Mayor Ballard's Plan to Divert Parking Meter Revenue to Electric Car Program May Violate Indiana Law

The Indianapolis Star reports:

The city and BlueIndy have reached an agreement to close a $13 million shortfall to get the stalled electric car-share service up and running.   

The city will pour more than $6 million from parking meter revenues to help construct charging stations and Bolloré, the company that owns the service, will pitch in another $6 million, bringing the company's commitment to more than $40 million.   

But the deal has angered a council leader, who said the administration of Mayor Greg 

Ballard is inappropriately using targeted infrastructure dollars for a "boondoggle."   

This is outrageous, this is the second time he's done this," said Public Works Committee Chairman Zach Adamson, referring to Ballard's spending $5 million in infrastructure money on an Eastside sports and cricket complex....

Adamson said parking meter dollars can be used only for infrastructure improvements in metered zones and said electric cars don't count as infrastructure.

...

Mayoral spokeswoman Jen Pittman said because the charging stations are open to the public to charge their own electric cars, the dollars are being properly used on infrastructure.... 

Council Chief Financial Officer Bart Brown said the administration seems to be legally entitled to shuffle the money but "they are stretching it."

I think Adamson is right. Pursuant to IC 36-9-12-14, parking meter money is supposed to go into a special fund which can be spent "only for the purposes listed in subsection (b)" of that statute. Those limited purposes are as follows:  

• the purchase price, rental fees, and cost of installation of the parking meters;
• the cost of maintenance, operation, and repair of the parking meters;
• incidental costs and expenses in the operation of the parking meters, including the cost of clerks and bookkeeping;
• the cost of traffic signal devices used in the municipality;
• the cost of repairing and maintaining any of the public ways, curbs, and sidewalks where the parking meters are in use, and all public ways connected with them in the municipality;
• the cost of acquiring, by lease or purchase, suitable land for offstreet parking facilities to be operated or leased by the municipality;
• the principal and interest on bonds issued to acquire parking;
• the cost of improving and maintaining land for parking;
• the cost of providing approved school crossing protective facilities, including the costs of purchase, maintenance, operation, and repair, and all other incidental costs.

Gary Welsh of Advance Indiana has also penned an article "Ballard Stealing Parking Meter Revenues To Pay For Electric Car Sharing Program" on this topic.