Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness faced the media early Monday afternoon, briefing reporters on his over $164 million 2024 spending plan.  $129 million of that total would go to city operations, and $35 million would pay debt service.

When Fadness explained his 2023 budget of over $144 million last year, he warned there would be an increase in the debt service in 2024, which accounts for most of the roughly $20 million increase in the total budget figure.

The mayor will present his budget plan to the City Council tonight (Monday), the Council will assign committees to review the plan, then a Council public hearing will be held in the September Council session.  Final City Council budget approval is expected in October.

The mayor is proposing the addition of 3 uniformed  Fishers Police Officers, 2 additional School Resource Officers for HSE Schools and one Lab employee in 2024.  He also wants 3 more firefighters to supplement the current staff during absences, rather than assign overtime work.

The 2024 budget proposal calls for a 5% employee raise, plus a longevity pay provision for police and firefighters eligible to retire after 20 years of service, providing an incentive to stay on the job in years 20-25.

The contract with Community Health will result in a 2% decrease in the city’s share of  health insurance premiums with no reduction in benefits.

The decision by the state’s lawmakers to adjust the distribution of local income tax revenue between Carmel & Fishers has resulted in $21 million in additional city cash reserves.  The mayor plans to use that money to work on trail connections, neighborhood sidewalks and will enhance the Neighborhood Matching Grant program from $100,000 to $750,000.  Also, the new Matching program will be an 80-20 split, with the neighborhoods only footing 20% of the cost for an approved project.

The mayor also plans to provide $500,000 to fund innovative programs at HSE Schools.  The city will form a committee of retired teachers to evaluate requests for funding from teachers.

All this, and the mayor pointed out the 2024 tax rate for the city will go down slightly, a trend that has been happening in recent years.