CIB reaches deal with Pacers

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The Capital Improvement Board has reached a new deal with the Pacers.

The CIB voted Monday afternoon to extend their contract with the Pacers for another year. The original three-year contract for 33.5 million dollars ends in June of 2013. The latest agreement gives the Pacers a 10 million dollar loan to cover the operating expenses of the Fieldhouse until June of 2014.

CIB president Ann Lathrop says the group looked at long term and short term issues and decided it was important to get the Pacers in the building for another season. A representative for the Pacers says they are happy  with the agreement and now they will start working on a long-term deal.

Lathrop says they have 10 million dollars appropriated for the Pacers that will be paid in two 5 million dollar increments.

“We are going to continue to look at long term fiscal viability and the things we have facing us. We’re clearly talking about potential new revenue sources,” said Ann Lathrop, president of the Capital Improvement Board.

In the 2013 budget, the city-county council decided the CIB should pay the city the $15 million as a PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes. Council members were hoping to find more funding for public safety and other measures.

CIB members said the State Board of Accounts told the CIB not to pay the 15 million dollars due in January. They said it was not appropriate to take on that added expense. The CIB is currently appealing the PILOT.

There are other revenue sources city leaders could choose to enact. In 2013, the council could add to the tax imposed on the use of rental cars and could raise the tax on tickets -- for events such as Pacers games or Colts games.

“We talked about those taxes. No one’s in favor of taxes, but if it happens, can those dollars be used for public safety? So I did this to keep the conversation moving forward,” said Council President and a board member of the CIB Maggie Lewis.

No one has proposed such taxes, yet.

But, the option exists in 2013 until March, as the rules are written.  

Council President Maggie Lewis voted in favor of the new, short-term agreement with the Pacers, but she said if there are to be tax increases, she’s not the one to start that conversation.

“If the mayor wants those taxes, he’s going to have to get out front and ask for those taxes,” Lewis added.

The Mayor's spokesman, Marc Lotter, said: "there's an opportunity to address the long-term fiscal challenges facing the city."

But, first, he said we need to have "financial stability" and "need to understand what's going on with the C-I-B budget and the city budget."

With those answers, Lotter said Indianapolis will be in a better position to move forward.