Indianapolis, Indiana – By a vote of 21 to 1, the Indianapolis City-County Council approved the budget for 2023. For the vote, three council members weren’t present. Public safety, infrastructure, education, and property tax reduction were the budget’s four key focuses.
Indianapolis City Controller Ken Clark said, “Another bipartisan budget passage. Obviously, our main focuses in the budget were public safety and infrastructure. We added to the $150 million investment we made with American Rescue Plan Funds. Added a new higher salary for our new IMPD officers and also doubled the size of our signing bonuses for our new IMPD recruits. In addition to that on the infrastructure side the largest infrastructure investment in our 5-year capital plan.”
It gives a $10k sign-on bonus to aid in the recruitment of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers and allots $5 million for the criminal firearms task force. The city’s first team of mental health specialists will also receive $2 million to aid people in need.
Chief Randal Taylor said, “I think there are other departments in other parts of the country that are trying these things as well and I think that’s another one that’s a move in the right direction. People with more specialized training I think will benefit those citizens that are in crisis.”
The city’s roads, bridges, and greenways will receive close to $288 million in funding from the budget, while stormwater system upgrades will receive close to $157 million. This is a portion of a five-year, $1.1 billion investment.
“We put a traffic engineer for the first time, specifically working on safe streets, to make sure we’re always putting our thoughts around how do we make our new streets as we rebuild them to be as safe as possible,” Clark said.
Additionally, $500 000 has been set aside for the Indy Achieves program, which aids students in completing their higher education.
“It’s a great time for that as the job market has been hot and there are lots of people who want to get into the job market but also move up in terms of how much they make,” Clark said.
Additionally, this budget offers a $150 tax credit for homeowners with homes worth $250k or less and a $100 credit for properties worth up to $400k.
