CIB task force facing uphill battle

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A new task force is meeting for the first time Wednesday evening. Its mission is to generate new operating funds for Lucas Oil Stadium.

State Representative Terri Austin (D-Anderson) had a two-word response to the suggestion that her constituents should help pay for operating expenses at Lucas Oil Stadium: good luck.

GOP City-County Councillor Michael McQuillen chairs the task force that will look at that possibility.

"We have to find money wherever we can," says McQuillen, "whether it's new taxes in the belt counties or what, to cover this deficit."

The deficit belongs to the Capital Improvement Board, which operates the stadium and the Convention Center.

Four years ago, six of seven donut counties agreed to pay a one-percent food and beverage tax to help build the stadium and, even then, it was a hard sell.

"I think the food and beverage tax is somewhat hard to swallow, but all of us need to do our share," Judy Metzler of Zionsville said at the time.

Now the state lawmakers, who would have to approve any plan adopted by the task force, are reluctant to even discuss a bigger contribution.

State Rep. Kathy Richardson (R-Noblesville) said people in Hamilton County, at this time, aren't willing to pay more to operate Lucas Oil Stadium and the Convention Center.

McQuillen begins his work with no deadline and even a goal that's uncertain. He would like to raise enough money for promotion of the Convention Center.

And there is another, perhaps bigger, obstacle for McQuillen and the CIB task force: Governor Mitch Daniels. Daniels made it clear when he proposed a partial CIB bailout earlier this year that he has no desire to revisit this issue.