The Noblesville Common Council on Dec. 2 approved two finance-related ordinances and several appropriation transfers tied to downtown projects.

Tom McDonald, deputy financial officer, told the council that ordinance 40-4-11-25 would appropriate revenue the city received from the Hamilton County innkeepers tax "to pay a portion of the bond repayment for the Arena at Innovation Mile," freeing TIF revenue for other investment purposes. The council opened a public hearing, heard no public comment, and approved the ordinance on a roll-call vote of 9-0.

Council also approved ordinance 40-5-11-25, a bond authorization ordinance for Phase 1 of the Embrace Downtown project. City staff said the ordinance authorizes up to $6.5 million in bonds to finance construction of phase 1; debt service is expected to be paid from food and beverage revenues. The bond ordinance was approved on a 9-0 roll-call vote.

During the meeting the council approved appropriation transfers to support Embrace Downtown design and construction-inspection services and related project work. City staff noted Crossroads Engineers will coordinate phase 1 construction inspection. The transfer for design/inspection services passed by hand vote (recorded 9-0). The meeting packet included transfer materials; a dollar figure read aloud during the presentation ('close to $700,100,000') appears inconsistent with surrounding context in the packet and is treated here as transcriptionly ambiguous (see clarifying details). The council approved the packeted transfers without further amendment.

All ordinance votes were unanimous and recorded on the roll call.