Feature
Kennedy can't criticize Ballard on tax record 8.28.11
INDIANAPOLIS STAR
Does Mayor Greg Ballard have a record of wildly raising taxes? No, not even close.
Still, his Democratic challenger in this year's mayoral campaign, Melina Kennedy, is trying to convince voters otherwise. In statements, interviews and press releases, she repeatedly has tagged Ballard as some sort of reckless pro-tax Republican.
"More than 140 taxes, rates and fees have been levied on the backs of our residents and our small businesses, stifling job creation," Kennedy said last week.
But for Kennedy -- a candidate whose ideas and vision have largely impressed me -- it's an ineffective and disappointing message that few voters will buy.
If anything, I'd argue Ballard has gone too far the other way; he was the rare mayor in Indiana willing to endorse tax caps that have led to dramatically reduced property taxes for many but also threaten to strangle local budgets and strain essential services.
Still, Kennedy's criticism continues. Her strategy is based on a tired political tradition: dig up every fee, rate or minor tax that has increased at all -- even those that have not kept up with inflation -- and use them to exaggerate the reality of an incumbent's tax record.
To back up its claim, the Kennedy campaign recently sent out a document with evidence of Ballard's supposed big-tax ways. A few points about the so-called evidence:
The campaign points to the sale of the water and sewer utilities to Citizens Energy, which provided roughly $425 million in proceeds to fund infrastructure repairs. It's worth noting that Kennedy has not opposed the deal. Moreover, she has based the funding of her biggest and most important policy proposal -- an infusion of support for early childhood education -- on the proceeds from this very deal.
Kennedy criticizes parking meter rate hikes. Now, while questions about the meter privatization deal are valid, criticism about the fee hikes are silly. They had not been increased in 35 years. Much has changed since the Carter administration. But parking fees, which are still quite reasonable, had not.
The Democrat bashes the mayor for not repealing an income tax hike implemented by the previous administration, an administration in which Kennedy worked.
Ballard's decision not to repeal the tax might represent a broken promise, and it shows how little he knew about local government financing when he first ran, but thank goodness he reversed course. Without the money that tax increase now provides, the city would be looking at ugly service cuts.
Kennedy, for the record, does not support repealing the tax. Her campaign, meanwhile, also points to a minor increase in the local hotel tax, but I've yet to meet a resident who cares much about the hotel tax.
Ultimately, though, the bulk of Kennedy's claim centers on a 2010 ordinance that raised more than 130 license fees to perform jobs such as massage therapist, trash hauler and taxi driver, as well as to receive various construction permits and for code violations.
The rates and fees hadn't changed in a generation, and the increases were so reasonable (an extra $3 to renew a building permit, for instance, and $60 more to be a pawn broker) that only two Democrats on the City-County Council opposed them. The increases have not stifled job creation, and the goal behind them was to shift the cost of regulating and inspecting specific industries from all taxpayers to the industries themselves.
In the end, there are reasons to criticize Ballard, but his tax record is not one of them. Although many aspects of Kennedy's campaign are impressive, this exaggerated line of criticism is not among them.
Reach Matthew Tully at (317) 444-6033 or via email at matthew.tully@indystar.com.
I’m honored to serve as Mayor of our great city. Every day I work to represent all the citizens of Marion County . . .