Northwest Indiana Discussion

Buffalo Wild Wings is a franchise operation.... and gaining that information took less than 30 seconds Matt.

Hell Matt, I was thinking of opening a business called "Matt's Porn Emporium" getting $1,000,000 in funding from the city and the franchising out the site and putting the profit in my pocket.

Even the boys @ the Vour didn't seek funding from the city....

And because Matt you lack the depth of thinking multi layered, the post was was provided to show the feeling/sentiments of others who live in the region....but you can't think on that level can you Matt.

First $10,000,000 for a plant that will never be built, and now nearly a Million Hammond residents are going to be on the hook for the privileged it is going to cost Hammond residents for a company to build on the site and pay for someone's franchise.

And Matt, you don't live in the region... do you.. Come on now move back to Hammond, Tom could use your intellectual depth. It got you thru that foreclosure didn't it?

Wasn't a new Kentucky Fried Chicken built on north Calumet Avenue and Hammond resident's didn't pay for that franchise. Why are we paying for this?

I guess Matt, you're absolutely correct, the Calumet avenue KFC, Dunkin Donuts, the Dollar Stores, the gym reportedly going in @ the old Stardust, all have gotten millions in bonds from Hammond to build, the bonds just haven't been made public right?

And let's not forget the Pawn Shops, the remodeled McDonalds @ the Menards Plaza and the new building being built across from Home Depot, all these business coming to Hammond have gotten millions in bond from Hammond citizens floating paper, right?

It is the new corporate way. Must have been some secret bond issues.


I still would like to know where the Potash $10,000,000 went and the 5, now possibly less jobs Tom announced before the last election?

How is it that these TIF deals don't fall under procurement laws for competitive bidding? Taxpayers are buying 850k worth of something. That something needs to have a specification written for it, and then let out to bid. Is someone willing to do the build out for only a 500k incentive? How do we know? All we know are deals are "negotiated" behind closed doors, then rubber stamped. How do we know 850k incentive doesn't include creative ways to kick back 100k to the local lever pullers who made the gift possible? Why has the Supreme Court upheld limits on campaign donations to politicians? Because of the real possibility for pols to be bought. Here, there is no limit on money to pay "incentives". Is a quo being returned for the 850k quid? I am supposed to just trust? Ridiculous.

MARION CANNOT EXPLAIN $2.5M YMCA LOAN: Concrete around the former YMCA in Marion is crumbling (Haeberle, WISH-TV). Windows are boarded up. A new electrical system remains shut off. Wires for new lights hang from the ceiling. Construction work that would have revamped the former YMCA into a hotel and retail shops stopped more than a year ago with little explanation. City officials also cannot explain why there are very few financial documents detailing how the money from a $2.5 million bond issuance was spent. Five years after the project began, there’s no clear indication when or if it will be finished. And the city of Marion has released the developer, Michael Y. An, from repaying any of the debt. According to the city’s development director, “there really never was an expectation for (An) to pay,” Lisa Dominisse wrote in an email to I-Team 8. Instead, two sources of taxpayer money – both Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and Community Redevelopment Enhancement Districts (CREED) – are being used to repay the debt.

This project represents a growing concern among elected leaders and citizens interviewed by I-Team 8. They’re worried that public money is too often used to help fund private projects through the use of TIF…In 2009, the city of Marion took out the $2.5 million TIF bond – essentially a tax-backed loan – for the purpose of revamping the YMCA. After the bonds were sold, city records obtained by I-Team 8 show the proceeds were given to California developer Michael Y. An. An’s company, Global Investment Consulting, was supposed to turn the YMCA into a hotel and retail shops with the understanding it would create 80 to 90 jobs and bring in an annual payroll of $1.2 million to $2 million, according to the original contract and bond agreement signed by Marion Mayor Wayne Seybold.

But the receipts detailing how that $2.5 million loan was spent are sparse. After I-Team 8 filed an open records request asking for all the financial records, the city provided the 200-page original bond agreement along with 16 pages of documents that supposedly account for the $2.5 million. But all of those records come back to An’s companies: Global Investment Consulting or World Enterprises Group. Before An could get money for the project, he was supposed to submit “distribution requests” in writing to First Farmers Bank and Trust, the trustee the city hired to manage the bonds. Five distribution requests were included in the reply to I-Team 8′s open records requests. One is for $481,000 for a “construction fee.” The others include expenses like $250,000 for an HVAC system, $95,000 for an elevator and $305,000 on plumbing. But none of the documents explains what vendor did that work, when it was done, or if it was completed.

An, was supposed to repay any debt when TIF revenue wasn’t sufficient, according to the original bond agreement. But two years later in 2011, all of that changed. City records show the city paid $871,210 in debt service on the original $2.5 million bond. In order to pay off the remaining $2.4 million, the city took out another $5.8 million loan backed by property taxes as part of a massive plan to refinance several bonds – including the YMCA project. That’s according to records provided by the city’s development director, Lisa Dominisse… I-Team 8 has also learned An owes more than $30,000 in back taxes on his other Marion properties. When asked what guarantees the city had from An that the project would be complete, the mayor said: “We have no guarantees.”

STATE’S 600+ TIF DISTRICTS WILL COME UNDER MORE SCRUTINY: TIF allows local governments to use a portion of property tax revenues gathered from designated areas to pay for projects. It’s been popular among local leaders for decades as a way to build infrastructure or pay for job creation projects (Haeberle, WISH-TV). TIF projects are often seen as politically safe because they rarely require a vote from elected leaders or consent from taxpayers. It’s usually touted as a job creation tool and helps bolster the stats of elected leaders. There are more than 600 TIF districts spread out among 81 counties in Indiana, according to the most recent state numbers available from November 2013. Through our investigation, I-Team 8 discovered that the state of Indiana doesn’t track specific TIF projects; meaning if they fail, there’s no oversight and no one is held accountable. And usually, that leaves taxpayers on the hook… A state law will create more oversight with regard to TIFs. Senate Bill 118 was signed into law this spring with little news coverage. The law, co-authored by Sen. Pete Miller and others, will require elected leaders to approve new TIF districts instead of political appointees on redevelopment commissions. The law also retires older TIF districts and sets new parameters for creating new ones.