Columbus City Council has approved an approximately $89 million budget for the city of Columbus in 2023.
The council had passed the second reading of the $88,872,020 budget on Tuesday. By comparison, the city’s 2022 budget was $84.5 million.
The 2022 tax rate is $1.1134 for every $100 of assessed value. While the advertised rate for 2023 is $1.4902, city Director of Finance, Operations and Risk Jamie Brinegar said earlier the city always has to advertise a higher rate than it actually will implement. Officials expect only a “slight increase,” with the actual rate being about $1.13 per $100 assessed valuation.
The nearly $89 million budget includes $14 million in capital. Brinegar said at a previous meeting that this includes $6 million for road improvements (including bicycle and pedestrian improvements), $2.6 million for public safety needs, $1 million for parks and recreation improvements and $850,000 for public works equipment.
The city is also budgeting more in Faithful Service Pay for civilian employees in 2023 due to an expected policy change.
“There’s no Faithful Service Pay, currently, until someone reaches 20 years with the city, and then not again until their 32nd year and then beyond that 32nd year,” Brinegar said at the council’s first reading of the budget on Oct. 4. “Looking around the state and in this area, most places do a 5-, 10-, 15-, 20-, 25-year Faithful Service Pay. We are going to take that to Board of Works within the next couple of weeks to make that adjustment to our employee policies.”
The impact on the 2023 budget, as a result of this change, is about $8,500.
The budget also includes new positions, including a shelter vet tech operations assistant for Animal Care Services, a second code enforcement officer, a human resources information specialist, a maintenance and grounds worker for trails and parks events and a grants administrator.
“There are many grants out there,” said Brinegar. “We get some. We don’t get some just because employees are at capacity. And then you’ve got the clerk-treasurer’s office trying to administer those on the back end. And if we could have one person, central person, coordinating the grant applications and then the administration coordinate with Kim (Chief Deputy Clerk Treasurer Kimberly Sweet), it would greatly help us. And I believe this is a position, within two years, could probably pay for itself with the amount of grants we would be able to bring in.”
The city is also budgeting for a city controller position, but only for the last three months of the year. This new role is part of the city’s change to “second class” status, which officially goes into effect in 2024 and entails a number of changes to Columbus’ city structure.
Indiana Code specifies that while third class cities, such as Columbus, elect a clerk-treasurer, second class cities elect a clerk. Both positions fill the role of city clerk; however, the clerk-treasurer also serves as the city’s fiscal officer. In a second class city, the fiscal officer is a city controller appointed by the mayor.
