The Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council has formed a committee to recommend solutions to the ongoing deficit at the Marion County Capital Improvement Board, which oversees the city’s sports venues and convention center.
The CIB this year reported a $47 million operating shortfall, driven partly by the cost of running the new Lucas Oil Stadium, the $750 million home to the Indianapolis Colts that opened last year.
The new committee will examine the board’s financial challenges and propose a set of solutions that will need to be approved by the appropriate legislative body.
“Nothing will be off the table as the task force seeks to keep downtown Indianapolis an economic engine for the state of Indiana,” Councilor Michael McQuillen, who will chair the committee, said in a statement.
The panel will also examine other convention- and tourism-related issues, McQuillen said. Three other City-County Council members and Mayor Greg Ballard’s chief of staff, Paul Okeson, will also be on the committee.
To whittle down its deficit, the CIB implemented a series of cuts, and the state agreed to give the board $9 million in loans over three years. The board will also receive $8 million from sales tax in a downtown sports district and an expected $4 million in revenue from the city’s recent increase in its hotel-motel tax.
The CIB also operates the Indiana Convention Center, Conesco Fieldhouse, where the Indiana Pacers play, and Victory Field.
