Rokita calls foul as soccer stadium advances
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A state lawmaker on Tuesday said he does not believe the Hogsett Administration’s latest soccer stadium plans match the intent of an enabling state law.
The city’s ability to enact a special tax district to support a soccer-specific stadium stems from a law Gov. Eric Holcomb signed in 2019. State Sen. Justin Busch, R-Fort Wayne, who counts Indy Eleven co-owner Chuck Surack among his constituents, told News 8 when he voted for the bill, he was under the impression the state would sign off on a tax district as soon as the city had one ready. Busch sat in on last week’s hearing before the council’s Rules Committee.
“It was not the bill that I remembered,” he said. “I thought, when they made that decision in late 2023, when they approved that first plan, I thought that once they did that, it moves it forward and that was going to be our plan and it wasn’t even viable to bring a second plan.”
Busch said he asked Attorney General Todd Rokita for an advisory opinion. On May 31, Rokita wrote back that, in his view, state law required the city to do so.
“The Indiana Code does not explicitly permit the SBA or budget committee to consider a resolution that has not been submitted, but it does seem to indicate that any resolution adopted by the city-county council must be submitted to the state for review and approval,” Rokita wrote. “Therefore, one could argue that the state may take notice of (the first tax district resolution), as its adoption is a matter of public record.”
A spokesperson for Mayor Joe Hogsett said in a statement Rokita does not have jurisdiction or enforcement authority under the law and his memo is merely an advisory opinion.
“The City disagrees with that opinion and it has no bearing on the important effort to bring Major League Soccer to Indianapolis through Proposal 175,” spokesperson Aliya Wishner said.
The Metropolitan Development Commission still has to sign off on the new tax district boundaries before administration officials submit them to the State Budget Committee. Hogsett has said he will only submit the new boundaries based around a stadium located on the site of the heliport, not the original boundaries set for the Diamond Chain factory site.
Administration officials have said once the state approves the tax district, there will be no further formal moves toward building a publicly-financed stadium until Major League Soccer awards the city an expansion team.