My good friend Greg Leatherman, who runs the Redevelopment Commission and who has been the target of withering, [...]]]> City council voted last night to put some of your tax dollars to work for a private developer. The announced cost will be a bit under a million dollars, one can guess that will eventually be spent.

My good friend Greg Leatherman, who runs the Redevelopment Commission and who has been the target of withering, job-threatening scorn by one of my other friends, John Shoaff, presented the proposal to council last night. It had already unanimously endorsed by the Redevelopment Commission to which he is staff, but which in reality he manages as if it were his staff.

Arguing in support of the proposal were Elissa McGauley who manages the fraught and controversial abatement program for the City of Fort Wayne, and Rob Young, now a development director for a “design-build” construction company, CME, and the former president of the Alliance, a creature of city government that teams with the Partnership to find and sell businesses on either locating or expanding in this area. Mr. Young seems to be making a business out of selling projects to clients with the promise of hefty tax breaks.

Simply put, often businesses, be they in Cleveland, Munich, Mumbai or Takaoka, send scouts into the wild in search of a building in which to manufacture or to distribute their wares. As Mr. Leatherman has repeatedly told me and council and anyone not sufficiently fleet of foot to elude him that the city has lost more than a few potential employers because the “right” building was not available in all of the inventory of buildings in the area. None. Over the years his staff has defined what they would describe as the perfect spec building: something around 100,000 square feet, near the interstate, connected to utilities and with 30 foot ceilings.

So, last night he asked council to put your money into a spec building that may or may never be occupied. Councilman Dr. John Crawford was dubious and asked a series of questions as to whether this should be the role of government or of the private sector. Mr. Leatherman responded that the city does this all the time in various ways, teaming with the private sector. True, and he added, it is usually done by extending utility lines, at your expense. Councilman Russ Jehl said the spec building, a first in that long history of local government “teaming” with the private sector, would set a precedent that literally hundreds of small local contractors might now want to avail themselves of. Mr. Leatherman reminded council of the ongoing tightness of money and that it is nearly unavailable to contractors to put up such buildings. This spec building, he agrued, is a way in which the community through its government bodies can facilitate development.

The measure passed 6 to 3 with Councilmen Jehl, Dr. Crawford and Mitch Harper voting against.

Mr. Leatherman argued that the $875k tax outlay would be more than made up over the years in property taxes, estimated at $30,000 a year. Do the math. Nearly 30 years of collections of increasingly cheaper money before we are whole. But, he added, when (if…) the building is rented then the tenants would also pay taxes, as would their employees, etc.; that is unless the city rushes out to abate all of their new equipment in exchange for one or two jobs, as is Mrs. McGauley’s calling. The whole matter calls into question the relationship between the Redevelopment Commission, which generated the project, and city council which is the supposed steward of your tax dollars; this is the first and last time council will have a chance to review the questionable deal. They were called upon to designate the ground on the north side a “revitalization” area in keeping with state law, which they did. The fine print is to be worked out by the Redevelopment Commission. Trust but verify, and council left the table last night very uneasy with this deal.

In other news, Val Ahr, the deputy controller pleased everyone at the table when she asked approval for lease of new cars for the city. She had budgeted last year’s interest expenses at around 3%, but the deal came in under 2% for a savings well over $200,000 to the city. Little smiles spread from cheek to cheek all around the table. Visions of street trees danced in Councilman Shoaff’s head. Now, shall we wonder whether the city will extrapolate the savings by refinancing the many bonds they have on the books currently well in excess of 3%? Would it make sense (yes) now to take out a large bond to repair streets and infrastructure and pay it off with 1.5% money that is sure to get more expensive in the immediate coming years?

Humor last night. Councilman Mitch Harper was delayed en route from the capital to council. He called ahead and Clerk Sandy Kennedy dutifully noted that he was somewhere between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne to which Councilman Tom Smith blurted out “that’s a good place for him.” It was meant and taken in jest, but reminded one of only a few years ago when comments like that were, instead, meant to hurt and were regularly hurled across the table like so many Viking battle axes. Everybody enjoyed a nice guffaw. Then, later in the evening Council President Tom Didier locked up in the middle of the pledge of allegiance. He skipped right past the “to the Republic for which it stands” part of the pledge and got right to “indivisible, under God…” He stuttered a bit, ground to a halt his eyes wide in confusion, silence draped the dais until Councilmen Glynn Hines and Marty Bender came to his rescue. Anyone who knows Tom knows his is devoutly religious, so cutting to the chase can easily be understood.

The rancor of the evening came when two citizens spoke on the matter of to widen or not to widen State Street tween Spy Run and Wells. Insults were hurled by the two in what has become an angry and divisive contest dividing equally well-meaning neighbors. The normal patient and attentive look on Russ Jehl’s face changed to disgust as the insults flew. Happily, there will be a meeting on the project this Thursday. Hopefully, moderator Tom Smith, will help formulate a compromise and accelerate progress. He is to play the role of Bismarck’s “honest broker.” Let us also hope that in future projects the administration follows Councilman Shoaff’s edict and consults with “impacted” residents at the beginning in the project, rather than near the end, which was the case here, when much dear money has already been spent. The rancor and divisiveness was clearly caused by mismanagement by the city.

Yet have we not before made the mistake of underestimating Asia, of planning to fight wars gone by (in that case WW1) while our foes planned for the war [...]]]> Our national hubris could be our national downfall.  North Korea sink the USA?  Never can happen most seem to think, laughing at their outdated military hardware.

Yet have we not before made the mistake of underestimating Asia, of planning to fight wars gone by (in that case WW1) while our foes planned for the war to come?  (In that case the lightning war, WWII).

So we dismiss North Korea since we could beat them handily were it the Korean conflict or Vietnam all over again.

I am getting they know that.  And know how to take advantage of a totally open society.

So while the UK online blazes this headline:

Get out of North Korea, now! ALL embassies told to evacuate staff from Pyongyang after madman dictator warns he ‘cannot guarantee safety of foreigners’

Dr. Crawford is one of three councilmen-at-large, a sort of local version of a senator, elected [...]]]> Dr. John Crawford asked a new question last night concerning tax abatements: what is the tax savings to the company. He could have reversed the question a bit and asked how much will this cost all other tax payers.

Dr. Crawford is one of three councilmen-at-large, a sort of local version of a senator, elected to serve all of the community, not a district of the city. He has been especially involved in the discussions surrounding the new mix of taxes that will soon befall and benefit us all. One of his points is that local tax revenues are about at their maximum, so every abatement carries two effects: 1) it cuts taxes paid by a company over time on new investments, and 2) those tax dollars are lost to the general tax rolls so they have to be made up somewhere, and you would be “somewhere.”

During discussion on each proposed abatement last night the doctor-senator asked the same question: what will the tax savings be to the company, and conversely the total of taxes lost to the community. The city seldom mentions that number in public. It is buried in the packet of information concerning the deal. But, last night, the administration manager of the abatement program did answer his questions. She normal gives a cheery recitation of how important the company is, how many jobs the company might create in exchange for the tax break and the size of the project. However, these days, what matters is the size of the tax break. Last night, one company received a ten-year abatement amounting to a $245,000 tax savings. She fumbled through her packets, her smile waned and her voice softened. One company received $55,000 off, another $128,000, and so on through six abatements. Hundreds of millions in cuts are on the books, money that never made it to fill a pothole or outfit a new police officer.

It was later in the evening when Larry DeBoer, one of the blue-ribbon panelists helping the administration and council reconfigure our tax structure (ie, who pays and how much) explained that taxes saved by one group of taxpayers usually result in another group of taxpayers making up the difference. That was the case last year when council chose not to increase the tax levy. The result was not one penny in savings to Fort Wayne taxpayers, instead, what we turned down other taxing units readily accepted. The pie didn’t get smaller, just your cut. You saved not a whit, your streets fell another year behind in repairs, there was less money to pay for officers and firefighters, instead your cut of the tax pie went to other taxing jurisdictions countrywide. Scipio Township sends its regards.

Dr. Crawford’s questions set the stage for the highlight of the night, the “final” fiscal policy revamp presentation of City Controller Pat Roller. She was flanked at the table by IPFW fiscal guru John Stafford and Professor DeBoer. Neatly, she laid out the status quo, the findings of a comprehensive survey of citizen attitudes toward city and government and a list of alternative tax strategies. You already know much of what was said: the administration is doing more with less which most council members readily accept; that most citizens rather like the direction the city is going, but neither want any services cut, nor welcome a tax increase; and that the city’s reserves are nearly drained. The question to council is “now what?”

A key point repeatedly made is that over the past two decades that city tax restraint has saved taxpayers over $300 million, but the converse is also true, that millions and millions of dollars in repairs and maintenance have been delayed and police strength is well under accepted norms.

Another wrinkle is the state legislature. They have created a moving target by regularly and frequently changing rules governing localities. A few years back the legislature imposed property tax caps, the primary source of local government revenues, and they eliminated the banked (rainy day) levies that city’s had accumulated over the years of fiscal constraint.

Last night, Controller Roller offered an a la carte menu of options to council, including: do nothing and accept further deterioration in the standard of living, raise the income tax you pay, institute an increase to property taxes for a dedicated capital improvement fund, and annexation.

Questions were asked by Councilman Geoff Paddock to determine if the mix of taxes could be structured some way to protect seniors or the disabled. Yes was the answer. Dr. Crawford noted that a certain adjustment could benefit either every class of property tax payer, or just home owners; he reminded the community that business should be considered, too. And, so it went. A menu. A list of options and within each option further options, consequences and unintended consequences.

Expect the “final” fiscal policy discussion to sport an addendum, maybe two.

After Dr. DeBoer and Controller Roller had concluded Council President Tom Didier announced there would be another 5th Tuesday Seminar in April focusing on the topic of prevailing wage. Councilmen Tom Smith, Russ Jehl, Geoff Paddock and Mitch Harper will or have been asked to structure a discussion complete with witnesses and unpaid consultants to determine whether the current method of determining pay on city projects should continue. Before the meeting, in anticipation, a union leader had circulated a flyer expressing the intent of a coalition of city unions: cooperation, constructive participation and love of city. Councilman Smith noted as much saying essentially that every oarsman is pulling in unison.

For now.

As this discussion meanders toward fall budget hearings oxen will organize to avoid being gored. You can bet the Chamber, the ED family, their camp followers, and the small-but-growing abatement industry will fight hard for more and more liberal abatements which, exemptions, special deals and perks that they will characterize as in your best interest! The result, however means transferring costs to you and your wealth to them. You can be sure the unions will fight for pay and work rules they believe benefit you. Perhaps. You can expect that even the Republicans on council will, as they did last night, weigh where more taxes can be found and who will pay.

The question is who will represent simple folk at the table? Last night, Mr. Paddock and Councilman Glynn Hines seemed the only ones willing to consider that question.

For the past year a task force, the Fiscal Policy Group, has worked in private to reform the [...]]]> I am still confused, and I think everybody in the room at last night’s city council was challenged to understand the lengthy PowerPoint presentation given by the city controller as introduction to the 2014 city budget debate.

For the past year a task force, the Fiscal Policy Group, has worked in private to reform the city budget, to cut spending and to find new sources of revenue to catch up on long overdue repairs.

The presentation was the highlight of last night’s meeting.

But, rather than providing answers to budgetary questions the presentation resulted in a cacophony of questions that started at the table and will rise in intensity until the end of the year, if not much longer.

First, the city anticipates a multi-million dollar deficit. The deficit they are sure of, but the amount depends on so many moving parts that it is hard to tell whether it will be a few million, roughly the amount council squandered last year, or closer to $15 million. The economy, state legislative actions, North Korea, another wind storm, another tsunami, locusts, toxic sewage from Huntertown or any number of factors, including a credit ratings downgrade could impinge on our budget. The deficit numbers, and most of the numbers that go into making up the calculations, are moving targets… educated guestimations.

But, a deficit there will be. So, the Roller Fiscal Policy task force has been rejiggering the algorithms of taxation to close the deficit gap and, perhaps, stabilize finance.

Proposed were many hits to city employee benefits, but it has been coupled with a promise not to lay off any employees. Expect a fight. Proposed is to shift the cost of fire protection, or the maintenance of hydrants, from the property tax rolls to the water bill. Pardon the pun, but for most of us a wash. Proposed is a class of firefighters and police officers with a sizable price tag that will be mitigated to a degree by a reduction in overtime turned in by the current undermanned and overworked departments. Everybody except regulars at the Meeks Center are in favor of that. There is a proposal to collect more income tax in the form of LOIT, another of the increasingly numerous local income taxes. It will join CEDIT and COIT. No one will like that. The city and its task force also propose something called the Cumulative Capital Development Fund, whatever that is. Two councilmen I asked meandered through answers that suggested they hadn’t a grasp on the uses of the fund, nor the source of its funding.

And, so it went through 30 slides or so of graphs, charts and equations. Listening to both presentation and council questions reminded me of a Rube Goldberg apparatus, of Escher designs, of the old quote attributed to Churchill that the city budget proposal is a riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma.

Perhaps the most important comment was made by Councilman Dr. John Crawford who said that the array of options were merely proposals for discussion. To say the least, the coming months leading to the budget vote will provide anyone studying economics the basis of their doctoral thesis, as well as credits toward minors in political science and behavioral psychology.

Here is the saving grace on all this confusion: council all but adores our city controller Pat Roller, and she waxes about the cooperative and constructive nature of talks to this point. Love is in the air. Councilman Tom Smith emphasized how much he appreciated the contributions Mayor Tom Henry had made to the effort, and, significantly, Mr. Smith, who is highly respected by his council peers and the administration for his negotiating and creative skills, will chair the finance committee during the budget hearings. Call it the eHarmony Team.

Now, if they can just bring the rest of us up to speed, which means plain talk, examples and openness. There is no question in my mind that they all want to do what is best for Fort Wayne. The question is whether they are able to explain rationale and effect to those of us who will bear the burden.

There were other matters on the council’s agenda last night. While they are raising our taxes they continued to give sizable tax breaks to companies on the promise of jobs. Hundreds of millions of tax dollars have been lost to city coffers on rather dubious promises for job creation. I was told that abatement reform would not be part of the tax reform debate, nor is review of another tax scheme, tax incremental financing, that siphons money from roads and other basics to stimulate economic development in a small area, such as Harrison Square. They should be a part of the discussion. If everything is to be on the table everything should be on the table.

There was also an argument at council table over our relationship with Huntertown in matters of water and sewage. Councilman Mitch Harper seems to be the champion of Huntertown on Fort Wayne city council. In short, there is a contract dispute over how much Huntertown will pay to Fort Wayne for water and the treatment of their sewage. Two Fort Wayne lawyers, representing Huntertown, sat in the third row intently taking notes as Councilman Harper grilled two city utilities employees, as he raised points of procedure and otherwise delayed passage of a bill that had been given a “do pass” in committee the week before, the night Mr. Harper learned that Fort Wayne does not suck sewage, but rather Huntertown pumps it into our system for treatment. Last week, he had aggressively charged that Fort Wayne had stopped sucking sewage and, consequently, Huntertown’s system was backing up, the sewage becoming “toxic,” as if the sewage were somehow pristine before entering our lines. Nope, he was politely informed. It there has a been a halt to the flow Huntertown should check their pumps. But, to the irritation of Council President Didier and others, the bill, amending the our wholesale contract with Huntertown and other county communities, was recommitted to committee for more discussion next week. Huntertown’s lawyers scribbled a few more notes and winged into the night.

And, there was another episode of neighbor against neighbor on the matter of proposed changes to State Street. Three proponents of the multi-million dollar widening, buyout of homes, bridge work and more repeated what they had said a dozen times before in previous open mic sessions, at public hearings, at private meetings and during recent open houses. That prompted Councilman John Shoaff to repeat what he had said repeatedly at all of those same meetings. Council members turned into so many bobble heads who nodded rhythmically but their minds were elsewhere. That matter, too, will be decided in the coming weeks by a panel to be chaired by Councilman Smith. On that matter, no one will be happy, probably least of all Mr. Shoaff and those who depend upon him to downscale the project. Too many stars are aligned against him, and State will soon be transformed into Jefferson…woops, the City has begun narrowing Jefferson, maybe like Rudisill… woops, the city reduced Rudisill to three lanes….perhaps it will look more like Coliseum. Let us hope the city administration learns the neighbor v. neighbor acrimonious mess is pretty much of their own creation.

And, lets hope that in the coming weeks the administration and their friends on council can boil down all the jargon and confusion surrounding the fiscal policy proposals -read: cuts and new taxes- and explain them to us all so we can clearly understand and participate. After all, it is our city.

“LeVar Burton has translated his movie and television fame into a passion for making early [...]]]> Actor, director and producer LeVar Burton, star of such renowned projects as Reading Rainbow, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Roots, will be the featured speaker for the Fort Wayne Educational Opportunity Center’s 35th anniversary fundraiser on Wednesday, April 17.

“LeVar Burton has translated his movie and television fame into a passion for making early education and reading fundamentals more accessible and more innovative than ever before,’ said Dr. Willa Kline, Educational Opportunity Center executive director. “We are excited for the chance to hear about his work and to have his help in continuing our mission to promote lifelong learning.”

This year marks the EOC’s 35th anniversary of helping young people and adults better their lives through education.  The center provides free educational, career, and college assistance to help clients attend the school of their choice for a degree, a GED, skills training or other pursuits. For younger students, the center provides after-school tutoring, summer academic programs, campus visits and SAT preparation among its many services.

Tickets for the April 17 event are $50 per person. The event will take place beginning at 6 p.m. at Ceruti’s Summit Park, 6601 Innovation Blvd. Tickets (full tables are available) can be purchased by calling (260) 745-5421 or in person at the Educational Opportunity Center, located at 3000 South Wayne Ave.

“I enjoy spreading the word about the indisputable importance of reading and early education, and lending my support to those who have the same passion,” Burton said. “The Educational Opportunity Center shares my passion for education, so I look forward to visiting Fort Wayne.”

Reading Rainbow’s contributions to education have been recognized far and wide, most recently through the launch of an iPad application that shot to number one among educational apps within 36 hours. The television program, originally aired on PBS, won numerous awards, including Emmys, NAACP Image Awards, a Peabody Award and a Television Critics Association Award.

This summer, Burton will reprise his role as Dean Paul Haley in the TNT series Perception. He appeared in the series’ first season, which aired in the summer of 2012.

After rocketing to fame in the role of Kunta Kinte in the acclaimed mini-series Roots, Burton was cast Lt. Geordi La Forge in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. He directed 26 episodes of the series and its successors, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise. He holds the record among Star Trek actor alums for directing the most Trek episodes.

He has also directed episodes of Reading Rainbow, Soul Food, JAG, Charmed and Las Vegas. His acting credits include featured performances in several other high profile TV movies like One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story, Dummy and Grambling’s White Tiger. Burton’s enduring appeal is evidenced by the fact that he is one of the most followed people in the world on Twitter, with over 1.7 million followers.

For more information on the Fort Wayne Educational Opportunity Center and for information on purchasing tickets for the April 17th event, go to www.eocfw.org