INDIANAPOLIS – Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett presented his 2020 city budget Monday evening, hoping for another consecutive year of bipartisan support on the Indianapolis City-County Council.
Hogsett’s administration has prided itself on no tax increases, protecting Indianapolis’ credit ratings and a “truly balanced” city budget. The latter is a common phrase from Hogsett and other officials, meaning the city doesn’t have to dip into its emergency funds to make revenues meet or exceed expenses.
Hogsett said the proposed 2020 budget represents “fiscally responsible investment in our neighborhoods and in public safety.”
In Hogsett’s proposed budget, the city and county is expected to bring in $1,212,441,180 and spend $1,212,269,739.
The budget allocates $1.2 million for body cameras for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, though it’s still unclear what the plan will look like. The department will study the findings of the current pilot program before making determinations about body cameras.
IMPD Chief Bryan Roach said there is money in the department’s budget for a few civilian employees to manage the videos and redact parts for public consumption. Roach said if body cameras are implemented in 2020, it would cost more money each year to keep the program running.
Most of the different departments are expected to keep roughly the same level of funding through 2020. Notable increases include:
- The Marion County Coroner’s Office, which is gaining four full-time employees
- The IMPD is expected to receive a 2% increase in funding, with officers getting a previously negotiated 2% raise
- The Department of Public Works would get another $8 million, an increase of about 5% from 2019 levels.
Notable proposed budget cuts from 2019 include:
- A 40% cut of the budget of the mayor’s office, from about $10 million to about $4 million.
- The Minority and Women in Business Development Agency would receive about $168,000 less than in 2019. City officials said this is because the agency had a large, one-time expense in 2019 and the actual operating budget is slightly higher in 2020.
The different agencies will present their individual budgets to different City-County Council committees throughout the next two months, where the public is invited to learn more about the budgeting process.
The budget still must be vetted through the council. Hogsett’s budget has passed the council in the past three years, with more support in each year:
- 2016: 18-7
- 2017: 21-2
- 2018: 24-0.
