Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson wagged her finger angrily Tuesday at Common Council members who she said were not being truthful about details of a plan she is proposing to sell, then lease back, the city’s police headquarters building as part of a long-range plan to stabilize municipal finances.

“I don’t have a problem with people disagreeing with me, but I don’t like liars,” the mayor said, in criticizing people who are critical of her plan, which she says is the only way to avoid having Gary city government effectively go bankrupt by Oct. 31.

There were three outspoken critics — Rebecca Wyatt, D-1st, Carolyn Rogers, D-4th, and LaVetta Sparks-Wade, D-6th, who voted “no” to the mayor’s plan.

Sparks-Wade was skeptical that the mayor’s plan would be successful long-term because it involves taking on debt, even though Freeman-Wilson said preliminary talks with the Hilliard Lyons management firm indicate an interest rate of nearly half the 8 percent the city originally thought it would be charged.

“I would never vote for a loan,” Sparks-Wade said. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

But a majority of the Common Council sided with Freeman-Wilson, voting 6-3 in favor of a pair of ordinances that create the Gary Building Corp. That entity will be the one to negotiate deals with financial institutions to get them to buy bonds the city wishes to issue.

The intent is to raise what city officials say will be up to $40 million, which will be put into special funds where it can be used by the city to reduce the amount of debt municipal government has developed in recent years.

The money, along with implementation of plans being developed to try to cut city spending significantly, are a plan to stabilize city finances in coming decades.

The mayor says Gary has tried in the past decade to rely solely on spending cuts, but that is insufficient as the city must find a way of raising more money. “We have been unable to fill the gap” in funds needed to fully pay Gary city bills, she said, adding, “I don’t know when the city budget was last balanced.”

Council President Ronald Brewer was sympathetic to the mayor’s plan, even though he admits it potentially creates debt that could take Gary decades to repay.

“We’re at the point where we have to do something,” he said, saying of city debts, “The ball has been rolling, and it’s getting bigger and bigger.”

Councilwoman Mary Brown supported the mayoral plan, saying, “We wouldn’t be able to pay our public safety employees. We have to be able to provide services, or else (city officials) might as well all go home.”

Before the plan becomes official, the Common Council will have to take one more vote — likely before the end of October — to approve actual details of a bond sale later this year to raise the needed revenues.

One thing that will have to happen before that occurs is that Gary government will have to submit to the Standard & Poor’s bond rating agency to get a financial rating.

Gary has no official rating and is regarded as a “government in distress.” But Freeman-Wilson said that submitting itself for a rating will help the city get lower interest rates, and she said she expects Gary could get a “mid-investment grade rating.”

Debate on the ordinances took nearly two hours Tuesday, with many Gary residents who often complain about government activity stating their objections to the plan, while also applauding each other’s expressions of thought.

Robert Buggs, who represents the Gary Community School Corp.’s interests on the Gary Library Board, supported the mayor’s deal, saying, “We don’t want the state to come in (and take over Gary government). I see the way that works with the school board.”

Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.