Mayor Scott Fadness, Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren and City Controller Lisa Bradford provided the City Council Finance Committee a first look at the 2022 budget.  It calls for a $121.64 million spending plan, plus cash reserves (including all funds) of $41 million.

The mayor is calling for a 4% across-the-board pay increase for the city staff, including elected officials.  The budget also calls for 3 new sworn police officers (bringing the total to 123), 8 new firefighters that will allow the new Station 97 to be fully staffed on the northeast section of the city and bring more community outreach through the Parks Department and Public Relations staff.

The city also plans to continue funding teachers-in-residence for Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools at the Maker Space and AgriPark.

One troubling projection shows a 3.6% decrease in the amount of Local Income Tax revenue from the state for 2022.  Mayor Fadness is asking House Speaker Todd Huston to look into why this happened.  Bradford told the committee 61% of Indiana counties saw a projected decrease in the income tax funds from the state, with 39% seeing an income tax allocation increase from the state.  “There is no rhyme of reason as to why,” Bradford said.  State-wide, local income tax revenue has fallen $60 million compared to the previous year.

Finance Committee Chairman John Weingardt said the decrease in the local income tax revenue does not compare with what he is seeing from his clients.  “It doesn’t add up to me,” said Weingardt.  The councilman is a tax accountant with a practice in Fishers.

The property tax revenue for Fishers is expected to grow in 2022, with a 6.4% increase in assessed valuation projected.

Fadness is projecting the Fishers share of the property tax rate to decline one-half of one cent in 2022, at .7165.  Bradford says that Fishers has the lowest property tax rate for municipalities in Hamilton County, except for Cicero.

Fadness emphasized that the 2022 budget plan does not reflect plans for a new City Hall and Community Center.  But he said adding to the city’s cash reserves “provide opportunities for us to be creative about how we financially structure those projects”