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SPECIAL MEETING NOVEMBER 30, 2010 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />falling apart. He stated that the Council needs to find out exactly what needs to done at <br />the Cove. He urged the Council not to be reckless with taxpayer’s money. He asked the <br />Council to have them come back with an itemized proposal so that they can look at it and <br />have transparency and have a clear understanding of what they are buying. <br /> <br />Jesse Davis, 1333 S. Calvert, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he is a small business <br />owner is town. He stated that he has been following this project and has some concerns <br />as to what the total cost of this project really is. He questioned whether the city was <br />sandbagging money or hiding money and from his calculations this project seems well <br />over 20 million dollars. He urged the Council to be transparent and take a much harder <br />look at this project and find out how many dollars have already been spent over the years. <br />He likened this project to the movie the “Money Pit” and having to keep putting money <br />into a project that won’t ever recover those dollars. He stated that we have Century <br />Center, Morris/Palais, the Football Hall of Fame/Shame and the Cove. He stated that <br />these may be fine places to go and have nice things to see, but every year we have to keep <br />dumping money into those places. He stated that if the City has tax money to keep <br />dumping into these facilities that aren’t self-sustaining then whey doesn’t the City have <br />money to keep other businesses open in this town. If they are going to be run like a <br />business then they need to sustain themselves and the city can’t keep asking the taxpayers <br />to keep paying more to help keep these businesses open. He stated that as a small <br />business owner if he can’t generate enough revenue then he has to shut his doors and <br />move on. He stated that if these businesses can’t sustain themselves then close them <br />down and move onto something else and put our tax dollars where they can be better <br />used. <br /> <br />Kelly Havens, 12032 Timberline Trace, Granger, Indiana, likened this project to the <br />person standing at the intersection holding the sign that says “desperately need money to <br />feed my four kids.” She stated that your heart goes out to that person, but something <br />inside says what if this is a scam. She stated that most will give and then realize that this <br />person just scammed you. She stated that this is how most taxpayer’s feel about using <br />option income tax money on this project and not for it’s intended use. She stated that this <br />bill is for the issuance of bonds to be paid from the Professional Sports Development <br />Fund (PSDF.) She stated that she is not sure who wrote the brief for the Council on the <br />PSDF but she is reading from the Legislative Service Agency Fiscal Issue Brief that <br />states that money has been coming from Century Center, Coveleski, Hall of Fame, <br />Morris/Palais, Studebaker Museum, and has raised only 4 million in the twelve years <br />since it has been coming in and that all or most has been used on the Hall of Fame. There <br />is almost nothing in there now, it’s not going to make a ½ million a year from hear on out <br />because the Hall of Fame isn’t going to be there to contribute it’s income tax and sales <br />tax, so it’s going to make less than that and the sunset date is 2018 on South Bend. So <br />clearly there is only 7 years to raise 400,000 a year and it’s only going to raise 3.2 <br />million, so if you try to float a 5 million dollar bond against it, where the heck is the rest <br />of the money going to come from. She stated that the way these bonds will be written is <br />that it will be folded towards property taxes or option taxes or something that the city is <br />going to guarantee that the money is coming from somewhere and it’s going to be the <br />taxpayers. She stated that the city cannot borrow against unknown revenue like that. She <br />stated that she got a letter from a former Councilmember that stated to remind the <br />Council that bond issues are like borrowing and borrowing against future taxes that aren’t <br />going to be there, because you can already project that. She stated that the option tax part <br />of this project can’t happen and now the bond issue can’t happen either. They need to <br />rewrite this thing and bring it back to the Council as other people have said with what is <br />the minimum things that need to be done. She noted that the one thing that is in hand is <br />the 2 million in TIF money from the Redevelopment Commission and that is all that the <br />City has to go toward this project. She stated that the lighting problem, restrooms and <br />drainage could all be handled with that 2 million dollars and that would be a reasonable <br />project, not if you go with the architect’s plan. She stated that artificial turf is a bad idea, <br />it’s not environmentally friendly nor is it a good idea for the players, causing more injury <br />along with more money for upkeep, and it’s just a bad idea. Ms. Havens reiterated that <br />the PSDF doesn’t have enough in it to borrow against for this bond and the Council has <br />to vote no and be responsible otherwise it’s borrowing against the taxpayer’s future and <br />this is a heck of a time to be doing that. <br /> 19 <br /> <br />