CollegeAvenueIndy.org has learned that the City's Municipal Corporations Committee rejected IndyGo's $71 million budget for 2017. The Municipal Corporations Committee expressed particular dismay about the November transit referendum that would provide IndyGo with a $56 million per year blank check funded by local taxpayers. Warren Township councilwoman Lakeisha Jackson pointed out that there is no documented outline for the referendum that’s on the ballot in November. Jackson is worried that the $56 million dollar per year taxpayer-funded subsidy would almost double IndyGo’s annual spending potential without a proposed budget from IndyGo. Jackson commented, "We don’t know what that money’s going to be used for or even an idea of what you’re thinking about it for.” Reverend Stephen Clay, an eastside democrat added, "I am troubled by the Red Line. There are constituents in my district who will not benefit from it now, nor will benefit from it later but are being asked to vote for it in November.” Republican Aaron Freeman from Franklin Township warned that IndyGo had, “put the cart in front of the horse.” Freeman expressed his displeasure with answers that Mike Terry, IndyGo President & CEO, had given the Municipal Corporations Committee a week earlier. Freeman commented that IndyGo has put the Indianapolis City Council in a "very very very bad place" because if the November referendum (fails), IndyGo can’t cover their budget expenses. In Short, IndyGo bet the farm that November transit referendum is going to pass, and if it doesn’t pass… they don't have the money to cover their bet which would leave local taxpayers on the hook for the shortfall. Freeman poignantly added, “I’m not going to vote on a budget, in my opinion, that is going to bankrupt this council and this city because their (IndyGo's) poor planning becomes a problem on my part.” If IndyGo's budget is approved, Marion County would be the first municipality in Indiana to support its local transit system with a dedicated tax fund stream the way libraries, schools and some police departments are financed now. CollegeAvenueIndy.org reminds readers that the Wall St. Journal just ranked Indianapolis as the 13th Most Dangerous City in America. Despite this shameful distinction, IndyGo is asking the City Council to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on an egregiously expensive electric bus system that will inevitably divert funds aways from police departments, local schools, and public libraries. Click the below link to see the full article.