HOPE – Preliminary recommendations for the 2025 municipal budget have been presented to the Hope Town Council.
While Clerk-Treasurer Diane Burton submitted a 4% raise in salaries and benefit in her proposal distributed Tuesday, that is not the amount she is advising the five-member council to adopt.
“I am not recommending that you do a 4% increase,” Burton said. “It’s just (in the proposal) to give you room to make your decision in the 2025 salary ordinance.”
But her recommendations do establish next year’s property-tax supported general fund at $770,168 – an increase of $36,000 from this year. As the northeast Bartholomew County community did last fall, the town will again be requesting the maximum levy of 4% per $100 of assessed valuation, according to Burton.
A public hearing prior to the initial, first-reading of the budget will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 17. The final reading and budget adoption is scheduled at the same time on Oct. 15.
Other than property taxes, there are a number of other financial resources that provide the community of 2,100 residents with income. Those sources include economic development income tax revenue, money from riverboat gambling taxes, federal money from the American Rescue Plan and opioid settlement funds.
When all financial resources were added up last year, it raised the total 2024 budget to $2.13 million. In regard to this year, the town should know more about additional revenue by the council’s September meeting.
During Monday’s presentation, Burton proposed that the Rainy Day (reserve) fund be increased by $35,000 to $255,000. She also recommends adding $15,000 to a fund earmarked for police vehicles, raising the 2025 contribution to $37,000.
Claiming that her proposals make general increases in appropriations where needed, Burton said she added $20,000 above this year’s level to make $75,000 available for street paving. An additional $10,000 has been earmarked for engineering services required for paving, she said.
For installing new sidewalks or repairing deteriorating walkways, Burton’s proposal calls for using $70,000 next year from the town’s cumulative capital development fund and economic development income tax revenue.
For several years, council members have sought ways to fund a new town hall. Compared to last year’s contributions into a savings account for a new building, Burton lists three different increases of $12,000 each from separate funds.
If her proposal is adopted, it would increase the amount from the cumulative capital development fund to $134,000, $84,000 from economic development income tax revenue, and $154,000 from the general fund, according to the proposal.
Burton stressed that her recommendations do not include water and sewage, which is handled separately from the town’s budget.
The clerk-treasurer recently met with Tina Market, a budget field representative with the Indiana Department of Local Government Financing. Market approved the preliminary budget recommendations, Burton said.
