Despite losing more than $20 million in property tax collections, the city is still in relatively good financial shape and will remain so with the sale of water, Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. said Wednesday in his State of the City address.
About 87 percent of the city’s $63 million budget, $55 million, goes to public safety, McDermott said. The city is projecting $23 million in property tax revenue for 2015. Before property tax caps, the city would have had $42 million in collections.
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The city has been able to shore up its coffers with casino revenues, he said. With surrounding states kicking up their own gambling efforts, however, that stream of revenue may be in decline.
Water, therefore, is poised to become a big part of the equation.
“Sitting as we do on one of the biggest sources of fresh water in the country, Hammond is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the resource and create a new revenue stream that will serve us well for decades to come,” McDermott said.
They city recently received a BB+ bond issue rating by credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s for $36.2 million in water-revenue bonds it plans to sell. The city was able to get the rating rescinded because it’s doing a private, direct placement instead of placing the bonds on the open market, McDermott said.
“We’ll be successful,” he said.
Aside from money concerns, McDermott touted improvements and amenities such as ice rinks and a dog park, connections to the bike trails, the Hessville Youth Soccer Complex, the Purdue Calumet/Dowling Park facility and three city skate parks. He said such facilities greatly improve the quality of life for residents.
“I always tell this story, but there was a kid that was stalking me about a skate park,” McDermott said. “At Mayor’s Nights Out, everywhere he could, he would be there, and this kid got us to do it. He’s got to be in his 20s now.”
McDermott also heaped praise on the Regional Development Authority, which awarded the city a grant of more than $31 million for Wolf Lake and Forsythe Park improvements. The city completed a 1,200-foot bridge extending across the lake that has drawn runners and cyclists from all over the area, he said.
The city’s College Bound program, created in 2006 by McDermott and funded by casino and water revenues, has yielded 104,000 community service hours from the 1,509 scholarship recipients, and the Hammond Academy of Science and Technology earned a B+ from the State Board of Education and graduated its first class in 2014, he said.
A highly publicized arrest and allegations of bad police behavior, meanwhile, provided McDermott with several lessons last year, he admitted, though he said he continues to stand by the officers and that “for every viral video sparking outrage, there are countless acts of bravery and kindness that get no attention.”
“True statement: Shortly after the incident, I saw two officers pushing a car off the road for someone. I took a picture of it and posted it to the Internet, because those are the things that happen every single day.”
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter.