Local commentator Fred Swift talked with Larry about some of his recent writing, and some issues facing Hamilton County

Teachers and students at Hoosier Road Elementary School continue to collect hurricane relief supplies to a grade school in Houston Texas.  A group went before the Fishers
City Council Monday night to make their case.

For more information on the project, use this link.

The Fishers City Council gave preliminary approval to a $103.8 million proposed spending plan for 2018, but left uncertain a proposal to increase the city council salaries for next year.  The budget received first reading at the Monday night council session.  Final approval is expected at next month’s council session.

A spirited debate ensued during the council work session, held before the regular meeting. Brad DeReamer asked why there was no pay raise for the city council members and the city judge, when all other city employees, including the elected city clerk and the mayor, were included in the 5% pay increase.

Council Finance Committee Chairman Eric Moeller said he surveyed fellow council members and determined there were not 5 votes (a council majority) to pass a pay increase for city councilors.  DeReamer and Councilman Pete Peterson argued forcefully in the work session that the council should not get so far behind in the pay scale that a large percentage increase will be needed in the future, as happened in 2017.

When the salary ordinance was up for council consideration, DeReamer made a motion to provide a 5% 2018 pay increase for the city council members and the city judge.  That measure passed 5-2, with Eric Moeller and Cecilia Coble casting no votes.  Council members John Weingardt and Selina Stoller did not attend the council meeting.

This allows the amendment to pass and become a part of the 1st reading version.  However, the salary ordinance can be amended once again when a final vote is taken in October.

Just because the salary ordinance amendment allowing the council pay raise passed, it may not be enacted next month.  For example, Councilman Todd Zimmerman told LarryInFishers he voted for DeReamer’s amendment only to allow Weingardt and Stoller to weigh-in and vote on the amendment next month.  Zimmerman indicated he is not in favor of the 2018 council pay hike, but voted yes only to allow a final vote including all council members next month.

Fadness told council members his 2018 budget proposal includes a $37.9 million cash reserve.  He expects the budget will trigger a 1.5 cent property tax rate increase per $100 of assessed valuation.  The mayor estimates homes valued at between $100,000 and$250,000 will see property taxes rise between $10 and $25 next year.

The mayor provided data showing Fishers with the lowest property tax rate among the state’s 15 largest cities, and one of the lowest tax rates in Hamilton County.

Money Magazine has declared Fishers as the best place to live in America.  I had an inkling something was up last week.  Allow me to explain.

I received a message to call someone with a New York City area code.  That alone sent up red flags, so I checked out the person making the contact.  It was Clare Trapasso, a writer for the Web site Realtor.com.  Trapasso’s organization had partnered with Money Magazine on the listing of the 10 best places to live in the United States.

I had received a hint from Ms. Trapasso that Fishers would end up number 1 on the list. She had asked for some comments by me, as a long time resident of Fishers and the writer of a local news blog.

As I have written before, I am not a big fan of these “best of” listings which are by their nature very subjective.  But this number 1 listing is a very big deal.

You can read the Realtor.com story with my comments at this link.

For the full Money Magazine story, use this link.

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I am a customer of AT&T, which has the U-Verse TV service and also owns DriecTV satellite TV.  Both services were forced to remove local channel 13 from U-Verse and DirecTV when WTHR could not reach agreement with the communications giant.

Why is this happening?  It is virtually impossible to find out because both companies are keeping their bargaining positions private.  It’s called a “trade secret.”

But what we do know is that consumers are feeling the brunt of this and we have no idea whom is at fault in the fracas.  We consumers are not paying any less for U-Verse service yet a key part of their service is now denied to its customers.

AT&T will argue it is fighting for its customers by preventing future hikes in what we pay for the service.  WTHR is arguing they need a fair amount of compensation from AT&T to continue its viability in a fast-changing media world.

So, there is no way of assigning blame to one party or the other.  So here is my message. We need to blame both AT&T as well as WTHR, but let’s not leave out a major player in all this – the federal government.

The feds set the rules for how these companies are allowed to play with each other.  And, frankly, despite their pleas that they are looking out for the public interest, both are actually looking at only the bottom line.  Both companies are extremely profitable now – they just want to become even more profitable.

In this struggle for the corporate bottom line, its the consumers that get the raw end of the deal.  In my view, this needs to stop.

I have no problem with AT&T and WTHR’s owner making plenty of money…and they are.  I just don’t think the consumer should be victimized.

I realize that this will not go down well with with many of my libertarian-leaning friends in Fishers, but these types of disputes will continue unless federal regulators step-in.  It would not be difficult to come up with a process to settle these money brawls without the consumers losing their service.

Frankly, technology will eventually create different platforms for watching what we now call television, but in the meantime, these cable TV issues will only harm consumers when they happen.  The corporations will eventually settle all this and settle for their compromise profit levels.

I am not hopeful that the Trump administration cares at all about any of this, but I would encourage Fishers area AT&T or DirecTV customers to e-mail Congresswoman Susan Brooks and our two senators, Donnelly and Young, and let them know consumers are losing patience with a system that only victimizes the viewer.

E-mail Congresswoman Susan Brooks at this link.

E-mail Senator Donnelly at this link.

E-mail Senator Todd Young at this link.

Adam Aasen is traveling Italy this week on his honeymoon, so Doug Murray joins Larry to talk about the best movies of the 1970s.  Ashton Wolf provides his story of working in the Hollywood film business.

Hamilton County Reporter

Fishers ran into a Brownsburg buzzsaw on Friday, falling to the Bulldogs 41-13 in
an away Hoosier Crossroads Conference game.

The Tigers scored all of their points in the second quarter. Ben Norton connected on
two long field goals, including a 47-yarder with one second left in the half. Matt Wolff
punched in a touchdown on a quarterback keeper late in the period, with Norton making
the extra-point kick.

Wolff finished the game completing six of nine passes for 79 yards. Collin Statz was
the Tigers’ leading receiver, with six catches. Wolff also rushed for 38 yards.

Fishers is now 2-3 for the season; this also marked the Tigers’ first loss in HCC play.
Fishers returns home next Friday to take on Avon in another HCC contest.

by

Richie Hall

Hamilton County Reporter

A big win doesn’t always have to be dramatic.

Hamilton Southeastern’s 13-0 victory over Westfield Friday at Reynolds Royals Stadium was a bit of a grinder. But it’s also a victory – in their Homecoming game, no less – and one that the Royals really wanted.

“I knew these guys could put one together,” said HSE coach Scott May. His Royals improved to 2-3 with the victory, and also ended Westfield’s long win streak at 12 games, dating back to last September. The Shamrocks fell to 4-1 after their first loss of the season.

Actually, there was a dramatic moment in the fourth quarter. Southeastern was clinging
to a 7-0 lead, but Kody Sparks and Nick Mutchner teamed up for a huge play with a little
over three minutes to go. Sparks tossed the ball to Mutchner, who powered into the end
zone for a 58-yard pass play touchdown. That put the Royals up by two possessions.

“Offensively, I thought Sparks stepped up tonight and he gives us that option to get
the ball down the field,” said May

Southeastern’s other touchdown came late in the second quarter. Jackson Sweeney,
who is definitely making his presence known after missing the first third of the season due
to injury, punched the ball in from the one-yard line. Tyler Melser made the extra-point
kick

Sweeney finished the game with 69 yards rushing. Sparks was efficient, going
10-for-19 and totaling 101 yards.

Cameron Nance led the Shamrocks in rushing with 29 yards, and threw 14-for-28 for
82 yards. Matthew Meyer made four catches.

The Royals will travel to Zionsville next Friday, while the Shamrocks will host
Brownsburg.

I drove on the Brooks School Bridge Friday night, which allows traffic to travel over I-69 between 136th and 126th Streets.  This will bring a sigh of relief to residents of that area of Fishers.  The State of Indiana has been working on the decking for several months.  The work was to have been completed in August, but is now done in mid-September.

Portillo’s will open in Fishers during September, but it will be a little later in September than originally planned.  The opening day is now set for September 28th.

Portillo’s officials say Hurricane Irma has delayed the delivery of key equipment needed to open the eatery.