97 Gear Shift Indicator Broken

First off, thank you for taking the time to look at my post. I'm not very auto-savvy but I'm trying to keep up with my car and know what goes on. So bear with me if my terminology is incorrect.

Lately I've had some issues with the indicator(the orange needle telling you what gear you're in). Often when I start my car, it would let me shift gears but the indicator would not move. I've never once had a problem shifting into whichever gear I want(*knock on wood*). Usually when this happened I would bring the gear selector back to park then try shifting it again. This would fix the issue and it would bring the indicator with it, but I knew I had to do something about it eventually.

Last night when I was on my way home, I started my car and shifted into reverse to back out. It didn't move the indicator, and nothing I could do(no back to park then trying again) would work. I eventually decided I'd just count gears to get home, then I'd have it looked at.

At home I decided to do some research as to find out the issue, and I thought I'd found it. I removed the panel under the steering wheel to look at the thumb-adjustment. Many posts I read said it's likely broken and I may need a new one (Or to fix it with zip-ties or glue). When I found it though it had not been broken. The white housing and the black wheel were both working fine, the wire doesn't seem cut. However when I put the parking break on so I can shift gears and see what it's doing, the gear selector moves but the wire just acquires slack in it. It's still attached and I can't see a break in it anywhere, however it may be broken inside the jacket. I tried turning the black thumb-adjusting wheel both ways and got no success from that. It moved a little once but that was it.

Does anyone have any insight as to any other issues it may be, or is this it? I called Ford and got the part number. F6DZ7A110A if it helps. I called my mechanic(I need an oil change and tire rotation anyway. Once it gets warm I plan to do my own oil changes though) and told him about the issue, he said he'll look at it on Monday. I want to make sure he's not going to rip me off so I'm learning as much about this issue as I can. The part is about $50, so I know if he charges me more than that to just buy it myself. How labor intensive would a replacement be? I saw a video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK4PZzjlwgY ) showing the process and it looks confusing but if my mechanic wants to charge me $200 for the labor then screw that. My neighbor is good with cars and offered to help me with my car when I first got it, so I'd ask him for help.

Sorry for the length/confusion if any. Basically my questions:
1. Do you think that the indicator needs to be replaced?
2. What would be a reasonable price for my mechanic to do it for me? Dropping the steering column doesn't seem *too* complicated, and shouldn't take too long, especially for him.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and help out.

A 97 Taurus is worth less than $1500. If you don't mind this being broken, it does not need to be replaced. It's fairly easy to find park and drive because you have to pull the lever in to switch between them.