In this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun addresses this issue and more 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: I saw some flooding streets this past week and reminded me of talking with the previous mayor, Duke Bennett, and the mandated unfunded long-term control plan. Where is the city in that process?
Sakbun: That's a fancy government acronym for the EPA in 1976 that said you need to separate poop and storm water. We have 37 big overflows a year here in Terre Haute and Vigo County. Our federal mandate is to get that down to seven, so we entered into what it's called a remediation plan, basically, which says you have 30 years to fix the problem.
This started in 2019. There was a huge issue at the main lift station, the large construction project that we are currently finishing before we started the first location, it did not work out, so they had to move locations. So now we are involved with finishing that project, and we're going to move to phase two.
Phase two is some of our largest stormwater problems in the community, think Ohio Street, North Fourth Street, Locust Street, from 13th to 25th, Lincolnshire, Woodshire, Chamberlain, we've knocked out a couple of lift station improvements already within budget, but the city is exploring a sewage rate increase in 2030 and I'm very clear when I say 2030.
So our last rate increase was in 2019 the one before that, 2012 and then before that, not one for two decades, and so if you don't plan it out to where you're basically looking at a percent or less per year, you fall behind on projects.
We are looking at other funding strategies. The stormwater fee is $3 a month for residential customers. The bulk of our improvements we believe that the business community can afford, and so their rate will be anywhere from $10 or $30 per month.
We are going to use some of our economic development income tax money and casino gaming revenue dollars for infrastructure projects, and we've been doing that for two years. We're going to do even more the next two years, so that way we can keep any rate increase as low as possible.
Hren: Governor Mike Braun extended the gas tax holiday for a fourth, probably the last time, and said the pause costs are costing the state roughly $140 million but that he would make good on the financial losses from what local governments face.
Sakbun: The state published a very low revenue forecast for this year, last budget cycle, and they were completely wrong, which is a good thing, right? Like, you want their numbers to come in low. Where I'm a little bit frustrated is a couple of things. Number one, when higher education gets a 5% cut, your Indiana State University's really have to make some tough decisions, so there's not opportunities for them to go out and get some of this quote extra revenue.
It's not extra, it's just the revenue we received that was higher than our forecast, but those quote extra dollars now have to go to the gas tax problem to ensure that we can do what little paving we are doing in the state of Indiana. I just wish as a state we prioritize our infrastructure a little bit more. It's good for economic development, it's great for homeowners, it's good for all of our citizens.
We need sidewalks that connect, and these are problems that don't have a Republican or a Democratic label. They're a people problem, and my constituents feel it.
Hren: I see where thyssenkrupp Automotive Technology announced its production site here in Terre Haute, will close in 2027 with about 230 jobs. We've seen similar situations in Bloomington and Columbus and part of evolving cities and economies.
Sakbun: What's frustrating is if you look at what TK makes, and some of the materials and equipment they make is for EVs, and you see changing legislation at the federal level that is blatantly attacking electric vehicles, and their production is down. You add in a tariff, their production is down.
Now, here's the positives: TK has been great to work with, as well as the United Auto Workers Union, and we have a plan to do job fairs and job interviews for every employee in that facility, even better, as we've got a number of companies who are just chomping at the bits, waiting for that facility to be listed by a real estate broker, because they want to relocate to Terre Haute, Indiana, or they want to expand their Terre Haute, Indiana footprint.
So, I think in the grand scheme of things, it will work out. We've got a lot of interest in this site. We've got a plan for the current employees, but it's still a frustrating headline.
Hren: You did a good job explaining the wheel tax on your social media account, and I thought, whether you live in Terre Haute or Bloomington, people would be interested because we see that on our vehicle registration and wonder where it goes.
Sakbun: Let's go back two years ago, and basically, state government said, "Hey, local government, you will get less in Community Crossing grant money to pave your streets unless you have a wheel tax." Here's the problem. A lot of counties already have a wheel tax, so two years ago, if a city had a wheel tax, if you lived in the city, you would pay two taxes. That's double taxation and a huge problem, frankly, across the United States of America.
And so we spent the legislative session one year ago changing legislation to where, if you're the county government, Joe, and I'm the city government. I have a wheel tax, you have a wheel tax. Citizens who live in the city will pay just one wheel tax because of that change. Terre Haute is now implementing a wheel tax, same rate as the counties, and I tell everyone, look, this is a procedural change.
Did we include an increase of $2 two years from now. Yes, so we can account for inflation over time as the cost of paving goes up, but we also signed on the dotted line the next two increases of $2 two years from now, and then another dollar four years from now, so that way it was locked in and people had more than enough time to plan.
I tell everyone the money here has to go to your pothole crews or paving. It's going to go to our pothole crews, and we'll use casino money to increase our paving amount. And next year, our goal is to pave $4 million of streets in the city of Terre Haute, Indiana.
