INDIANAPOLIS -- The board that oversees Indianapolis' downtown sporting facilities is expected to vote on another round of budget cuts Monday.

The Capital Improvement Board must come up with options to grapple with a $47 million operating deficit.

The CIB has limited options on how to make up for the shortfall, and most of them involve moves that are unpopular with a large part of the public.

Under the budget cut plan the CIB is considering, the organization would save $1 million by deferring all maintenance and repairs that aren't safety-related.

Another $100,000 would be saved by requiring all CIB salaried employees to take six unpaid furlough days over the next three months.

The committee will also consider negotiating with unionized hourly employees to take unpaid days off, raising parking rates at CIB lots when the Colts aren't playing and closing the Virginia Avenue parking garage at 6 p.m. when the Pacers aren't playing.

If approved, the CIB's cuts still fall $1 million short of what lawmakers said they want to see.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Crawford is proposing a plan that would call for putting in a downtown casino with slot machines to raise money with a 10 percent gaming tax.

Mayor Greg Ballard's chief of staff, Paul Okeson, said the mayor is supportive of that move.

"Mayor Ballard has said all along that he wants to mitigate any pain to our community of taxpayers in Marion County and find some options that will relieve that. Rep. Crawford's plan attempts to do that," Okeson said.

An unscientific survey on TheIndyChannel.com indicated that about 60 percent of the public would support opening a casino in Indianapolis.

Crawford's proposal would take 500 slot machines from Hoosier Park in Anderson and another 500 from Indiana Live in Shelbyville.

The 10 percent gaming tax would raise an estimated $20.5 million a year to help the CIB, but casino industry representatives were not thrilled with the proposal, saying that it would perhaps saturate the demand for gaming in the state.

Democrats in the Senate want to amend the Republican crafted CIB bailout bill by removing all tax increases and forcing Ballard to divert money from the public safety income tax, which they content doesn't go to public safety anyway.

The bailout bill will be up for amendments on the Senate floor on Monday or Tuesday.