes protocol.
Hamilton: It's a good question, Joe. I've used the app myself, though, I actually have to confess I tend to use quarters, I find it actually faster. But I'll check into it. I think the design of that is basically to make sure you don't get a parking ticket. If you don't specify the length of time. If people forget, and they don't put a time limit on it to make sure you don't get a ticket. But it's a fair question. And I'll ask our parking people about why 12 hours as opposed to two hours or four hours or six or some other things like that.
Hren: The city just issued a press release regarding moving forward with Meridiam on providing the infrastructure for high speed internet. There was an editorial in the Herald-Times a few weeks ago from a broadband expert that says 85% of Bloomington already does get internet. So how does this help?
Hamilton: Well, this is a big, big deal for the city, Joe. So the biggest news really was that Meridiam stated publicly their plan to invest at least $50 million to build out a fiber network that will cover the whole city that will reach every resident, there may be some areas that are very difficult to get to but at least 85%. And we hope much more than that.
We are planning to put up to a million dollars in for digital equity to help make sure that low income households if you're on food stamps, or if you have free and reduced lunch, etc., that you can get very affordable and we hope free high speed internet 250 megabits up and down - that's higher than most of us can get right now.
READ MORE: Bloomington high-speed internet agreement to improve digital equity
It also will actually help the whole 5g network in the city because they need backbone fiber everywhere those towers go. So that's helpful. The second thing and maybe it's a little technical, but this is being built as infrastructure, not as a private system. Right now, when you get internet connectivity, the company that's giving you the internet connection is building the wire to your house.
So any internet service provider can sell you their product. Now, there's an exclusive period of a few years for the first internet service provider to get into the market, but it's being built as infrastructure. And that's really different. It's unusual anywhere in the country. But it's how we think digital infrastructure ought to be available.
Hren: What about current internet, current providers that already have the infrastructure down, so they don't really need this?
Hamilton: Well, so it's interesting, Joe, what we find is current internet providers tend to cherry pick, they'll find a neighborhood that has high take rates in high income neighborhoods, and they say we'll put fiber in your neighborhood because we think you can afford it.
So there are a few areas of the city that have fiber, and this will compete with them. But the thing is, those fiber providers will now be able to soon be able to use that fiber network in other neighborhoods too so that everybody can compete. It is like streets or like electricity for the future. You know, everybody's going to need digital connectivity. So it's really a big deal for Bloomington.
