Indiana

For a Few Dollars More

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

As state and local lawmakers begin thumbing through the details of new Capital Improvement Board plan being pushed by Governor Mitch Daniels and Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, I think this little friendly reminder is in order.

Don’t forget to add $7-9 million into the equation!

The $7-9 million is the amount of revenue generated by non-Pacer/Fever events at Conseco Fieldhouse.

The Daniels/Ballard plan assumes the new Facilities Management Board of Marion County (FMBMC) will pick up the $15 million in operational costs of Conseco from the Pacers.  The plan reduces those costs through cost savings and efficiencies, but cash management only gets you so far.  

As I have maintained before, if the new FMBMC assumes operational control of Conseco, it should also get the revenue from the facility.  There is no reason for the Pacers to get any non-Pacer/Fever.  And anyone who tries to draw a parallel to the Colts needs to be reminded that was a bad deal that got Indianapolis into this mess into the first place.

So that $15 million in operational costs for Conseco, is actually more like $6-8 million.  And  we haven’t even started looking for those savings and efficiencies.

Don’t forget.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on June 05, 2009 (boomark / email).