$31 million tax to beautify Downtown Indianapolis moves to City-County Council

The $31.6 million tax over a decade proposed to beautify, market and maintain the Mile Square is one step closer toward becoming a reality after Downtown Indy Inc. collected enough signatures on a petition this week.

The tax, called an Economic Improvement District or EID, would be paid by both commercial and residential Downtown property owners over a 10-year period. They had to sign a petition to voluntarily elect to pay the $3 million annual fee before it could go to the City-County Council for a vote.

"I am so pleased to announce that we have met and exceeded the necessary statutory thresholds to advance the Mile Square EID to the City County Council: both the number of signed property owners in favor (both residential and commercial) representing a majority of total assessed value within the Mile Square," Downtown Indy President Sherry Siewert said in a statement. "I just returned from personally delivering the signed petitions to the City-County Council clerk."

Downtown Indy Inc. would not give an exact number on how much each property-ownership threshold was exceeded.

What's an EID? A new Downtown tax is gaining momentum. Here's what it would mean for you.

Downtown Indy Inc. had given itself a May 11 deadline to gather the petitions needed to move the EID one to the City-County Council before a new law — one that would cap the petition time period — takes effect July 1. If it's not approved by the council by June 30, the process would start over. On May 14, Downtown Indy Inc. was still 25 petitions short of reaching its goal.

The EID will likely have to first go through the City-County Council's Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee, which next meets on June 11, before the full council June 18.

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

Woodruff Place put an EID in place in 2015, with overwhelming support from the community, Brown said. A couple years prior, an EID failed for Fountain Square 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. has been campaigning for the EID for about eight months, and 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.