Fort Wayne City Council finalizes 2024 budget, votes on budget cuts

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — On Tuesday, Fort Wayne City Council capped off weeks of discussion by finalizing the City of Fort Wayne’s 2024 budget.

During the meeting, councilmembers proposed their final cuts, and each department had a chance to defend their budget proposals.

Councilmembers entered the meeting with a total of over $5.2 million in proposed cuts, and over $1.3 million of those cuts were implemented in the final budget, which City Council passed in a 7-2 vote.

Although 2nd District Councilman Russ Jehl — who voted against the budget alongside 4th District Councilman Jason Arp — commended it for increasing funding for sidewalks, additional police staffing and the Historic Northeast plan, he also had issues with the budget regarding its proposed wage increases for executive level positions.

“The number one need in the 2nd District is neighborhood infrastructure, and once again this budget’s reality does not match the rhetoric,” Jehl said.

City Council made two cuts that touched on a number of departments, with one being aimed at cutting the cost of living increases for employees who had a raise valued at $8,000 or greater.

The only problem is that while City Council can pull money out of line items, they cannot enforce whether or not different employees would qualify for a quality-of-life bonus.

“They can not portray it that way,” said Fort Wayne City Controller Garry Morr. “Council can only tell you ‘here’s how much money you have to spend by department,’ [but] they can’t tell you specifically for each individual, what you are going to pay each individual.”

Ultimately, that and the other cut made across multiple departments left Morr a little confused.

“This was very confusing to me, this discussion tonight,” Morr said. “Every employee rest assured will get their 4% cost of living allowance.”

The other multi-department cut-trimmed a liability contribution that covers departments if they get sued.

“The city has a self-insurance fund and all the departments pay their proportional share into this self-insurance fund,” Morr said. “From that fund expenses are paid for our risk management department which takes care of the safety of the city employees, another component that comes out of that fund is the cost of insurance premiums… and then lastly there is a fund for legal fees to protect the city from lawsuits.”

Ultimately, the decision will make the city come back to City Council to get more funds approved for legal battles, gaining greater accountability while sacrificing convenience as the city will have to come back to council to get more funds approved for legal matters.

“Part of our role and responsibility as elected officials on the council is to make sure we’re keeping checks and balances,” said 6th District Councilwoman Sharon Tucker. “Anything the administration wants to move forward with is now just a simple conversation.”

Below is a list of all the proposed budget cuts and whether they passed:

Parks and Recreation

Wages, $400,000 – Did Not Pass
Cost of Living, $69,613 – Passed
1.3% Liability Cut, $2,690 – Did Not Pass
16.25% Liability Cut, $33,627 – Did Not Pass
2024 Increase, $5,227 – Did Not Pass

Animal Care and Control

Among the many proposed cuts for Animal Care and Control included two from Jehl that totaled nearly $650,000 and centered around funding for new positions and a remodeled Behavior Center.

Jehl told WANE 15 that Animal Care and Control’s budget has increased by 40% in the last two years, and the department is asking for increased funding again despite not raising enough money.

“You can’t ask me to soak my constituents more when they pay 10 times more than your customers do [and] when you are adding more staff to service your customers,” Jehl said.

Remodel Behavior Center, $500,000 – Did Not Pass
New Positions, $148,155 – Did Not Pass
Cost of Living, $16,417 – Passed
1.3% Liability Cut, $394 – Did Not Pass
16.25% Liability Cut, $4,927 – Passed
2024 Increase, $1,424 – Did Not Pass

Mayor’s Office

Cost of Living, $19,365 – Passed
1.3% Liability Cut, $190 – Did Not Pass
16.25% Liability Cut, $2,373 – Passed
2024 Increase, $2,831 – Did Not Pass

Community Development

Wayfinding Signs, $200,000 – Did Not Pass
Cost of Living, $69,006 – Passed
1.3% Liability Cut, $2,174 – Did Not Pass
16.25% Liability Cut, $27,177 – Passed
2024 Increase, $77,737 – Did Not Pass

Redevelopment Commission

Cost of Living, $3,553 – Passed
1.3% Liability Cut, $1,007 – Did Not Pass
16.25% Liability Cut, $12,592 – Passed
2024 Increase, $1,180 – Did Not Pass

City Clerk

Cost of Living, $5,632 – Passed
1.3% Liability Cut, $70 – Did Not Pass
16.25% Liability Cut, $875 – Passed
2024 Increase, $1,115 – Did Not Pass

Radio Shop

Like Animal Care and Control, Jehl also proposed cuts to the Radio Shop’s funding request for new positions since the costs for new employees would exceed the department’s revenue.

“If the new revenue exceeds $148,000, then this is great,” Jehl said. “If it’s anything less than that, we should not be adding these positions because we are better off without taking on the new customers.”