February 05, 2005
Let a thousand stadium plans bloom
Meanwhile, in that other football stadium/convention center expansion deal, there's now a fourth proposal on the table to fund an Indianapolis Colts stadium with public money. Unlike the first three, this one involves no slot machines. Instead, state assemblymember Jeff Espich proposed using a combination of increased income taxes, hotel taxes, restaurant taxes, and car rental taxes in Marion County, plus a player income tax surcharge and a $10-a-ticket stadium sales tax, to raise $109 million a year for the project. (The total price tag, including the convention center expansion, is now just shy of $1 billion.) Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson reacted angrily to the plan, insisting that increased taxes would hurt the Indianapolis economy (and Indy residents pumping their money into slot machines wouldn't?), though he fell short of accusing the state Republican party of opposing his stadium plan because Peyton Manning threw a football at their leader.
The Indianapolis Star also reports that Governor Mitch Daniels "isn't ruling out the possibility he will draft his own plan." Who's next, Linda Cropp?
