Top Indianapolis City-County Council Democrats say they will push for a vote next month to override Mayor Joe Hogsett’s veto of vehicle tax increases, saying the mayor hasn’t shared a viable plan for securing state dollars to fix roads.
The council voted July 6 to raise two annual vehicle registration fees, the county excise surtax and the wheel tax. Top Democrats say the new revenue is essential to earning a $50 million annual road-funding payment from the state starting in 2027. Hours after the mayor vetoed the plan July 16, council leaders said they will push to get the two-thirds majority needed to overrule him at the Aug. 10 meeting.
Hogsett, a fellow Democrat, said he has a plan to ensure Indianapolis garners all $50 million next year. But councilors question that strategy and say details are scant on how future administrations would get the money in the coming years.
“We’re going to do everything that we can to ensure that we have 17 individuals that come alongside us to override that veto,” Council President Maggie Lewis said in a July 16 press conference, where she was joined by fellow Democrat Dan Boots. So far, 15 of 19 Democrats on the 25-person council support the tax increases, while all six Republicans oppose them.
Council’s road-funding plan requires tax hikes
To receive the state money, the city must commit $50 million in revenue to the state’s Community Crossing Matching Grant Program starting in 2027. To keep getting those dollars under Senate Enrolled Act 179, Indy must boost that amount to $70 million in 2028, $80 million in 2029, $90 million in 2030 and $100 million in 2031 and each subsequent year.
Top Democrats have outlined a plan they estimate will devote more than $850 million in state and local dollars over five years to Indianapolis roads, streets, curbs and sidewalks.
Much of the city money, about $71 million each year, would come from raising the Marion County vehicle excise surtax for passenger vehicles to $100 and the wheel tax for larger vehicles to $240. The rest, they say, would come from organic growth in local tax dollars and “budget efficiencies.”
Lewis said she’d rather tax commuters in surrounding counties who drive on Indianapolis roads, but only the Indiana General Assembly could pass that unpopular plan. Council leaders argue state legislators are pushing Indianapolis to raise wheel and excise taxes.
“We understand that individuals are looking at us and may even want to vote us out of office. We get that this is a hard vote,” Lewis said. “But at the end of the day, we believe that this is the plan that will take our city to the next level. It will ensure that we have the dollars long-term to fix our roads.”
Councilors doubt Mayor Hogsett’s plan
The Hogsett administration says annual growth in local tax revenue could largely fund the city’s $50 million match in 2027 and the following years.
The plan is to allot $20 million of local income taxes this year in the 2027 budget, $5 million from stormwater fees, and $25 million more next year from supplemental income tax funding the state distributes each spring, according to Hogsett spokeswoman Emily Kaufmann.
“In future years, the city will use funding from budget efficiencies and growth to meet the additional required matching dollars,” Kaufmann said in a July 16 statement. “This administration has time and time again continued to increase road funding and at the same time receive the highest credit ratings from three out of four ratings agencies.”
In his veto letter, Hogsett said he will transparently communicate his road-funding plan during 2027 budget discussions, which begin publicly next month. Kaufmann emphasized the city has spent $1.7 billion on transportation infrastructure during Hogsett’s tenure without raising taxes.
“Let me be clear: This administration will meet the state’s match,” Hogsett said in a statement announcing the veto. “Meeting this moment has never been an afterthought. Over my tenure as mayor, our infrastructure budget has more than tripled.”
Council Democrats said they don’t believe the mayor’s plan will work, and they argue the risks of falling short of the required state contribution are too high.
“We are the fiscal agents, so our job is to manage the finances and to meet the objectives that we must meet to govern the city,” Boots, a northeast-side Democrat, said at the press conference. “The mayor did not step up and do that. That has left us no choice.
“The state gave us a deadline by Sept. 1 to act,” Boots added. “If we don’t act, we get nothing. And if we don’t meet these models every year, we get nothing.”
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Email Indianapolis City Hall Reporter Jordan Smith at JTSmith@indystar.com. Follow him on X @jordantsmith09 and Bluesky @jordanaccidentally.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Council Dems doubt Hogsett’s road-funding plan, aim to override veto
Reporting by Jordan Smith, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By Jordan Smith, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
