City-County Council approves $1.4B budget for 2023
The budget includes a record $300 million in public safety spending, along with $288 million for roads, bridges and greenways, and $157 million in storm-water improvements.
The budget includes a record $300 million in public safety spending, along with $288 million for roads, bridges and greenways, and $157 million in storm-water improvements.
Republicans expressed concerns about IndyGo’s recent revelations that the cost of the Blue Line is now projected to go $300 million over its initial price tag, mostly due to the cost of connecting to Citizens Energy Group’s sewer system on Washington Street.
Only one individual testified in favor of Indianapolis City-County Council Proposal 256, which would require those giving food to 10 or more people in a public place to register with the Office of Public Health and Safety or face a potential fine.
Mayor Joe Hogsett is proposing $2 million to launch a clinician-led response team to deal with mental health emergencies, but some are concerned about having mental health professionals respond to emergencies without police in tow.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett introduced his 2023 city budget to the City-County Council on Monday evening, highlighting priorities of property tax relief, violence reduction, infrastructure improvements and education.
A proposal approved this week by a City-County Council committee calls for allocating funds to make broadcasts of Indianapolis and Marion County government events more accessible to deaf, partially deaf and Spanish-speaking residents.
A City-County Council proposal regulating charitable food donations sparked controversy Monday night, leading the group to delay the public hearing.
The Indianapolis City-County Council will get a pay hike for the first time in more than two decades, after it voted Monday night along party lines to increase compensation starting in 2024.
Andy Nielsen is the first council hopeful to announce a candidacy for 2023’s elections. The race for the redrawn east-side district he’s running in has thinned out, with one council incumbent saying he doesn’t plan to seek reelection.
A new proposal from the council’s Democratic leadership would push annual base pay for the city’s 25 part-time councilors to $31,075 from just $11,400 and represents the council’s third attempt at a pay raise in seven years.
The map ordinance—released Friday as part of the City-County Council’s agenda and formally introduced Monday—could also fold four Democratic incumbents into two districts, Democratic leaders confirmed Monday.
Proposal 157 and the accompanying map come after a two-month, 10-part public forum series and a summary report published earlier this month.
Councilor Ethan Evans, who announced this week he was leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent, likely will no longer be allowed to caucus privately with majority Democrats on strategy and priorities.
Two City-County Council members representing areas affected by a proposed wastewater treatment plant at 900 S. Tibbs Ave. say they won’t pull their support for the plant, which is facing opposition from some residents.
Evans says he feels mostly shut out of the Democrat-controlled council despite “speaking for a wide progressive base who wants these very solutions implemented.”
“The report makes clear council leadership’s determination to create space for a wide variety of community voices to be heard at the very outset of the redistricting process,” the council said in written statement.
The panel plans to focus first on urban forests and parklands, then recycling and solid waste, then equitable health and infrastructure investments.
Proposal 58 is a rare Republican-led initiative to gain traction in a legislative body with a 20-5 Democratic supermajority.
The event will be remote. The Zoom meeting is set for Feb. 24 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., and is open to any interested Marion County resident with registration online.
IBJ talked to City-County Council Chief Financial Officer and Policy Director Brandon Herget to learn how council staff chose the forum locations, why it contracted out the hosting work and how feedback will actually get used.