Inflation was at the top of many town officials’ minds when approving their budgets for 2023.
The towns of Johnson County, for the most part, saw increases in next year’s budgets, whether for inflation or for increasing funding for public safety services. Bargersville, Edinburgh, New Whiteland, Trafalgar and Whiteland all approved their respective town operating budgets in mid-to-late October.
Two towns, New Whiteland and Edinburgh, however, saw some shortfalls for 2023, and had to make up for it.
Additionally, none of the towns accounted for the additional revenue in their budgets from the county’s new .2% Economic Development Income Tax increase passed in September. Officials say they have not decided what to do with it, and did not include the money in the 2023 budgets.
Bargersville
The town of Bargersville’s budget will slightly decrease from $10.5 million to $10.4 million, although town officials have appealed to the Department of Local Government Finance, or DLGF, for additional revenue from property taxes.
If the DLGF approves an additional 2% in levy growth over the 5% cap, it will generate an additional $67,125, said Adam Stone, Bargersville’s financial consultant, in a September presentation to the town council. If that’s approved, it won’t increase property taxes on residents, but will instead increase the amount of money Bargersville can generate from the taxes that were already collected.
Assessed value in the town increased 12.87% year over year, Stone said.
About a quarter of the overall budget, $2.8 million, is going to salaries and benefits, according to Indiana Gateway, a budget reporting database.
About 13% of the total budget is going to streets and paving, the largest percentage of the budget in any dedicated fund. The $1.3 million in the fund includes a $1 million community crossings grant, with $320,000 coming from local money, Stone said in September.
About $276,000 of the budget is going toward the capital development fund, which includes around $170,000 in funding for vehicle leases, including three replacement police vehicles, and about $100,000 for non-itemized future capital needs. A parks and recreation budget of about $180,000 does not included salaries and operating experiences, and will cover funding for a new skid steer and street sweeper, along with money that can be spent on the town’s parks and trails, he said.
The budgets for streets, police, municipal operations and parks make up the four greatest portions of the budget, although Stone didn’t specify the amounts budgeted for the police department and municipal operations in his September presentation. Town officials declined requests for comment on the proposed budget.
Edinburgh
Public safety was a priority for the town of Edinburgh for 2023, said Scott Finley, clerk-treasurer.
In the late summer, the Edinburgh Police Department asked the town council to consider adding another officer to the department, as it was getting difficult to cover all shifts with the current amount of officers, and still allow them to take time off.
For 2023, Edinburgh budgeted to add two new police officers, adding just over $142,000 to the overall police budget. The fire department budget also increased by over $59,000.
Edinburgh had about a $300,000 deficit for 2023, as its total budget decreased from $8.1 million this year to $7.8 million for next year. With the deficit, though, Finley said the town was fortunate to have a good operating balance to support it.
Edinburgh’s total general spending fund — which pays for primary town operations such as salaries, police, fire and the pool — saw a decrease of about $300,000. Finley said that was able to decrease because of capital projects funded in 2022 that are not recurring costs, such as the town hall construction project.
Inflation was also a concern for next year, as it is with every budget. The town usually makes adjustments for inflation every year as the year goes on, but 2023 is expected to be worse than usual with the current high rates, Finley said.
New Whiteland
The town of New Whiteland had to dip into some of its reserves to fund it’s 2023 operating budget, said Maribeth Alspach, former clerk-treasurer.
New Whiteland saw a budget increase of over $1 million dollars between this year’s $4.5 million budget and the projected $5.7 million 2023 budget. It’s general spending fund increased from $2.5 million to around $2.8 million.
After meeting with the DLGF in May and learning the town would have to dip into reserves, Alspach and the town council asked all department heads to trim budgets where possible.
The result was all departments trimming thousands of dollars from their budgets, so New Whiteland was able to reduce the initial amount it thought it needed to dip into reserves by 83%.
The town removed big-ticket items from the budget, such as town vehicles and equipment, and those items will be funded through the rainy day fund, when needed, Alspach said.
“We are blessed to have some cash reserves and we are debt free – because of the great leadership and fiscal responsibility of our council and employees,” Alspach said.
Inflation is a “very real concern” when looking at the budget for 2023. Everything costs more, and it’s hard to predict what will change next year.
“The prices of utilities, gasoline for our vehicles, insurance, supplies – everything costs more and no one can predict how much more costs will increase in 2023,” Alspach said. “This is why we worked so hard to reduce our expenditures to have cash reserves for those kind of expenses.”
Public safety, maintaining public services for residents and not spending outside the budget were priorities for the town budget in 2023. The town additionally hired a new police officer, Alspach said. A total of $162,000 was added to the police budget for the town, and officers, including the chief were given raises.
Trafalgar
Trafalgar’s total budget increased from $974,000 to just over $1.3 million for 2023. An approximately $63,000 increase came to the town’s general fund budget, for most town operations.
The largest increases came to the police budget, where Chief Charles Roberts asked for an 11% overall increase, which includes adding $5,000 to each full-time officer’s salary. Fuel costs also rose for the police department.
However, town council members are still debating on the police salary increase, although it was budgeted. The salaries won’t be decided until the council passes the salary ordinance this month, said Donna Moore, clerk-treasurer. Council members last month debated Roberts on increasing pay for Trafalgar officers, saying it may not be within the town’s means.
Other increases were made to the town operating budget, with increases in pay for town part-time employees, liability insurance increases and utility cost increases, Moore said.
Inflation was also a concern as the 2023 budget for Trafalgar was drafted, and the budget was adjusted across the board for it, Moore said. Inflation drove up costs to items such as fuel, insurance and utilities for the town, she said.
Trafalgar also applied to the DLGF for an excess tax levy appeal to collect additional revenue from property taxes. Municipalities are allowed to submit this appeal, if average assessed value growth over the last three years exceeds the statewide average maximum levy growth quotient by at least 2%.
This appeal will not increase taxes for the citizens of Trafalgar, but rather increase the amount of money the town can generate from the taxes already collected. If approved, Trafalgar would collect an additional $42,650, Moore said.
Whiteland
Whiteland’s budget for 2023 remained largely the same as this year’s, with few notable changes, said Jim Lowhorn, town manager.
The town added around $400,000 to its general operating fund, bringing it to $1.8 million for 2023. All town employees, including police, are set to receive a 5% raise in 2023, Lowhorn said.
Other than that, there were no notable changes, he said. The town wants to spend within its means, without excess, Lowhorn said.
The total town 2023 budget is around $3.5 million, with $350,000 in debt service for a bond payment. The debt service fund was added for next year to start paying for a $7.2 million bond the town is taking out to help finance infrastructure improvements around a mixed-use development in town by Westfield-Based Patch Development.
“Whiteland has managed to make what funds we have available level throughout the year and will continue along that trend in the future. You must make what you have work,” Lowhorn said.
Daily Journal Reporter Andy Bell-Baltaci contributed to this report.
