00;00;00;02 - 00;00;18;06
Stephanie Wiechmann
When he took office on January 1st, Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour found 18 of the city's accounts in the negative, totaling a deficit of more than $ 3.3 million. The former banker says no money is missing, but he told his cabinet to begin fixing the outstanding reimbursements and two big promises from the previous administration.

00;00;18;06 - 00;00;31;07
Dan Ridenour
In two months. We have reduced $ 775,458 off of that 3.3 negative. So we're going to do this. I've got to do things that help set us up for success in the future.

00;00;31;10 - 00;00;39;01
Stephanie Wiechmann
Now that that's seen progress, Ridenour is concerned with one more number, $ 30 million, the assessed tax value of the Muncie Mall.

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Dan Ridenour
The second largest assessed value that we have in the city of Muncie. What does that mean to our city's budget, our public safety budget? Our library budget? Our school system budget. The Muncie Mall is very important to us, folks.

00;00;57;06 - 00;01;19;20
Stephanie Wiechmann
Ridenour says he's visited all 42 stores and reports only four had a bad 2019. He says many have some of the best sales in their multistate regions. But in late February, the mall's owner, Washington Prime Group, indicated to investors it would stop paying the mortgage on the location, essentially giving it back to the bank. Right now, he says, since he's had 30 years in banking, he knows what will happen next.

00;01;19;28 - 00;01;33;12
Dan Ridenour
The bank is going to do exactly what I just did. They're going to go and they're going to say, they're doing really well. They're going to keep it open. They're going to have the tenants pay rent to the bank, and the bank is going to as quickly as possible, find a source to buy the mall.

00;01;33;14 - 00;01;46;25
Stephanie Wiechmann
And he wants the city to do all it can, except for spending tax money on making it an attractive buy for the next potential owner. The other resource right now, he says he wants to, in his words, aggressively focus on is city parks.

00;01;46;28 - 00;01;59;08
Dan Ridenour
Because that's the only way that you make the neighborhoods survive is by building those neighborhood parks. So, so that people stay and or move in.

00;01;59;10 - 00;02;15;08
Stephanie Wiechmann
Plans include two new splash pads on the south side and on the north, and improvements to seven city parks. Thanks to grant money, Ridenour says, sidewalks across the city and to downtown public alleys will also see improvements. In Muncie, Stephanie Wiechmann, IPR news.