Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard gets a big thumbs up from me this week. The Mayor managed to give his budget address the same day he was rushed to the hospital for possible heart trouble.

While I’m glad the Mayor is okay, I jokingly opined that trying to fix the budget mess left behind by the last administration was enough to give anyone cardiac arrest.

Let me show you a few examples.

The Mayor’s office budget went up more than $220,000. That was because the former administration would fund their employees with money from other departments so it looked like they were saving the taxpayers money.

Here’s another accounting trick. The people who used to run this place did a lot of inter-agency double billing. And when they stopped the practice, both agencies took credit for the budget cut. Those practices cost you millions of dollars.

And here’s a nice kicker, the former people in charge allocated funds that weren’t there to pay for projects and thought they could skate by and deal with them after the election. Apparently someone forgot about the voters.

So after cleaning up the former administration’s mess, the Ballard people closed a $26 million shortfall. Paid for public safety, economic development, roads and infrastructure, found cash to deal with abandoned housing and still has more than $4 million left over.

Be still my beating heart.

So why did Indianapolis get a Super Bowl this year as opposed to last? Good question. Fair question. I asked Mayor Greg Ballard that this afternoon. He gave three reasons.

1. The city tied its legacy project to IPS and the new facility that will go up at Tech High School.

2. The city did not put all its cards on the table right away and held back part of its proposal to the very end.

3. Having 8th graders from not only Indianapolis, but across the region participate in presenting the city’s bid to show wide support for the project.

You may not agree, but it didn’t hurt.

I also asked the Mayor who should deserve the credit? He acknowledged the work of the previous administration in the bid, however he also recognized the work of people like Dick Lugar who really laid the groundwork for what Indianapolis is today. And he also said the real winners are the community, as he labeled this a community bid.

Much to the dismay of his critics, you have to give Ballard credit. Not only for this, but for retaking the police department and putting it back where it belonged, the state taking over the pre-1977 pension problem, and seriously promoting government consolidation that went beyond Indy Works I, II & III. (And need I remind some you that former Mayor Bart Peterson could have had consolidation had members of his own party not blocked it in the Indiana General Assembly. I can say this because I was there and many of you were not, so save us all the grief and hassle of trying to argue the point.)

I think a Super Bowl will be good for the city and will open a number of doors if it is done right. That will be the biggest challenge for the administration. There is no do-over for this one and 2012 will be here before you know it. The good news is that Indianapolis has handled major events before, this is the granddaddy of them all.

Nice job. Now get to work!

First things first: Congratulations to Greg Ballard for landing the Super Bowl in 2012.

Here’s hoping he uses the opportunity to say thanks to those who teed up this victory for him — namely, former Mayor Bart Peterson, Colts owner Jim Irsay and the cadre of hard-working corporate types who helped put the bids together both this year and last year.

This is a real chance for Ballard to show that he’s not the kind of leader who’s going to puff his chest out and take all the credit for something with which he had very little to do. (And which he may not be in office to see come to fruition.)

It’s called diplomacy, and word on the street is that Ballard could use a refresher course. He’s reportedly been in a few meetings lately where his short temper and refusal to answer questions have caused a bit of friction.

Today, Ballard has the ability to set aside partisanship and act, for lack of a better word, mayoral. Let’s see whether he rises to the occasion or lets hubris get the better of him.

There is a very good chance Indianapolis will be awarded the 2012 Super Bowl this afternoon in Atlanta. Indy is competing with Houston and Phoenix. I rule out Houston because the 2011 Super Bowl will be right outside Dallas. And the Phoenix was a logistical disaster, ergo Indianapolis gets the bid. However, if the city does get the bid, that presents an interesting question, who should get the credit? Bart Peterson or Greg Ballard. The Peterson people will say they laid the groundwork for the bid. The Ballard people will say they sealed the deal. What do you say?