Republic file photo Columbus City Hall.
Columbus City Council will consider initial approval of the city’s 2024 budget this week.
According to finance director Regina McIntyre, Columbus City Council will have its first vote on the proposed budget on Tuesday, with the final vote set for Oct. 17.
The council meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the council chambers of Columbus City Hall. A livestream will also be available at columbus.in.gov/video/live-streaming/.
Columbus’s proposed budget for 2024 is about $109 million, said McIntyre. The 2024 tax rate is expected to be about $1.10 for every $100 of assessed value.
The city’s approved 2023 budget was about $88.87 million. According to McIntyre, some of the main reasons for the difference include proposed increases in salary, benefits and insurance, as well as increases in the aviation fund and the Federal Aviation Administration grant fund for projects at Columbus Municipal Airport.
The proposed 2024 budget allots $12 million for capital, including $2.2 million for thoroughfare projects, $3.25 million for street paving and $1 million for parks and recreation projects.
The budget also includes a section for funds from the American Rescue Plan (ARP).
“We received about $8.5, about $8.6 million over two years, which you budgeted in 2022 and 2023, of course, without spending everything yet this year,” said Director of Administration and Community Development Mary Ferdon during a preliminary budget meeting with council. “We’re estimating there’ll be about $2.6 million left at the end of 2023, moving forward. So we’re recommending two different expenditures.”
The ARP budget allocates $250,000 for grant expenditures and another $250,000 for capital expenses.
The former refers to the city’s commitment to pay for low-income families to connect to high-speed internet, Ferdon said.
Meridiam Infrastructure North America Corp. has agreed to create a fiber network that spans Columbus, Bartholomew County, Bloomington and Shelbyville. Hoosier Fiber Networks is the fiber network utility provider for this system, and GigabitNow is the initial internet service provider.
As part of the agreement, city officials committed to using some of Columbus’ ARP funds to help cover the cost of connection for low-income residents.
The other expense in the ARA fund is $250,000 for security cameras and related equipment for downtown Columbus.
“We do have cameras in the downtown area, but they’re old and need to be replaced,” Ferdon said.
City officials have also said that there are plans to add a director of security and risk instead of a director of finance, operations and risk.
Another notable piece of the 2024 budget is a section covering the fieldhouse at NexusPark.
“You will notice that there’s a $500,000 transfer into this budget revenue-wise, to give us start-up cash, because we’re not going to have all the revenue that’s going to need to support this fund right upfront,” said Parks Associate Director of Business Services Pam Harrell. “That’s coming from EDIT (Economic Development Income Tax).”
She explained that the city worked with Legacy Sports Group on the pro forma for this budget, and the firm predicted that the fieldhouse would make $185,000 in 2024. After accounting for changes to insurance and personal services, the city is now expecting to turn a profit of $153,000. However, this will not happen right away, hence the need for the transfer, she said.
Per the proposed budget for the fieldhouse, the city’s revenue assumptions add up to $1.86 million, which includes the $500,000 transfer. The fund’s expenses are budgeted at about $1.2 million.
Harrell said that the fieldhouse fund and the parks and recreation general fund will split the cost of certain employee positions.
In addition to the first reading of the city’s budget, City Council’s Oct. 3 meeting is also expected to include the second reading of 2024 salary ordinances for city employees.
According to McIntyre, the city is proposing a 16.5% increase for police salaries and 13.9% increase for firefighters in the hopes of improving recruitment and retention.
Additionally, it is proposed that salaries for the city’s civilian employees may increase up to 5% in 2024, with discretion left up to department heads based on performance.
The proposed mayor’s salary for 2024 is $113,764, which is a 5% increase over 2023.
City council salaries are only proposed to go up 3%, from $15,984 in 2023 to $16,464 in 2024. Additionally, the city is budgeting for nine members — as opposed to the current seven — due to the council’s decision to adopt second-class status for the city of Columbus, effective in 2024.
The change affects other positions as well. State code specifies that while third class cities elect a clerk-treasurer, second class cities elect a clerk. Both positions fill the role of city clerk; however, the clerk-treasurer also serves as the city’s fiscal officer. In a second class city, the fiscal officer is a city controller appointed by the mayor.
While the clerk-treasurer’s salary for 2023 is $89,848, the proposed clerk’s salary for 2024 is $75,600.
McIntyre is set to become the city controller in 2024, once the change in class becomes official.
In addition to providing for potential pay adjustments, the salary ordinance for employees includes other changes as well, said human resources director Arlette Cooper-Tinsley.
For instance, instead of having an executive director of administration and community development, the city will shift to having an executive director of administration and a separate executive director of community development.
The city is also eliminating the executive director of public works position, which is currently held by Dave Hayward. Hayward said in a previous interview that he plans to retire at the end of the year.
According to Cooper-Tinsley, the only proposed additional positions involve NexusPark. This includes five full-time positions and four part-time.
Where to learn more
More information about the proposed budget of the city of Columbus is available at budgetnotices.in.gov.
Agendas and materials for council meetings are posted at columbus.in.gov/clerk-treasurer/city-council-agendas/
