Hamilton responds to the General Assembly's special session, the idea behind taking over convention center operations, and budgeting for the income tax increase.
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 near-total abortion ban goes into effect September 15, are you hearing any fall-out from commerce or business about operating in Bloomington?
Hamilton: I'm starting to hear it. I was actually on the West Coast last week, and it was on the mind of people on the West Coast when they learned I'm from Indiana. They're concerned about it and what it means. I think we've started to see more institutions, private sector institutions and others indicate concern about it. We have concern about it as an employer and as a recruiter. What I deeply hope is that the legislature will listen to that and improve our situation.
Hren: The convention center expansion is back in the news, a proposal put forth to county leaders is a bit vague but asks the county to exchange assets - the center and land to the city along with some other opioid settlement money and transit line to Ivy Tech. Where did this idea come from?
Hamilton: The county has a really big project in front of it. They've got criminal justice reform, which is long overdue, very complicated, it's going to need a lot of attention at the top levels of county government. We knew from a few years ago, the county didn't really have the same appetite for advancing the convention center that that we did in the city.
It's right downtown. It's critically important to the vitality of our downtown economy and our community in the whole region. So this came from, I think, frustration from the business community and others who are interested in seeing the convention center advanced, including me to say how can we kind of move this forward? It's kind of in our wheelhouse economic development, tourism, sponsoring that and let's let the county lead and focus on the criminal justice reform which is right in their wheelhouse in their lane of activity.
READ MORE: Commissioners say Bloomington's proposal to take over convention center is insufficient
Hren: County council generally responded warm to it - but it’s really not up to them, the commissioners need to sign off on that, and with my interview with them, they call it insufficient and wonder why progress can’t be made with a CIB - Capital Improvement Board?
Hamilton: I think we need to have dialogue. I think many members of county government view this as a really appropriate effort. Now, there's lots of details to be worked out. But I think the concept of saying, look this downtown center asset of the convention center, it may make some sense to let the city steer it - lead it, we'd have a committee much like a CIB. But a CIB is constrained by state law in ways that may not make the most sense for us as a community.
I hope people will approach it with an open mind. I think we've got really strong support from Chamber of Commerce and the downtown business and the Convention and Visitors Bureau and those kinds of folks who know this business. So I'm hopeful, I'm encouraged.
Hren: Monroe County’s local income tax rate increases October 1 - it was passed in May from your proposal. It will generate $14.5 million dollars in annual revenue. Where is all that money going and how challenging is it to craft a budget with that big of increase?
Hamilton: It's kind of interesting in that the local income tax had a quite explicit list of its purposes. And when the council passed that, we made a commitment to say we're going to bring you a budget with those pieces in it. So for most of the vast majority of that, it's earmarked for what is going to be in the budget.
There'll be some details to work out. There are other parts of the budget, of course that are challenging and we continue to work to develop, I'll be presenting some new ideas, some cost saving and some new investments. But I am really pleased that Bloomington is kind of ready to step into the next chapter. We've made it through the downturn. We're coming through the the pandemic and this community I believe is ready to invest in the future in a more sustainable city and a more inclusive city.
Hren: Besides the proposal to pay off the convention center debt at $2.2 million, they city is also taking over CFC property at City Hall for police/fire headquarters - where is all the money coming from?
Hamilton: If we do go forward with the Showers purchase the CFC side of that, that will be focused on public safety. So that does get funded primarily by the by the equipment and facility side of the public safety increase in the local income tax. So we look at different pieces for different things. If we go forward with the convention center, that's not a huge amount. The convention center expansion is a big project. It's well north of $50 million. So that's a little piece of what will be a stack of public funding to help make that happen.
Hren: Looks like the commissioners found a site for a new county jail, and it’s not downtown - how do you feel about that process?
Hamilton: I toured the jail a few years ago, it is a stain on our community, we need to have a better criminal justice system and facility. So I do encourage and support the reform and the renewal of that system, which includes the jail. Now, I will tell you, I do believe America incarcerates too many people. We are unique in the developed world in how many people we put behind bars. I think our community needs to be part of addressing that with many more services, mental health services, substance use disorder services, education and job training and intervention services that help us avoid the pipeline that seems to drive our prison population.
I do believe that the criminal justice reform also probably needs to include a new facility because what we have is an adequate. I want to hold off on thinking about exactly where that should be. There's a lot of complicated challenges. It's not easy. We look forward to working with that.
