Here's why Downtown Indy still doesn't have enough petitions for $31 million Mile Square tax

Downtown Indy Inc. is 25 petitions short of the number it needs from property owners in the Mile Square who would voluntarily tax themselves $3 million annually to improve Downtown. So for the fourth time in eight months, the city's marketing organization is moving the self-imposed deadline back to gather petitions.

Downtown Indy Inc. had given itself a May 11 deadline to gather the petitions it needed to approve the Economic Improvement District, or EID, which would allow enough time to head to the City-County Council before a new law — one that would cap the petition time period — takes effect July 1.

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On Monday, Bob Schultz, senior vice president of marketing and events at Downtown Indy Inc., said he believes they'll still have enough time to get the remaining petitions signed.

"We have built into our timeline (Monday) and (Tuesday) time to clear the mail, to convert verbal support to actual signatures and to have our legal folks verify the collected signatures," Schultz said in an email. "We have reason to believe we can accomplish this effort to move forward and are totally focused on doing so."

In order for the proposal to advance, two things must happen:

More than 50 percent of the Mile Square's 1,167 commercial and residential property owners must sign the petition in favor of an EID.

Property owners representing more than 50 percent of the value of all Mile Square property must sign the petition.

After that, the proposal will head to the City-County Council for a vote and then, if approved, to Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett's desk for a final signature.

If enough petitions aren't signed and returned in time to be approved by the City-County Council by June 30, the process would start over. To do that, EID would have to first go through the City-County Council's Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee, which next meets on June 11, and then to the full council June 18.

"The council has been really reluctant to approve these without significant support," City-County Council CFO Bart Brown said.

Woodruff Place put an EID in place in 2015, with overwhelming support from the community, Brown said. Another, EID failed for Fountain Square a year or two before Woodruff Place after it failed to get enough petitions. Fountain Square is again working toward an EID.

Downtown Indy Inc. was able to keep moving the deadline for the petition until a new law, authored by Rep. Sean Eberhart, R-Shelbyville, will limit the time period to four months.

Downtown Indy Inc. originally hoped to have enough petitions by late fall. When that didn't happen, the firm moved the deadline to late February. In mid-April, the May 11 deadline was set.

The EID would tax 1,167 commercial and residential property owners $3.16 million annually for 10 years, $31.6 million total, to help keep Downtown clean by hiring 10 to 15 people to remove weeds, sweep streets, power wash, plant trees and perform other general maintenance. An additional $700,000 or so would be put toward homeless outreach and finding solutions for panhandling, as well as adding more foot and bike patrols of off-duty police officers. The rest would be used for marketing and branding Downtown.

Residential property owners would pay $100 annually, and commercial owners would be responsible for 12.5 cents for every $100 of assessed property value.

Call IndyStar reporter Amy Bartner at (317) 444-6752. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.