Indianapolis councilors approve $1.7B budget for 2026, say it was best they could do in bad situation

The Indianapolis City-County Council approved the city's 2026 budget Monday night. It is the largest to date, at $1.7 billion. That is despite losses in funds after state lawmakers cut property taxes earlier this year.

Aside from the Department of Public Safety, departments were asked to make 4% cuts to their spending plans to balance the budget.

The vote was mostly along party lines, 17-8, with only two Democrats joining Republicans to oppose.

Many who supported it, including Democrat Jared Evans, said they were doing the best they could in their situation.

“We knew that it [the budget] was going to basically be garbage,” Evans said.

Evans pointed to the property tax changes made in the last legislative session, “We’ve done the best with what we have been given. We can do better. We absolutely know we can, and we’re not done.”

Debate mostly centered on the allocation of funds. While the Department of Public Safety didn’t have any cuts — it includes the sheriff’s office, police and fire departments — and some members voted against the budget because police didn’t get an increase, including Republican Councilor Paul Annee.

“I would be remiss not to acknowledge that there are pieces of the budget that are good, that it doesn't have to be all good or all bad. However, I do believe that the budget grossly underfunds core responsibilities like public safety infrastructure,” Anee said, specifically about funding for new IMPD vehicles.

Republicans also said they should have had more say in crafting the budget that Mayor Joe Hogsett submitted. Michael-Paul Hart tried and failed to amend the budget Monday night.

“If there’s priorities that we want to set as a council, and maybe you guys set them out, or you had the opportunity to set them out with the mayor’s office — we [Republicans] did not. We were not at your table having that conversation,” Hart said.

Given the property tax revenue cuts passed last legislative session, he said next year’s budget will have to consider cutting more from services and programs.

In a separate amendment the Council approved $20 million to fund homelessness initiatives and public infrastructure. That money will go into the 2025 budget to be used immediately, and officials said it can be rolled over into next year.

Councilors did come together at the end of the meeting to unanimously pass a resolution that asks Indianapolis power company AES to withdraw their proposed rate hike. There was also debate about whether or not the city should consider purchasing AES.

Contact WFYI All Things Considered newscaster and reporter Samantha Horton at shorton@wfyi.org or on Signal at SamHorton.05