If you had a leaky roof and the income to fix it wasn’t coming for a while, would you borrow some cash to cover the repair, or just live with the leak a while longer?
At least in the case of fixing up Richmond’s parks, the city is choosing to borrow.
On March 1, diners began paying a 1% food and beverage tax when enjoying restaurant meals in Richmond, and the city wants them to quickly see results from that extra charge, before the money is in hand.
Richmond Common Council during its March 16 meeting approved a resolution and two ordinances that provide the city’s parks department immediate funding to address its most pressing needs. When Indiana’s General Assembly passed legislation last year permitting Richmond’s food and beverage tax, which is applied to all transactions involving prepared foods and drinks, it specified the generated revenue be used for parks, trails, Whitewater Gorge activation or bond payments that fund such projects.
Council’s three actions, all by 8-1 votes with Lucinda Wright dissenting, enable the city to issue bond anticipation notes up to $5 million. The resolution permits the city to repay itself for any expenditures on designated parks projects before receiving the BAN money. One ordinance authorized issuance of the BANs, and the other ordinance appropriated the BAN money to specified projects. The city expects to receive its first food and beverage tax distribution from the state’s Department of Revenue during May and to use the tax revenue to make BAN interest payments.
The BANs, which are expected to be about $4.3 million, give the city until July 2027 to analyze food and beverage tax revenues and consider a long-term bond. The city maintains flexibility, because it can bond just enough to pay off the BANs or up to $11 million to fund additional parks projects. Food and beverage tax revenue is expected to pay the annual bond debt and provide additional revenue for pay-as-you-go parks projects.
Denise Retz, the parks superintendent, said she was excited to begin providing results for residents’ food and beverage tax investments.
Wright favors the parks improvements, but she doesn’t approve of spending tax money the city doesn’t yet have.
“If you’re at home — and that’s how I look at it — I’m not going to spend money that I don’t have,” Wright said. “I just feel that we’re putting the cart before the horse, and we need to be better stewards to what we have been charged.”
The city and its bond advisers project the food and beverage tax to generate $1.5 million annually, which would provide 192% debt coverage for the maximum long-term bond. Any general city revenues can pay the bond debt, and as a last resort, a property tax could be levied if food and beverage tax revenues fall short. Heidi Amspaugh, a principal at Baker Tilly, the city’s adviser, said the possibility of a property tax levy helps the city receive a better bond interest rate.
Wright said she hopes the expert projections are correct, but if tax revenues don’t work out as expected “it always falls on the taxpayers, and I’m tired of that.”
The funding will support a range of projects, including major upgrades to Glen Miller Park’s playground, splash pad and fountain; improvements at Highland Lake Golf Course such as a new pump system, irrigation and a building addition; and a variety of maintenance and enhancements like roof repairs, pond dredging, new signage, pool and bathhouse upgrades, and added amenities including picnic tables, trash cans and golf simulators.
Mike Devine, a parks board member, said the BAN shows the city is serious about the parks plan and maintaining the legacy of E.G. Hill, who designed Glen Miller Park in 1890.
Mary Walker, director of the Wayne County Convention and Tourism Bureau, told council that visitors spent $185.5 million in Wayne County during 2024, with $69.7 million of that for food and beverages. She said parks projects are investments in Richmond’s assets partially paid for by visitors’ money.
Melissa Vance, president and CEO of the Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce, said the BANs are “smart growth in action” because the food and beverage tax revenue is being leveraged to tackle problems that would become worse as time passes.
Resident Howard Price opposed paying bond interest and accruing additional city debt. He thought the parks department could better plan parks maintenance.
Council member Jerry Purcell said council’s finance committee favored the BAN to fund immediate needs and provide time to analyze a bond. He said Retz was asked to provide a plan that avoids deferring future maintenance.
A version of this article appeared in the March 25 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.