Carmel's Per Capita Debt Now Approaching $12,000

The amount of debt the City of Carmel has accumulated under the reign of Mayor James Brainard is staggering. Data compiled by the Department of Local Government Finance tallies Carmel's total combined debt at $935 million, which works out to $11,809.36 for each of the City's 80,000 residents. WISH-TV's Troy Kehoe received assurances from Mayor Brainard that the size of the debt was no problem, noting that Carmel's property tax rate remains lower than most cities, while his critics warn that property taxpayers face significant tax increases in the future.

. . . That debt is principally the debt of the Carmel Redevelopment Commission, and it was to be repaid by tax increment,” said Carmel City Councilman Rick Sharp. “But, they recently revealed in a report that the tax increment is not sufficient to repay the debt that they have accumulated. And, over the course of the life of the bond payments, they come up $43 million short. That is a significant number.” . . .

“Those bond holders are guaranteed to receive their payments, no matter what, because we’ve quietly backed (their payments) through Carmel taxpayers,” [former council member John Acceturo] said. “If there’s not the money to pay these bonds, there will be a special benefits tax levied against all property owners here in Carmel. I would label that threat ‘high risk.'”

“That debt is principally the debt of the Carmel Redevelopment Commission, and it was to be repaid by tax increment,” said Carmel City Councilman Rick Sharp. “But, they recently revealed in a report that the tax increment is not sufficient to repay the debt that they have accumulated. And, over the course of the life of the bond payments, they come up $43 million short. That is a significant number.”

“You should look at debt as a percentage of your revenue, not as overall debt,” Brainard said. “Somebody may have job that pays $40,000 a year. If they have $10,000 in debt, that’s 25 percent of their income. But, if they make $1 million a year and have that same amount of debt, it’s really not very much. So, the right question to ask is: what percentage of our city’s revenue goes toward debt payments? And, we’re right where we should be.”

Here's how Carmel's per capita debt compares to other Indiana communities:

Carmel ($11,809.36) 

Evansville ($8,744.82)

Fort Wayne ($3,296.41)

South Bend $2,337.93)

Indianapolis ($1.010)

I would note that Indianapolis' total debt of $828 million does not include debt held by other coterminous municipal governments like the Capital Improvement Board, Health & Hospital Corporation and so on.