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: Let's start with crafting next year's budget. This year's budget was $135 million. Next year's budget is $142 million. So where is that $7 million coming from? How's it coming together?
Sakbun: About three of that seven million is just our net assessed value growth. So, the city was growing, and we grew enough to have $3 million more than last year. The other four is coming from our cash reserves because we have several quality of life and infrastructure projects that we'd like to finish.
We've been very diligent, very responsible, and there's $14 to $15 million left in that bucket. We continue to grow the reserves there, so I communicated to the council that I'd like to take some of those reserves, and really improve the Booker T. Washington Community Center.
We're going to pave more. We're paving $4.1 million dollars' worth of streets alone next year, and we're going to show that infrastructure is not just a buzzword; it's something that we've needed to do.
Hren: Are you seeing loss of federal funding that's affecting your budget?
Sakbun: There's been immense challenges because of loss of federal funding. A great example is Susie's Place right across the street that lost $150,000 and a lot of those organizations have nowhere to go, nowhere to turn, other than the city, county, and then the business community.
There's been some tough conversations about, hey, you know, we're going to have to trim this or trim that or completely cancel much-needed programs. I think what's more frustrating is we're having this conversation about federal cuts we're seeing locally. Meanwhile, the nation continues to go trillions and trillions of trillions of dollars into debt.
I'm frustrated because big businesses keep getting handouts, and I've not seen these economics trickle down to the average citizen. Prices are up, wage growth isn't what it used to be, war continues to ravage across the Middle East, and some of those challenges are affecting us here in the Hoosier state.
Hren: Let's talk about data centers a bit because you wrote about needing checks and balances. Columbus City Council added an ordinance that would require any proposal to go through a government branch, which in turn requires public input. Is Terre Haute doing anything regarding data centers?
Sakbun: So we have not been approached by any data center organizations. I've not been approached by any group that wants to sign an NDA, and I do like some of the stuff that Columbus, Indiana, is doing when it comes to ensuring there's public input.
If you look at the city of Terre Haute, we don't have the right land around certain utilities for one within city limits. I've always said that if you want to have a conversation about data centers, there's a few things that you got to be very clear on: no tax breaks, absolutely none. They cannot increase our utilities. They need to guarantee and have legal ramification if utility bills go up because of a data center. They need to guarantee that they're not going to take our water. They need to be prepared to financially support the priorities of that community.
Hren: Are those protections in place?
Sakbun: I think we have a team on standby in the event that we need to. We have a couple of different strong municipal attorneys that we would call on. And honestly, the beauty of having a university is there's a lot of folks with a PhD you can call if you need it.
Hren: I know there have been some people upset in Bloomington wondering, "Why are you doing these big road construction projects in the fall when school's back in session? There are football games, fall festivals, everything going on." Does the same thing happen here?
Sakbun: When you realize that the cost of paving a square mile of interstate has increased by 5 times in 10 years, you have to ask yourself as a community: Are you willing to pave streets from March to end of October, or just April to July, because when you start moving things to another construction season, prices aren't going down.
And there's a harsh reality if you keep saying, "Well, we can only tolerate construction during these weeks or those months," and then it starts raining and things get delayed. If you kick that can down the road and that price goes up, your residents truly suffer even more long term.
There's never a great time to cut into a street. There's never a great time to pave a street. It will always affect at least one resident, and it's a hard conversation of hey, your business is going to be affected for a couple of weeks, but then when it's all done, more often than not, people enjoy the success of what we did.
Hren: I know both of our other mayors indicated they do plan to run again next year. Have you made any announcement to run again for reelection?
Sakbun: I do plan to make a more formal announcement in November. But since you asked me, and you're the first news outlet to ask me, and I like you and I love the organization you work for, I'll come out and be very direct. I do plan on running again in 2027 and look forward to winning the mayor's office again.
