Ballard vetoes pay raises, stolen gun regulations Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard this week vetoed pay raises for the City-County Council, as well as reporting requirements for lost or stolen firearms.

Brian Eason | IndyStar

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard this week vetoed pay raises for the City-County Council and a proposal that imposed reporting requirements for lost or stolen firearms, effectively punting the issues to the incoming Hogsett administration.

On both ordinances, he issued blunt rebukes to the council, saying the pay raises were passed in "the political dark of the night," and calling the proposed gun rules illegal.

The pay raises would have boosted each member’s base pay 44 percent from $11,400 to $16,400 beginning next year, and were a subject of intense debate on the council floor and in the public at large. Many on both sides of the aisle agreed council members deserved more pay, but several were concerned that the lame duck period between one council and the next was an inappropriate time to have the debate.

The vote was largely split along party lines, with 12 Democrats voting for it, joined by four Republicans. Three Democrats and 10 Republicans opposed the pay hike.

"The proposal was passed during the transition period — the equivalent of the political dark of the night," Ballard said in his veto message. "However one may feel about the appropriate level of pay for elected officials, a vote such as this should be passed when there is accountability."

There's no question elected official pay in Indianapolis lags that of other major cities in the region. Even Carmel — a suburb 1/10th Indy's size — pays its council members more than Indianapolis does, and the Carmel City Council this fall gave itself another 3 percent raise beginning next year. But Carmel's pay increase raised fewer eyebrows, in part because it was approved during the normal budget process, and in part because the raises applied to almost all city employees.

The stolen gun ordinance, sponsored by Democratic Councilman Kip Tew, would have required gun owners to report lost or stolen guns to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department within 48 hours of realizing a weapon was missing, or pay a $50 fine.

Ballard's veto message was short and to the point: "This proposal is contrary to state law."

Tew disagrees. The law Ballard references pre-empts local municipalities from passing their own gun regulations, and makes cities susceptible to lawsuits if they attempt to skirt the state statute. But Tew, who is a lawyer, argues that it doesn't apply to a missing gun reporting ordinance.

"You have to suspend belief in the English language to think that the lack of something is something," Tew said. "I looked up possession, I looked up ownership, I looked up all the words the state statute uses … and none of them are lost or stolen.

"We’re not regulating guns," he added. "We’re regulating behavior."

Ballard, though, wasn't convinced — and neither was the city's Office of Corporation Counsel, who warned Ballard that the city could be sued by a gun rights group, possibly the National Rifle Association, if the ordinance was allowed to take effect.

Tew conceded a lawsuit was likely, but countered that getting sued wasn't a good enough reason not to act, saying that similar laws in other states have helped law enforcement reduce the number of crimes committed using stolen weapons.

The two vetoes this week follow Ballard's veto earlier this month of a "percent for arts" proposal. People within the administration said Ballard has been concerned in recent weeks with the flurry of legislation coming down at the end of the year. The last three ordinances he vetoed were all sponsored by outgoing council members.

Call Star reporter Brian Eason at (317) 444-6129. Follow him on Twitter: @brianeason.