12-13-10 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 13, 2010 extend their lease for the next several years to stay in downtown South Bend. He stated that it was mentioned that there are approximately 1,000 jobs involved and he feels that is a very conservative estimate when you think about all the other businesses in downtown South Bend that want to be in downtown South Bend because this is in fact the center of st commerce. It’s the center of commerce because they have fine companies such as 1 Source and Barnes & Thornburg that are located here; it’s why he is here and why he wants to stay here. He stated that he thinks the other issues here are and he can’t imagine Century Center continuing to be successful without having an upscale or upper upscale hotel right across the street from Century Center. He stated that he cannot imagine how they would be able to attract new conventions to South Bend, which is good for all of us. He stated not to forget that the garage itself is just a few doors down from where the Morris Performing Arts Center and the Palais Royale and with living downtown he knows just how much traffic there is in downtown South Bend and its fabulous and we need parking garage to support the Morris/Palais and we need that parking garage to support the restaurants in downtown South Bend. He stated that this is a great investment and urged the Council to approve it. Mark Tarner, 1502 E. LaSalle Avenue, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he is the owner of the South Bend Chocolate Company located on South Michigan Street and the Chocolate Factory located on West Sample Street. He stated that he cannot imagine st downtown South Bend without 1 Source. He stated that he believes there are approximately 5,000 workers in downtown South Bend and those 1,000 workers represent 20% of those 5,000 workers. That is a huge amount and thinks that it would have a devastating impact on the City if they were not here. Mr. Tarner urged the Council’s favorable support and even though Mr. Murphy mentioned him last he knows that he is first in his heart or at least his wife’s heart. The following individuals spoke in opposition to this bill: Marty Wolfson, 809 Park Avenue, South Bend, Indiana, spoke in opposition to this bill. st Mr. Wolfson stated that he is in agreement that retaining 1 Source in South Bend is a good thing. However, he stated that he has some questions regarding this deal. Three questions in particular. First, why are County Option Income Tax (COIT) dollars being use. When the issue of Local Option Income Tax (LOIT) was raised last year which included an increase in the tax rate for COIT it was his understanding and that of the general public that these income tax rate increases were necessary in order to preserve vital public services such as police and fire. It wasn’t portrayed that they would be used in deals of this sort. Secondly, and this may be due to his ignorance about hearing about upper upscale only about two days ago, but he wonder if there are no people of ordinary means who attend conventions at the Century Center. Why is it so necessary to have an upper upscale hotel in that location? Thirdly, Councilmember Varner raised the question in the committee meeting this afternoon about kicking the can down the road and the possibility that other important companies and there are certainly other important companies in downtown South Bend who might look at this deal and say they want the st deal like 1 Source and Marriott got. He stated that he was just wondering what the City Administration and the Council would say if that indeed does occur. Cheryl Ashe, 3930 Langley, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she heard in the committee meeting this afternoon that after the ten years is up that the parking garage would revert st back to 1 Source and the Marriott and wondered if that was true. In Rebuttal, Mayor Luecke answered why are COIT dollars being used and wanted to dispel the misconception that they are using any of the LOIT dollars that were approved last year. He stated that there were three components to that tax rate, one was a local option income tax for property tax relief every dollar of that local option income tax is going to property tax relief in St. Joseph County for all categories of real estate. Secondly was the Public Safety Local Option Income Tax and those dollars are generating somewhere between 5 and 6 million dollars each year for the City of South Bend and are being used to fund Firefighter and Police Officer’s positions and all of those dollars are being used for exactly what they said they would be used for and if they did not have those dollars they would have been forced to lay off police officers and 15