Hogsett Proposes Smaller Budget Than Previous Year
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett has unveiled his $1.06 billion budget proposal to the City-County Council in Indianapolis. The proposal calls for spending $12.7 million less than the 2016 budget. Hogsett says his administration wants to "smart size" contracts, spending and personnel costs in city government.
He says staffing costs rose 3 percent last year.
One reduction measure involves changes to city employee pension plans, which Hogsett says could save tax-payers millions of dollars.
"This budget does something unheard of in government today – proposing that we spend less than the year before," he said. "But this budget isn’t just about reduced spending. We must ensure that city government is doing the most it can, on behalf of the taxpayers we serve, and that means investing in our roads and sidewalks while making our neighborhoods safer."
Specific points of the plan include:
- Hiring additional police officers
- Fully-funding a new Office of Public Health and Safety
- Buying new police cruisers and fire apparatus
- A new computer-aided dispatch system to support data-driven police strategies
- $5 million for Indy Parks and Recreation
- $200 million in infrastructure spending over the next four years
City-County Council committee hearing on the budget will begin Tuesday.
You can view the full proposal below: