Bennett says there's still work to be done and he wants another term as mayor to do it. We also talk 2023 priorities and what he's watching for as the general assembly gets underway at the statehouse.
On this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett addresses these issues and more on a Zoom interview. 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.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: Well big announcement last week, you are running for re-election.
Bennett: I put a lot of thought into it like you do every four years, and you think, okay, am I still doing what I need to do? Is this still what I want to continue to do? And there's a lot of mayors dropping out, but I feel like I really think I want to do it again. But I didn't make the decision till just most recently, where I just evaluated everything, what we've accomplished, and what's still laying ahead. And I really feel like there's a lot more work to do. So I'm excited.
We've built the foundation of things here in our community. And now we're starting to reap the benefits of that, and having revenues and some new revenues coming in through READI and ARPA, and the casino, and our budgets in great shape, I really feel like we have an opportunity to invest in ourselves more than we ever have. And I really want to be a part of that. So decided to take the plunge and go again. And hopefully the voters will have me back.
Hren: If elected and you serve the next full term, that would be 20 years in office. What do you say to those who think that might be too long for someone to hold that position?
Bennett: I look at lots of other politicians that have served much longer than that, including mayors all across the state of Indiana. We've had another five term mayor in our community. I think the key is, are you getting things done? Are you moving the community forward? We've built relationships with the governor's office, I've worked with three different governors, we got great relationships with our two senators and our congressmen and all of our local elected officials, the administration, I mean, it's seamless right now.
We're getting a lot of benefit from that through grants and other things, positioning ourselves well. So I look at that, and it's like, man, you know, I want to continue that relationship, and I want it to be strong. So whoever does follow me that what we've established will continue and some of that is newer, and I feel like government moves slow in general, the first few years were really slow, but we've accomplished some things by getting an overpass built. We're gonna get a second overpass built. Now we're going to work on the third one downtown. Those are things that take many many years and I really feel like in another four years, we can accomplish most of the goals that I set out in the very beginning.
Hren: As we begin a new year, no matter what you have 2023, what are you diving in this year?
Bennett: The housing and the workforce development is something I'm personally working on following the community plan. All those are components of that. We got a million dollars for Community Crossings - excited about that. So that means we do $2 million worth of paving on some major streets, then we've got other dollars set aside to do additional paving projects. We've ramped up sidewalks and ADA compliant ramps this year again, we added another $100,000 to that pool.
We're working on a major improvement to Rea Park, to Fairbanks Park and to Herz-Rose Park. And then we're going to put some splash pads in a couple of other inner city parks. So it goes back to that quality life component, that's the focus. We've got to continue to push forward on the two new hotels and small parking garage downtown to support the convention center that's going to be a city led project. Our another CIB related thing is our athletic facility and outdoor water park that we're pursuing. We've hired a firm to do that feasibility study that we'll be getting back in May, that we can share with the community how we move forward with that large quality life project here.
The overpass will get started construction later this year or the first of next year at 13th and Eighth Avenue. And we're beginning preliminary discussions about the third one downtown.
Hren: Indiana Senate Republicans are prioritizing health care issues in 2023. The general assembly is underway. Lawmakers will craft the state budget this session. What are you looking at as mayor of Terre Haute?
Bennett: I think a couple of things, always keep an eye on business personal property tax, that's an annual conversation. Always look and see if they're doing anything with TIF districts and tax increment financing districts. Excited about READI 2.0 that appears that they're going to find another big pool of money for that.
And I guess health related things, mental health and addictions money and then just us helping to be whatever can help us be healthier. So when you look at our community plan, some of those things match up directly with what the state's doing, we all recognize we're not real healthy here. And we're going to have to invest some dollars in that to turn the tide.
Hren: I heard there's an effort to return on sunsetting the food and beverage tax although that would be many years down the road. But many counties use that as does Vigo County to help fund the Visitor Bureau, the convention center and so forth. Are you hearing anything on that?
Bennett: I heard a little bit last session, there were some that want to just kind of get rid of it and others that want to sunset it. I get the fact that we're trying to reduce taxes, but those are dollars that you choose to spend, you go out to eat, get something to drink, you're paying a small tax. So for $25, you're paying a quarter into the system here locally that allows us to do projects like the convention center, and hopefully this athletic facility and water park and other projects that we have ideas about. I think it's a great revenue source. And I'm not sure what the reluctance is on some legislators to want to get rid of it. I think it's a fair use or tax, if you will, versus making somebody pay for something they may or may not use are good.
Hren: We've always talked about the business personal property tax. And earlier in this show, you talked about how difficult it was for Terre Haute to recover from the state property tax caps. Are you hearing anything about business personal property tax right now?
Bennett: What I'm hearing, it's discussed in every session, but what I'm hearing and the governor is on-board with it too, but is to find us a replacement revenue stream. So if they take that away from cities and counties and other taxing entities, there'd be some replacement revenue. I'm not sure where it would come from, but they seem to be committed to find that, so we won't just lose the money forever, like we did put the property tax caps.
