City Council members still seeking more data on CRC's finances

City Council members still seeking more data on CRC's finances
Some members say financial consultant’s presentation doesn’t provide all the answers
By Kevin Kane
Current in Carmel

March 1, 2010


For weeks, the City Council has been questioning the Carmel Redevelopment Commission’s management of finances. Some answers were provided on Monday night but questions still remain.


Mayor Jim Brainard and the CRC have repeatedly stated that no residential taxes will be used to fund the $150 million Center for the Performing Arts. During the council’s March 1 meeting, Loren Matthes, a partner with the city’s financial consultant H.J. Umbaugh and Associates, again presented information on the city’s tax increment financing (TIF) revenue. Matthes presented the same information during the Feb. 17 meeting of the CRC, but on Monday night more questions arose.


During both meetings, Matthes stated it was expected that TIF money would be used to pay for the CRC’s long-term expenses, including those for the Center for the Performing Arts. Her presentation indicated that very conservative assumptions had been made when estimating TIF dollars collected in the coming years, including a span during which the firm assumed no new developments would occur. Even with the conservative accounting, Matthes’ presentation indicated there would be enough TIF revenue to fund the CRC’s current outstanding obligations through 2023, but some council members were concerned some information was missing from the report.


“We’re looking for the whole picture,” council member John Accetturo said during the meeting. “I’ve never seen this sort of piecemeal report. We need to see a report with everything in it.”


Accetturo and other members of the council expressed their concerns over the lack of data regarding operating costs and other expenses. Matthes’ report, Accetturo said, showed that the TIF revenue should be able to cover the “mortgage payments” but didn’t address the secondary costs associated with the Center for the Performing Arts and other projects.


Brainard challenged that most operating costs are “minimal” compared to the larger expenses. However, council president Rich Sharp said that while many are in fact smaller, they are still large enough that they shouldn’t be disregarded. Sharp also questioned the consultant’s financial estimates, stating that assumptions were made based on information provided by the firm’s employer. This, he said, included the assumption that no current developments would be scaled back in any manner due to the economy. Brainard said that he thought the firm’s assumption that no new development would occur for an extended period of time was cautious enough.


“Even during this recession we’ve seen new buildings built but we’re assuming here that there won’t be one shovel in the ground,” he said during the meeting.


In addition to Sharp and Accetturo, council members Luci Snyder and Eric Seidensticker expressed concerns over data lacking in Matthes’ presentation. Most posing questions acknowledged that the information that was provided was helpful, but all mentioned that more was needed before the council could feel confident in the CRC’s future finances.


“We’re just trying to get to the bottom line,” Accetturo said.