The Mayor's 2004 Budget - by Mayor Bart Peterson

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The Mayor's 2004 Budget
by Mayor Bart Peterson
this is a monthly message from the Mayor to Indianapolis' Neighborhoods

Earlier this month, I presented the 2004 City of Indianapolis budget to the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council. I’d like to take this opportunity to communicate some of the specifics of this budget presentation with you – neighborhood leaders who are critical partners in making our city a better place.

In the last year, we’ve had many successes, including new jobs, new corporate headquarters, and new investment, all coming in a very tough economy. Our city employees have done a terrific job on everything from planning for Hyperfix, to welcoming 300,000 visitors to our downtown for Indiana Black Expo’s Summer Celebration, to keeping our city moving despite severe weather. All these things were accomplished without asking for additional money from our taxpayers.

The budgets I have proposed have always reflected my strong belief in delivering services in the most efficient way possible and looking for ways to reduce the cost of government. The state of the national economy, while showing some signs of recovery, continues to suggest particular caution with government spending. However, the property tax crisis so many of our homeowners face makes this a truly unique budget year.

We have been careful and prudent in our spending in the last three and a half years, yet we have made tremendous advancements in the areas of public safety, code enforcement, parks and the arts, doing all this and more – in a fiscally conservative way. In fact, the people of Indianapolis and Marion County have seen the city government share of their property tax bill shrink on average from 1999 to 2003.

Yet, there are homeowners in this city who are reeling from higher property taxes resulting from the recent reassessment. City government must lead by example in providing relief to our taxpayers. In these tough times, we will respond to changed circumstances and still deliver quality and effective services by aggressively cutting our budget and reducing spending.

I am proposing to reduce the 2004 city budget by $20.9 million. That includes $12.2 million in spending cuts and the elimination of the $8.7 million in Public Mass Transit Funds. The $12.2 million figure represents a 5.6% cut in non-public safety spending, and an overall cut of 2.24%. And, I already have ordered city government to reduce its spending by at least 6.5% for the current budget year.

I am proposing a salary freeze for non-union city employees which will affect more than 1,200 people. There will be a two-percent pay cut for me, my senior staff and department directors. I’m proposing to eliminate at least 20 positions citywide, two of which are in my office. Every city department is cutting back on new computers, supplies, vehicles, equipment, tools, office furniture, outside contracts, and fuel.

These austerity measures are forcing us to temporarily hold off on some of the things we would dearly like to have. For example, I am not proposing funding increases for code enforcement or the arts. We will continue to make progress in these areas without more funding – and with a leaner budget. I’m proud of the successes we have made with code enforcement over the last three and a half years, such as the closure and demolition of Citizen’s Lodge, the closure of Lynn’s Lingerie, and better technology for our code inspectors. We’re going to keep our aggressive code enforcement efforts up, but we will just do more with no additional funding.

Public safety was, is, and will always be my top priority in city government. It is an area in which we will keep a close eye on spending and continue to be efficient, but we will see a relatively small increase from last year’s budget.

In spite of these austerity measures, I will allow no compromise in essential city services. Streets will be paved, sewers maintained, and sidewalks replaced. Neighborhood services, such as community development and affordable housing initiatives, code enforcement and parks programs, will go on. Nuts and bolts services, for which we pay property taxes in the first place – such as snow removal and trash pickup – will be unaffected. We will simply do more with less.

Reducing spending in 2003 and 2004 has not been an easy task. The responsibility to do so comes with the office to which our councillors and I are elected. In the upcoming weeks, I look forward to working with the City-County Council in a bipartisan fashion for you, the people we all serve.