Mayor Scott Fadness provided details of his 2016 city budget proposal to the Fishers City Council Monday night. The spending plan provides just over $69.1 million. The city tax rate will rise slightly from last year, from about 62 cents per $100 of assessed property valuations, to just over 63 cents. Fadness told the council this puts the rate back to where it was in 2014. The 2015 rate dipped a bit because some bonds financing road projects were not issued in 2015 as originally planned, but will be issued in 2016.
During the public hearing on the budget, former Fishers Town Councilman Mike Colby asked how extra money provided by the state in added 911 fees on phones would be used by the city. Mayor Fadness responded that Hamilton County has not seen any of that extra money yet, but the special census in Fishers and Westfield could up the county’s population enough to qualify for some of that added money to support 911 service.
Colby also asked about the sewer fees, and whether the city would look into changing that from a flat fee to one adjusted for the size of property, or usage fee. Mayor Fadness responded that HSE Utilities, which services part of the city, and the City of Fishers. which handles the rest, each have different fee structures. Fadness says talks are ongoing between the city and HSE Utilities over the fee issue.
Greg Purvis, Democrat candidate for city council at large, complained that the city’s debt load is too high and has been growing over the years. Mayor Fadness responded that Fishers is growing and the Fishers City tax rate is the lowest of any city of similar or larger size in the state of Indiana.
The City Council is scheduled to take a final vote on the 2016 budget at the October 19th meeting. The council has the option of scheduling additional meetings for comment on the budget, but no such sessions have been scheduled.
The council did give final approval to the salary ordinance governing city employee pay for 2016. No elected officials in Fishers will see a pay raise. Most rank and file workers will see a 2% hike in salary. Some positions will see a higher pay raise based on comparability market studies for their specific positions. The 2016 budget will deal with solving pay “compression issues” for some police, fire and Department of Public Works employees. Employee health insurance rates will remain the same for 2016, but the mayor said his staff is looking into savings in the system, and some of those changes could cost employees more out-of-pocket for health care costs.