I understand that annual government budgets can be geeky to understand, but I have found they are important because it says a lot about the priorities of your local elected officials.  Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness presented his 2025 budget proposal to the City Council Finance Committee August 22.  The mayor proposes the spending plan, the City Council provides final approval.

The mayor is asking Council members to approve $182.5 million in spending next calendar year.  The budget approved for 2024 totaled $164 million.

The mayor is requesting a 6% pay raise for city employees.  For comparison, federal government workers are expected to receive a 2% raise in 2025.  The mayor proposed, and the Council approved, a pay hike in the middle of 2024, providing a flat $2,500 annually for public safety workers and a flat $1,000 wage increase for civilian employees.  The mayor argued pay for city workers was falling behind competitively.

Fishers decided previously to go with one network for health insurance, which has allowed Fishers employees to not see an increase in health insurance premiums next year.  The city contracts with Community Health.

Fadness told the Finance Committee he is proposing increasing the employee contribution match to the “457” employee retirement plan by $1,000 per year, upping the total match to a maximum of $2,500 per year.  A “457” plan is roughly similar to a private sector 401(k) retirement savings plan.

It is impressive that Fishers will fund additional police officers in local schools, buy a new fire truck, add a second Agri Park and add other items without increasing the city’s part of the local property tax rate.  That rate is $0.707.

Mayor Fadness has been able to keep the property tax rate stable, even in the midst of building a new City Hall/Arts Center, constructing an Events Center on schedule to open in November and a new Community Center also under construction near Hoosier Road Elementary School, set to open next year.  For full disclosure, the mayor did convince the City Council to enact a food & beverage tax to partially fund the Events Center.  Also, the city sewer rate go up $3 per month, with Fadness saying this will cover increased costs.

The City Council is holding a public hearing at the session scheduled for September 9.  This is your chance to comment on the budget planned for your city next year.

After posting the story Saturday that Current Publishing and Public Radio Station WFYI were jointly sponsoring a forum for Hamilton Southeastern School Board candidates in the upcoming election October 1, I started getting messages immediately about the date of the event.

Turns out, the initial date for the forum, October 1, is the same night as the Hamilton County Republican Party Fall Dinner.  Since there are several HSE School Board candidates with ties to the local Republican Party, it was unlikely those candidates would attend the forum.

I understand the organizers were not aware of this conflict and efforts are underway to find a new date for the forum.  Once that is announced, I will post it here.