INDIANAPOLIS — Raises are on the way for Beech Grove city employees.
"If the city can afford it, then there's no reason why we should not continue to take care of our people," Beech Grove Mayor James Coffman said.
Mayor Coffman said the city's newly approved budget will help take care of the people who help the city thrive. Every city employee gets a 3% raise, some even more.
"There's a few employees, six or seven, that are still making $41,000 a year,” said Coffman. "We said, well those employees. They deserve more. So, they're actually getting about a 10% raise."
A reward that Coffman said would benefit residents too.
"While we'll increase our budget from the previous year, we are lower having a lower tax rate," Coffman said.
This year, Beech Grove's budget came in at just over $15 million. The nearly $19 million approved budget for 2025 sets the tax rate even lower.
"A substantial decrease in the tax rate for the city, which is which is incredible. So, I'm excited for that," Coffman said.
"We're all paycheck to paycheck, and so any little increase helps," Carvis Herron Jr., a Beech Grove resident, said.
Carvis said he sees this approved budget as a bonus.
"I don't work here, but I love the fact that people that I know are going to actually be able to be compensated a little bit better and live more comfortably," Herron said.
Mayor Coffman said most of the positions that were significantly underpaid by the city, were occupied by women, and making that pay gap right was his priority.
"It's not the end all be all. I think we still have some work to be done, but again, we've got to continue to stay ahead of it, because otherwise we'll get left behind, and that happened to the city several years ago," Coffman said.
"They're working just as hard as the men. I mean, I'll be the first to say it's some harder. So, it's good to see that they're actually beginning to be compensated accordingly, or at least trying to level out that that compensation pay gap," Herron said.
Beech Grove's budget also includes nearly a million dollars in infrastructure funding to enhance roundabouts, sidewalks, and trails.
