INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis City County Counselor is proposing a new solution to what he describes as a generational issue.
“I think we just have to stop kicking the can down the road,” said Republican City County Council member Josh Bain.
At Monday’s council meeting, Bain introduced proposal 306 which asks the city’s controller to allocate an additional $225 million to the Department of Public works to be used exclusively for the improvement of Indy’s roads and bridges.
“You can only fill a pothole so many times where the entire road just starts degrading. What I hope to show the public and my fellow counselors is that if we're not going to raise taxes, which I don't want to do, and the state's not going to change its road funding formula, this is the only way that the city can address its infrastructure issues,” Bain said.
The proposal would nearly double the departments allocations for the 2025 fiscal year and would give public works nearly 30% of the city’s $1.6 billion budget.
Bain’s proposal says the additional allocations can be taken from any city funded organizations that don’t relate to public safety.
This includes IMPD, IFD, the county prosecutor, the public defender, the metropolitan emergency services agency and the office of public health and safety.
Bain says it’s a hard decision that needs to be made at a crucial time.
“We have to have an adult conversation about what our funding priorities are," Bain said. The simple fact of the matter is, the basic functions of city government, our public safety and infrastructure, and right now, we are failing at providing adequate infrastructure to the city and to our our citizens.”
The proposal will be considered by the public works committee before coming back to the full council for a final vote on September 23.
