Carmel City Council 2026 Budget Workshop – Day Two (September 16, 2025)
Carmel City Council 2026 Budget Workshop – Day Two (September 16, 2025)
On September 16, 2025, the Carmel City Council held the second day of budget workshops for the proposed 2026 budget. Departments presented their requests, with discussions focusing on staffing, overtime, capital needs, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a potential seventh fire station, and efforts to reduce expenses amid projected revenue constraints. Council members provided feedback and requested additional data, with a follow-up meeting scheduled for September 23, 2025.
Discussion Items
City Court
- Judge Quindexter presented a budget with a roughly 1% increase. Key items included the public defender fund (100% increase due to accumulated funds), the record perpetuation fund (including a $15,000 transfer to IT for maintenance contracts), and the judicial salaries fee fund (10% increase due to postage and office machine costs). The court is losing a senior public defender (retirement) and anticipates increased caseload from new police officers.
City Clerk
- Jacob reported a 0% increase ($2,000) for the clerk's office. Notable items: ordinance codification will move to Civic Plus for real-time updates; streaming services and OpenGov are included. He requested retaining a visual/digital specialist as a full-time employee at a cost of $106,000 (12% increase in the clerk's budget). Discussion covered the position's duties (managing PEG channel, Midtown TV, streaming) and potential value. Tuition reimbursement was also addressed; the city plans to centralize this in HR.
City Council
- Vice President Snyder presented the council's budget (over 7% increase). Increases were primarily in personal services, with a new line item for dental. Deferred compensation was estimated based on historical data. The budget was reorganized to align with current council initiatives, such as funds for reviews and studies.
Board of Public Works
- Zach presented a minimal budget: $9,000, based on per diem multiplied by annual meetings and members. No questions.
Parks and Recreation
- Director Michael Klitzing presented the 2026 budget for the nationally accredited system, which served 5.7 million visits last year. General fund request: $6,740,000 (5% increase, $324,314). Top drivers: Monon Boulevard phase 3 ($121,000), health insurance ($66,000), additional Midtown cleaning ($60,000), splash pad water and trailhead restrooms ($49,000), and general insurance ($25,000). Personnel: 34 full-time positions (no net change), with two new park custodial positions funded by moving HR positions to enterprise funds. The non-reverting parks capital fund request is $338,190 for trail repairs, hazard tree removal, and security improvements. Enterprise funds (Monon Community Center, extended school enrichment) are self-sufficient. Council praised the department's thoroughness and urged careful expansion.
Human Resources
- Director Nicole Murphy presented the HR budget. No new positions. Key changes: centralized tuition reimbursement ($40,000 annually), new Employee Assistance Program (Lyra) with 10 visits, workmen's compensation increased to reflect actual costs, and retiree health insurance ($900,000). The department houses citywide costs. Discussion covered employee recognition, leadership development, and the unfunded liability ($30 million) for retiree health benefits. Council requested historical tuition reimbursement data and expressed interest in strategic planning for retiree benefits.
Corporation Counsel
- Samantha Carn presented the legal and code enforcement budget (0.5% increase, largely flat). Personnel: 75% of budget; one attorney vacancy not being filled. Professional services ($600,000) cover outside counsel and lobbyists (federal and state). Code enforcement decreased right-of-way signs and increased compliance. Council questioned outside counsel costs, lobbyist value, and training reductions. Carn noted the office manages about five primary outside law firm relationships. The department also handles over 1,100 records requests annually.
Fire Department
- Chief Joel Thacker presented a 10% increase overall. Staffing: 170 sworn, 12 vacancies; 18 new positions proposed (40 needed by end of 2026). First lateral process brought 13 experienced firefighters. Overtime budgeted at $570,000 (down from $5.2M pace) due to planned hiring. Capital needs: aging apparatus and buildings; requested two engines and one ladder truck. Health and safety funding increased to $60,000 for mental health and cancer screening. The safe house program (Corson Safe House) continues. Discussion centered on the need for a seventh fire station, overtime philosophy, and civilian staff compensation. Council noted the importance of long-term planning for station expansion.
Finance
- Chief Financial Officer Zach presented the finance department budget (down 13.6% to $15.2 million, mainly due to moving insurance to food/beverage tax). Proposed an ERP system implementation: $2 million one-time cost, $300,000–$400,000 annual licensing. The system would integrate purchasing, payroll, and accounting to reduce manual processes. Council expressed support for exploring ERP but requested a detailed business case and vendor demonstrations. The transparency portal was discussed; council noted year-to-date comparisons could be misleading and requested clearer labeling.
Golf Course (Brookshire)
- Bob presented the golf course budget. Personnel: $1.08 million (slightly up). Capital leases reduced from $341,000 to under $50,000, aiming for break-even. Over 40,000 rounds expected. A business plan recommendation to adjust season pass pricing was noted. Council requested a copy of the business plan and updates on capital projects (patio shade, parking expansion).
Facilities Management
- Zach presented the facilities budget (down $400,000). City Hall maintenance, including a new generator and dumpster enclosure. Staffing reduced from five to two (custodians moved to police and fire departments). Utility costs and the energy center payment were moved to the food/beverage tax fund. Council asked for a comprehensive list of all funds used for reoccurring expenses.
Redevelopment
- Director Henry Mustatsky presented a budget decreased 41% (excluding personnel). Reduced professional services ($88,000) moved to CRC, and travel budget cut by 70%. The team (five people) remains intact. Carrying costs for properties like the former Old Town headquarters and IT building. Council praised the department's work and encouraged continued innovation amid changing TIF dynamics.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken; this was a workshop to receive feedback.
- Council requested additional data from multiple departments (e.g., tuition reimbursement history, outside counsel spending, business plan for golf course, ERP details).
- The next meeting is scheduled for September 23, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. to discuss potential budget adjustments before formal introduction on October 6, 2025.
- Council expressed the need for clear communication on budget cuts and long-term planning for fire department staffing and station expansion.
- The mayor's office acknowledged feedback and will consider adjustments before the next meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to day two of the budget workshops for the proposed 2026 City of Carmel budget. We are starting off today with the city court. And uh Judge Quindexter, take it away. Uh good morning, Count. Court's uh 2026 budget uh notable items, and I do apologize. I tend to round up. So when you look at the court's general budget, uh it shows a one percent increase. That's probably not as accurate as it need be. I round up to get good even numbers. That way they're easier to discuss and two, it's easier to see if they've been changed. Uh so I don't really believe that we're probably at a one percent increase, probably something slightly under that. And you can look across items where there were ups and downs in terms of uh what we were requesting from the year prior. Uh the rest of the court's budget is provided out of fees the courts collects from court cost and other items that the court is allowed to retain. Uh judicial salaries fee fund uh was a ten percent increase. Uh I can't control the cost of postage meters and some other office machines. We've been taken by surprise in a year or two. Our budget is small enough, so if you had two thousand dollars, it ticks it up by a percentage point or four. Uh I think those were our two big items that we were allowing more money because we have been caught in surprise almost flat footed one year when they took a huge increase on the cost of the machines. They'll send you a letter in the mail and says we're no longer gonna service that machine, you need to buy your new one, and you don't have much of a choice. The public defender fund, as I've explained before, uh that refills the slowest. So some years we don't request any money uh come out of that fund that that has recharged, and the court is asking to use the money in the fund that is accumulated in its entirety. It shows a 100% increase in the request. Well, that would be because now there's money there. We'll spend that first before we spend any of the money out of fund 101. So money is collected from other sources we spend first, try to save the city money. With regards to the record perpetuation fund, uh that's the healthiest fund on the court's docket. We've tried to uh attribute as many expenses into that fund as we can. It also again this year it includes a $15,000, what we call other contractual services. The court began the process last year. We intend to continue it this year with your permission. Uh essentially uh transferring fifteen thousand dollars from the court's budget to IT. Uh we don't really have a cost allocation formula for services for IT to the court, so I looked at every machine and the enterprise that does work for the court. That includes the clerk's office, and did essentially a thousand dollars per machine to attribute, like we did a basic maintenance contract with a third-party provider in the public sector to be close to that with your permission. We'll do the same this year, and when we get an invoice, we'll transfer the money to them. Uh, if we hadn't done that, they would have probably been a decrease in terms of the request out of that fund. All the funds are healthy and currently funded. Uh issues before the court, not uncommon. Uh we've got a lot of new police officers. Uh, once they come online, they write more tickets. Uh we'll see what that means for the coming year. Staffing goes up, businesses will go up, staffing goes down, business will go down. We are losing, and I hate to hate to say this, but we had one of the finest public defenders that's ever served the city uh of Carmel and maybe the state of Indiana retired Judge Flaging uh did announce that uh at the end of this year, he will be retiring fully from the uh practice of law. So we're losing a really fine public defender, so I'm in the market to find somebody hopefully equally as good, equally as skilled that we can provide the public with excellent public defender funds. And aside from that commentary, I answer any of the questions that the the council might have. All right, who's got questions? I think that you're the first one that we didn't have any questions on. Fine, I'm I'm open book by law, so I I will leave. Thank you. Have a good morning now. Hey, thank you so much for being here.
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