Countless city residents will be giving their opinions on how the mayor and City Council should use the $38 million now in the City Light lease trust fund and the $39 million more coming in over the next 15 years from the sale of the former government utility to Indiana & Michigan Electric Co.

After seeking public input, the Legacy Task Force appointed by Mayor Tom Henry will offer recommendations. But the mayor and City Council will decide how the money will be used. The City Council must specifically approve any expenditures from the money.

With hundreds of people already weighing in at www.feedbackfortwayne.org and public forums scheduled to hear ideas, I can’t resist the opportunity to give my own opinion on what the city should and shouldn’t do with the money.

Guiding principles

Mayor Tom Henry directed the Legacy Task Force to follow these parameters in recommending how the city should use $77 million from the City Light lease trust fund and the sale settlement fund. More information is available at: www.legacyfortwayne.org.

•Use of the funds should directly benefit the people of Fort Wayne, and the fund should be used for purposes which will promote the cultural, recreational, public, civic or economic well being of the community.

•Past City of Fort Wayne planning documents that have been adopted by the Fort Wayne City Council and have been based upon community input should be given priority when selecting options for use of these funds. Other community planning documents may also serve as valuable points of reference.

•The uses of the Trust and Settlement funds should benefit the greater good of the community and be in its long-term best interests. The uses should serve as a catalyst for desired activity and/or additional investment; should strengthen the community; should enhance its position as the regional center of Northeast Indiana; and help to establish Fort Wayne as a place of pride and opportunity for all – now and for generations to come. To ensure the funds’ maximum impact, the uses should encourage the leveraging of resources.

•Community involvement is a crucial element in the process for recommending uses of the Trust and Settlement funds.

•The process to determine the uses of the Trust and Settlement funds should be deliberative, inclusive, strategic, farsighted, reflective of the spirit of the Trust and Settlement, sensitive to the community’s distinct characteristics and committed to public participation.

DO seriously consider what the task force recommends, and adopt most, if not all, of the proposals.

Mayor Tom Henry will likely be inclined to do so, but some City Council members have a reputation of being so sure their ideas are the best they may be tempted to ignore the advice. They shouldn’t.

DON’T call the money a “windfall,” and don’t treat it as such. This isn’t mad money. This is result of remarkable agreements mayors reached to first lease, then sell, the antiquated City Light utility, owned by the city and its people.

Money has been saved and earning interest for 35 years. More money will be coming in over the next 15 years. If used and invested correctly, the total available could far exceed $77 million.

City leaders and residents should think of this money as a retirement account they are starting at age 21, not a pension payout at age 70.

DO’s and DON’Ts

DO consider saving at least some of the money in perpetuity. After interest rates bounce back, a $77 million endowment should generate nearly $4 million or more a year – forever.

DON’T return the money to residents with a one-time property tax cut. The way the state’s property tax system works, that would permanently leave the city tens of millions of dollars short each year in needed money to provide basic city services. Plus, because city taxes are just one part of property tax bills, individual tax bills wouldn’t drop that much.

DO consider using some of the money for the rivers, perhaps the city’s most underused assets despite their predominance.

DO consider using the money for infrastructure – but only on major, lasting projects. For that reason …

DON’T use the money for sidewalks and streets, which would have to be repaved and replaced in a matter of years, not decades.

DO consider using some money for a revolving loan fund for startup or expanding businesses – which would repay the loans with interest, offering more money for later development.

DON’T build a drag strip, the No. 1 vote-getter on the feedback site. Or a curling facility. Perhaps a small amount could be paired with private contributions. But no one knows whether these uses would come close to paying for themselves.

DON’T use the money for high-speed or low-speed rail. Trains have to go from Fort Wayne to somewhere else, meaning they require regional, statewide or federal coordination and money. And there are a host of uncertainties.

DON’T make this a political football. That’s why Henry created a task force with members representing a cross-section of the community. Candidates seeking office may be more concerned with getting elected this year than creating uses that will help the city in 20 or 50 or 100 years. That’s why it is imperative that city leaders …

DO make this money a true legacy. Any bricks-and-mortar projects should serve citizens well into the future. Any savings or loan or leverage plans should ensure the money is available for community improvement for more than 50 years – equaling the 35 years of lease payments and 15 years of future sale payments.

DON’T fritter it away by spreading it so thin that no one remembers in 10 years how it was used.