It has been a long time since Americans have seen prices rise this much this fast.  I am old enough to remember some big spikes in inflation during my lifetime.  I am no economist, but those holding advanced degrees in that discipline say we are seeing a number of unprecedented events at one time coming together and resulting in high costs.

Local governments must deal with inflation just as families are forced to adjust.
There are several ways inflation impacts Fishers.

The city must replace City Hall because the building is sinking into the water table underneath and would require so much money to maintain, it makes more fiscal sense to replace it.  The current City Hall will see the wrecking ball later this year.

It will be replaced by what has been labeled an “Arts and Municipal Complex.”  It calls for an arts facility along with space for city offices.

I regularly attend the City Council Finance Committee meetings, and most are fairly routine.  For example, the July session featured a review of routine money-related items for the following City Council meeting and a presentation on how fluctuating interest rates may result in a change of how the city parks its money for investment.

That’s where the routine part of the meeting ended.

There were questions raised about the cost of the Arts & Municipal Complex, and it was revealed there are three rounds of bidding.  The first round is for the steel needed to construct the building –  those bids have been opened and are within budget.  Two more rounds of bidding will happen soon and will provide a better picture of where the project stands.

Then the plans for a new city recreation center were discussed, and city officials said there were problems matching-up what the public says it wants in such a facility and the budget available to pay for it before inflation zoomed up the past few months.  City Council President Todd Zimmerman has been heading-up the group planning the center, and he said no plans will be proposed for the full City Council until all the planning is complete.  Rising costs will obviously have some impact on the Recreation Center.

The city is using some advanced computer programs to monitor fuel usage and Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren said that data is being analyzed and all departments are looking for ways to save money on fuel and still fulfill their missions.

Councilor Jocelyn Vare raised the issue of State Road 37 and 141st Street.  That is the last project renovating the traffic flow along 37 in Fishers.  She wanted to know why she and other council members were not informed of the expected rejection of all the bids for that interchange project, when the media has been reporting on this.

I can only speak for myself.  The first time I realized what was happening was during a podcast I had already scheduled with officials from the city engineering department.  Engineering Director Jason Taylor told me during that May 6th podcast recording session that he planned to recommend rejection of all bids for the project and his department would explore where to go from there.

I asked Mayor Scott Fadness following the June City Council meeting what would happen next and he basically said the costs were too high in those bids so the city and county will wait until conditions improve in the construction business.

More recently, I spoke with Fishers Assistant Director of Engineering, Hatem Mekky, and he assured me his staff was not sitting pat waiting for the cost of doing business to go down.  The city staff had been conducting ongoing meetings with many stakeholders searching for ways to get that interchange at 141st Street and SR 37 done, according to Mekky.

Finance Committee Chair John Weingardt said there are so many road and highway projects happening in our local area, that had an impact on the bids submitted for the 141st & SR 37 work.

As Fishers starts the process of formulating a 2023 city budget in the coming weeks, all city officials I have heard comment on this are in agreement – the mayor, his department heads and members of the City Council must factor-in rising prices as next year’s spending plan is put together.

The cost of doing business is a factor to consider.