Indy mayor wants to spend millions more on crime, pensions

INDIANAPOLIS -- Mayor Bart Peterson wants to spend $85 million more per year on crime-fighting efforts and on police and fire pensions after one of the city's deadliest years.\nPeterson proposed Tuesday night spending $35 million of that money annually to support new courts and lawyers added last year to speed up the justice system and prevent jail overcrowding. Another $15 million would go toward future crime-fighting initiatives.\n"For most of these measures, we did not have money in our budget," he said. "I made the conscious decision that, as we were in a war against crime, we had to do what it took to fight back and then find the necessary funding later."\nDuring 2006, Indianapolis recorded 153 homicides, its deadliest year since 1998, when a record 162 homicides were reported.\nAbout $35 million of the $85 million would go each year toward paying off pension-related loans that the mayor proposed Tuesday night be taken out to pay off police and fire pensions.\nHe wants to borrow $450 million to address a long-standing pension liability that's crippled the city's ability to balance its budget and battle crime.\nHis plan, which could involve an increase in the sales or income tax, could cost as much as $1.3 billion over the 25 years it takes to pay off the debt and associated interest.\nPeterson's initiative comes on the heels of a report by a task force that urges the city to combat last year's surge in violent crime with stepped-up supervision of and help for ex-convicts and at-risk juveniles.\nPeterson, a Democrat, did not say specifically how he will find the extra $85 million, but he said he will push legislation in the General Assembly this session that would give local governments power to raise taxes other than property taxes.\nPhil Borst, the City-County Council's minority leader, called the idea of borrowing money to pay off the pensions "irresponsible." Borst, a Republican, said the city needs a revenue source that is permanent and will grow with the economy, such as a regional sales tax.