The City of Greenwood will hang tight as it maps out next year’s budget amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Greenwood officials say the city is in a good place financially despite the pandemic’s impact, but to be safe, all departments were asked to freeze their 2021 budgets, meaning staffing levels and expenses will remain virtually the same as some revenues fall.
"We just don’t know what it’s going to look like, so we had to be very cautious for the budget," Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers said.
The total budget proposal for 2021 is $39.7 million, a 2.8% increase from this year’s budget.
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Part of the 2021 budget was presented to the Greenwood City Council Monday night. Most department budgets will stay the same, with the exception of a few necessary increases, said Greg Wright, city controller.
Greenwood is fortunate to not face significant financial hardships due to the pandemic, Wright said. Based on statewide projections, the city’s income tax revenue is expected to drop by 15%, or roughly $880,000, next year, and fuel taxes are expected to decrease by 10%, he said.
But Greenwood’s increased food and beverage tax which passed last year will help make up for those losses, Wright said. Revenue from the food and beverage tax is expected to generate about $1.2 million next year, he said.
Most of that money will go to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, which suffered the most substantial financial losses after it closed the community center for three months, and delayed opening Freedom Springs Aquatic Center.
"That really helped us with being able to make sure that we don’t have any funding shortfalls, and with the new fieldhouse coming online, we have money to get that up and running," Wright said.
The city has about 60% of the amount budgeted for operations in its General Fund cash reserves, meaning Greenwood could, hypothetically, get through a little more than six months of unplanned expenses without being in a financial crisis, he said.
"If main revenues are delayed, we can get through over half a year before we’re in crisis mode," Wright said.
Even with hefty reserves, the main priority of the proposed budget is to remain conservative with spending and investments, he said.
Overall, the city plans to increase its workforce by seven people in 2021, if the budget is adopted, a significant decrease from the 20 employees that were added this year.
Public safety remains the biggest chunk of the city’s budget, taking up 36%, down slightly from this year’s 37%. The police and fire departments typically receive funding for new personnel each year, but neither department will add additional bodies this year, according to the budget.
The Greenwood Police Department’s $6.8 million budget includes funding for 79 employees, with 71 of those being sworn officers.
The department only has 63 officers at the moment, though, said Chief James Ison. Greenwood police did not need additional funding for new officers this year due to an internal hiring freeze caused by the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy shuttering for eight weeks this spring, he said.
Now, there is a back log in officers on a wait list to get into the academy, a 16-week program. That caused a delay in Greenwood’s hiring of eight new officers.
"The officers we already have on a list to get in didn’t get in the next session … they have to wait 16 weeks, so that’s four months that we can’t really use them as solo officers," Ison said.
The police department is understaffed, but they are making do with a new focus on data-driven policing, Ison said. Through the use of analytics and statistics, the department can better allocate officers in places where they are needed most, he said.
Funding for software equipment has mostly come from grants, Ison said, so those aspects of the department will not be impacted by the budget freeze. A small increase was added to the budget for new license plate reader cameras.
The cameras, which cost $2,500 each, will be placed throughout the city on public streets. The cameras have the ability to read the license plates of cars that pass by on the road. For example, if a car driving by is registered as stolen, or if it fits the description of a car involved in a crime, the camera will catch that and notify officers immediately, Ison said.
As Greenwood continues to grow, Ison’s goal is to add at least three new officers a year in the future, he said.
The city is also erring on the side of caution by pausing a number of capital projects. This is due to not knowing next year’s exact tax revenues. Bigger projects already underway, such as the $9 million fieldhouse at the site of the former middle school, and Worthsville Road construction, will not be delayed, said Kevin Steinmetz, capital projects manager.
The only projects put on hold are ones that are in design phases without bonds attached, or smaller projects that are not urgent, such as redoing a road or adding a new stop light, Steinmetz said. The next phase of the Madison Avenue streetscape project, between Pearl and Main streets, is one that is on hold for now, he said.
"I don’t even know if we have a list of projects per say, we just went around and asked department heads, you know, ‘Hey, if you have some stuff that’s in design or it’s not something that’s broken … maybe before committing infrastructure dollars, just pause a little bit,’" Steinmetz said.
While most budgets are expected to remain the same or were cut slightly, the Indy South Greenwood Airport budget increased by 15%, according to city documents. This is due to added services and utility costs associated with the new Indiana State Police hangar and North Hangar, Wright said. Those additional costs will be offset by ISP’s monthly rent and subletting the North Hangar.
The city’s legal department took the biggest hit. Its budget will be cut by 27%, city documents show. The city will reduce contingent outside legal fees that are rarely used, Wright said. The department got one of the biggest increases in 2020, when it added an assistant city attorney.
The rest of the budget, including details about the fire and parks departments, will be presented to the city council at its next meeting Sept. 21. A public hearing is set for Oct. 5, and the council is expected to vote on the budget Oct. 19.
