How property tax cuts are affecting crime grants and immigration programs

By Mary Claire Mollow

A crime prevention program that advocates say is helping Indianapolis curb violence could lose a large chunk of its city funding next year as Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration grapples with the impact of property tax cuts passed by the Republican state legislature.

The cuts will cost Indianapolis an estimated $10.5 million in revenue, leading Hogsett to ask most city and county agencies to cut their 2026 budgets by 4%. But a spokesperson for the mayor said departments were given discretion to choose where those trims occur.

The Office of Public Health and Safety, for example, has proposed pulling $1 million from The Elevation Grant Program, a local initiative addressing the root causes of crime. It supports community organizations working to improve neighborhoods, crisis prevention and people at risk for gun violence.

Separately, the office has also proposed cutting $100,000 from the Immigrant Legal Services Fund. The city partnered with The Indianapolis Foundation, which runs both programs.

The Elevation program received a boost in funding between 2022 and 2024 after Hogsett dedicated about $45 million in federal pandemic relief money to it. For the past decade, OPHS has also included about $3 million for the program in its yearly budgets. The Hogsett administration provided another $2 million in a spring fiscal package.

Previous recipients include the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis, Edna Martin Christian Center, the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County and Horizon House.

“We were asked to reserve a portion of our budget to address the cuts at the state level and the property tax cuts from Senate Bill 1,” OPHS director Andrew Merkley said at an Aug. 13 press conference. “We took a million dollars out of the Elevation Grants for next year.”

In an Aug. 14 email, OPHS spokesperson Brian Heinemann said the $1 million loss “will not impact to-be-selected grantees.” He noted that OPHS will still provide $2 million in funding for Elevation Grants in the 2026 budget, and some of the money allocated to the program in 2025 will carry over.

A spokesperson for the Indianapolis Foundation acknowledged the changes in the city’s budget and said the nonprofit will share any additional updates with the public.

“The Elevation Grant Program will continue without disruption to the important work happening in our community,” spokesperson Shari Finnell Anderson wrote in an Aug. 18 email.

‘Saving lives’

The grant program is a key part of Hogsett’s strategy to reduce crime.

The Major Cities Chiefs Association, a professional organization that represents police and sheriffs across the country, collected self-reported data that shows homicides in Indianapolis have dropped by about 30% this year.

Still, crime in Indianapolis continues to draw criticism. Last month, the leader of Indy’s police union called on Republican Gov. Mike Braun to intervene after a shooting downtown killed two teenagers and injured five others.

“It is apparent Indianapolis leaders are stuck in the very corner they constructed with misguided policies and agendas,” Rick Snyder, the president of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police, said in a July 14 statement. “It’s time for the Indiana legislature and governor to step in.”

That same week, Braun told reporters “something has to change” in the state capital.
Hogsett, a Democrat, pushed back.

“While we are saddened by the incidents that have taken place over the last few weekends, the facts are irrefutable: violence has been on the decline for the last three years,” the mayor said in a July 16 statement to IndyStar. “Our gun violence reduction strategy is saving lives.”

Budgets for the police and fire departments and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, have been spared from the cuts.

$100k cut to immigrant legal services

The Immigrant Legal Services Fund is another program facing cuts in the proposed budget.

The City-County Council established the fund in 2021 to support organizations helping people with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals renewals, naturalization applications and work authorization filings. Additionally, the money can be used to defend someone in bond hearings, asylum claims and deportation proceedings.

The Immigrant Legal Services Fund has about $1 million, according to the foundation’s website, including the support from the city and The Clowes Fund. Grants between $50,000 and $100,000 are given out to nonprofit organizations with attorneys on staff.

As the Trump administration ramps up deportations and the Marion County Jail continues to house ICE detainees, advocates say obtaining an immigration attorney is more important now than ever.

It is unclear how the $100,000 cut proposed in the OPHS budget will affect these services. A spokesperson for The Indianapolis Foundation, which distributes the funds, declined to answer questions about that and directed Mirror Indy to ask the city.

A spokesperson for Hogsett said the decisions for funding cuts like this one are not “explicitly shared” with the mayor and directed Mirror Indy to ask OPHS.

Heinemann, the spokesperson for OPHS, did not specifically answer questions about why the agency chose to cut funds from this particular program in its budget.

“When this fund was created, it was always the intention for additional community partners and philanthropic sources to make contributions alongside the city’s contribution,” Heinemann said in an Aug. 20 email.

The Office of Public Health and Safety’s budget presentation to the City-County Council’s public safety committee is set for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27, in the City-County Building.

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Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at 317-721-7648 or email maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.