Columbus City Council members on Tuesday night took the first step in finalizing the budget for calendar year 2026.
The council passed the first reading of an ordinance 7-1 establishing the city’s appropriations and tax rates for next year.
Council President Frank Miller, R- District 4, was the lone vote against the budget.
Ordinances must be passed twice to be official. Council member Jerone Wood, D-District 3, was absent.
Columbus’ proposed budget for 2026 is $149.8 million, up from $115 million in 2025. The large jump is misleading, however, due to a budgeted $35 million reimbursable grant from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that will go towards the construction of a new airport control tower at the Columbus Municipal Airport.
The 2026 certified property tax rate is expected to be about $1.0742 for every $100 of assessed value, up 1.6% from last year.
The final certified rate and levy will be determined once the budget has been certified by the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) in December or January, according to City Controller Regina McIntyre.
McIntyre began with a quick background into the budget process followed by an overview of Senate Enrolled Act (SEA) 1, the sweeping local government finance reform package passed by the statehouse’s Republican super majority last legislative session, which carries profound implications for local governments in the state.
The bill included changes to assessed value and levy collections, the expansion of local income taxes (LIT) and provisions related to the enactment of a wheel tax.
State Republicans touted SEA 1 as “property tax relief” and a “great win” for Hoosiers, while Democrats described it is “bait and switch” that will leave local governments with little option but to either raise income taxes or cut essential services to offset the loss in revenue.
While McIntyre said there are still a lot of unknowns surrounding the bill’s impact, Columbus city government in 2026 expects to see about a $450,000 drop in property tax revenue as a result of SEA 1.
Built into the budget are a 2.7% cost-of-living-adjustment for civilian employees, employee health insurance premium increases of 2%, and a 11.6% increase in water utility expenses as a result of rate increases. City departments are getting 4% increases to allow for merit increases and pay adjustments as determined by department heads.
The largest of $20 million in budgeted capital expenses is $5 million for a new Columbus Animal Care Services shelter, which assumes $3 million in external fundraising and donations.
It will use a buy-operate-transfer procurement method the city began using in 2025. The project is expected to break ground in the spring of 2026, with completion in 2027.
Three personnel requests are included in the budget— two for police and one for engineering.
Columbus police are seeking to add another school resource officer (SRO) who will work in BCSC schools. That will bring the total number of CPD-employed SROs to five. BCSC will have seven total, two of which are employed by the sheriff’s office.
CPD is also adding a new part-time intelligence analyst position as their Intelligence Led Policing Unit transitions away from a small, specialized unit to a department-wide intelligence led policing approach.
Also earmarked in the budget is $250,000 to update the city’s comprehensive plan.
City officials said that 29% of the budget comes from property taxes, 24% from local income taxes, and 35% from federal and state grants. But again, that distribution is skewed because of the $35 million grant for the airport tower.
Miller said of the changes to how local governments are funded through SEA 1 that: “I’m struggling with, of course, what the state had done to not just Columbus, but the entire state, with their SB1, with the decrease in the revenue that we know is going to happen.”
“There’s still a lot we don’t know about what’s going to happen. I put that on our state representative. I hope Ryan Lauer and Greg Walker that you’re listening right now,” Miller continued. “The only wish I have is: I wish we could have been a little more frugal within our budget to really work on trying to keep it down because of the unknowns. I think the property tax allotment that people are going to see: the 10% of the $300 could be easily taken away by the other increases in our lives right now.”
Miller went on to note that other states allow city councils to know with certainty what their certified tax rate is going to be as the budget is being passed.
“I don’t know how the public follows this… All of this stuff is hidden behind horrible language that makes it really difficult to understand,” said Councilor Kent Anderson, R-District 5, of the changes through SEA 1. “… To go Frank’s frustrations, all we keep doing is like turning different screws up there (at the statehouse) and not really solving any issues to make it simpler and easier to execute on and more predictable for governments etc. and more predictable for the people.”
Below is a breakdown of how much is budgeted in city funds reviewed by the DLGF:
General Fund: $66.7 million
Debt Service Fund: $666,325
Fire Pension Fund: $2.6 million
Police Pension Fund: $1.1 million
Thoroughfare Fund: $1.7 million
Local Road & Street Fund: $975,000
Motor Vehicle Highway Fund: $2.3 million
Recreation Fund: $8 million
Park Bond Fund: $398,549
Cumulative Capital IMP (CIG Tax): $0
Cumulative Capital Development Fund: $1.8 million
Total: $86.4 million
Below is a breakdown of how much is budgeted in city funds not reviewed by the DLGF:
Aviation Fund: $2.5 million
Police Continuing Education Fund: $50,000
Local Income Tax Public Safety Fund: $1.1 million
Aviation Non-Reverting Fund: $370,000
Police Alarm SYS Fund: $25,000
NexusPark Fund: $1 million
Medical Non-Reverting Fund: $25,000
Unsafe Building Fund: $40,000
Economic Dev Income Tax CEDIT Fund: $4.8 million
Commons Operating/Capital Fund: $1.2 million
Streetscape Fund: $55,000
Riverboat Fund: $600,000
Community Crossing Grant Fund: $1 million
Fire Training Facility Fund: $103,100
Substance Abuse Non-Reverting Fund: $500,000
Rental Registration Fund: $6,000
46 Overpass Fund: $1 million
Community Development Block Grant Fund: $702,000
FAA Grant Fund: $35 million
Insurance Non-reverting Fund: $9.1 million
Redevelopment Fund: $609,409
Transit Non-reverting Fund: $3.7 million
Total: $63.5 million
