OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Administration and Finance Committee Meeting Summary – August 12, 2025

City-County Council — Tuesday, August 12, 2025
BodyIndianapolis, Indiana
SessionCity-County Council
DateTuesday, August 12, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:09:17

Transcript — Verbatim
0:04

Good evening.

0:05

Welcome to the uh new room.

0:09

For the admin finance committee meeting.

0:12

I'd like to start with introduction to my left.

0:15

Thank you, Mr.

0:15

Chair.

0:16

Derek Cahill, District 23.

0:19

Thank you, Mr.

0:20

Chair.

0:20

Brian Mowra, District 25.

0:24

Thank you, Mr.

0:25

Chair.

0:25

Renate Allen, District 15.

0:28

Thank you, Mr.

0:28

Chair Nick Roberts, District 4.

0:31

Thank you, Chairman Muscary, Andy Nielsen, District 14.

0:35

Thank you, Mr.

0:36

Chairman Dan Boots, District 3.

0:40

Good evening, Chairman Miss Gary.

0:41

Christa Carlino, District 11.

0:44

Good evening, Maggie Lewis.

0:45

Good evening, Mark Frank Mascarry, District 19.

0:48

With consent, I'd like to move the uh budget hearing of the Office of Mayor to the front.

0:54

Consent, consent.

0:55

Mr.

0:56

Parker, you have the floor.

1:04

I understand you're supposed to take your wife out to dinner tonight, correct?

1:23

This is my first time in this in this new room, so it's great sunlight.

1:29

Uh thank you, Mr.

1:30

Chairman and members of the committee.

1:32

Uh Dan Parker, uh Chief Deputy Mayor uh for the office of uh Mayor Joe Hogsett.

1:37

Um mayor to present the uh consolidated office of mayor budget uh to all of you and appreciate your time.

1:46

Um first slide, I'm gonna try to make this quick because the chairman likes me to uh not talk too much and get to your questions.

1:56

Um but as the mayor laid out uh last night and you heard from our controller, um this was a uh challenging budget season, um, but one that uh provided us an opportunity to follow through on some of the things that we talked about at this committee last year, which was uh closer collaboration between the administration and the council.

2:15

Uh and I think we executed that through the through uh the process to build this budget.

2:20

Um there was tremendous amount of transparency that that both the administration and the council uh provided each other in terms of priorities.

2:31

Sorry.

2:33

Um and I think we had a better product for it.

2:37

So I wanted to thank uh members of the leadership uh and counselors um Nielsen, Boots, and Barth that joined leadership in terms of those conversations with council staff and the administration.

2:49

Uh I'm not gonna go over the overview for the mayor's office.

2:52

I think you all know what what the mayor's office does.

2:55

We uh support uh the mayor in implementing the initiatives across um uh across the administration and making our our city the strongest and most livable city in the Midwest.

3:06

As you heard from the mayor last night, there was a lot there's a lot of good things happening in the city.

3:11

Um, but wanted to make sure that you that I stressed the uh six objectives that the mayor gave us all when when uh trying to put this budget together.

3:21

Uh number one was obviously fully balanced.

3:23

You heard that last night.

3:24

This is the ninth consecutive balanced budget.

3:27

Second was uh no uh tax increases in the in the budget.

3:32

Third was to fully fund the labor contracts that we negotiated last year for most of our major uh city unions.

3:40

Fourth was to um plan and deal with the changes that came from the legislative session from Senate Bill 1 and other legislative actions.

3:49

Fifth was to plan for the the opportunities that are provided for House Bill 1461, and last was to make sure that when we had to uh do reserves that they we protected key investments as you see from the next slide, the organizational chart for for the office of the mayor.

4:08

Um this has all of our different uh sections that we'll go through.

4:14

Um not just mayor's admin, but also the Office of Education Innovation, this um civilian police complaint office, um, the MAC, uh, and like I said, the the mayor's admin.

4:27

So the overall first slide you'll see in our budget is the total, uh, and then we'll get into each section.

4:37

Oh, go back to the last one.

4:39

I wanted to uh recognize uh some of the folks that are in the in the audience tonight that are that sort of represent some of these positions.

4:46

The newest addition is is Natalie Van Doggan, who's the director of community outreach.

4:54

We all know Natalie.

4:56

I think Ruth Morales is in the back.

5:01

And is Ron Rice here?

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Budget█████████████████████████████████████████████46%
Public Safety███████████11%
Diversity and Inclusion█████████9%
Personnel Matters███████7%
Employee Relations█████5%
Community Engagement████4%
Technology and Innovation███3%
Procedural██2%
Homelessness██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Administration and Finance Committee Meeting Summary – August 12, 2025

The Administration and Finance Committee of the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council met on August 12, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 260 of the City-County Building, chaired by Councilor Frank Mascari. The committee considered three proposals and held budget hearings for the Office of the Mayor, the Office of Finance and Management (OFM), and the Office of Equity, Belonging, and Inclusion (OEBI). All three proposals were passed unanimously, and the budget hearings were informational.

Proposal 234, 2025 – Appointment to Information Technology Board

  • Action: The committee voted unanimously to approve the appointment of Laura Larimer to the Information Technology Board for a term ending September 8, 2027. Councilor Boots added himself as a co-sponsor. No public testimony was offered.

Proposal 235, 2025 – Amendment to Definition of Confidential Employees

  • Presented by: Dustin Roach (President, Teamsters Local 135) and David Vlink (General Counsel).
  • Purpose: To amend Section 291-602 of the Revised Code by changing “office of the mayor” to “office of the mayor’s administration,” thereby clarifying that employees of the Mayor’s Action Center (MAC) are not categorically confidential employees and are eligible for collective bargaining.
  • Support: The Mayor’s Office, through Chief Deputy Mayor Dan Parker, expressed support. The Teamsters stated that MAC customer service representatives had already chosen union representation, and the amendment would allow the city to recognize that election.
  • Committee Vote: Passed unanimously (voice vote). No public testimony.

Proposal 274, 2025 – Levy Freeze Tax Rate Reduction Authorization

  • Presented by: Controller Abby (last name not stated in transcript, but identified as Abby).
  • Purpose: To authorize the Controller to request approval from the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) to lower the levy freeze tax rate from 0.1593% to 0.1412%. This is the first step in a two-step process to realign income tax rates without changing the overall 2.02% income tax rate paid by residents.
  • Key Details: The shift would move revenue from the levy freeze and property tax relief rates to the certified shares and public safety rates, freeing $16 million for essential services and public safety. The property tax relief rate (0.0355%) would be eliminated, offset by a new state-provided credit of approximately $17 million. The levy freeze stabilization fund (current balance $8.3 million) would be drawn down to zero by 2028 as required by Senate Bill 1.
  • Discussion: Councilor Mowery asked about impacts on MSD Warren Township, which Controller estimated at ~$300,000 (0.5% of their levy). Councilor Lewis questioned effects on schools and towns, with Controller noting that towns would likely see a net positive due to increased income tax distributions. The committee expressed support contingent on further discussions with affected units.
  • Committee Vote: Passed unanimously (voice vote). No public testimony.

Budget Hearings

The committee heard presentations and held Q&A on the proposed 2026 budgets for three offices. No votes were taken.

Office of the Mayor

  • Presented by: Chief Deputy Mayor Dan Parker.
  • Budget Overview: The total proposed 2026 budget is $6,934,512, a decrease of $227,913 (3.2%) from 2025. The reduction includes elimination of one vacant position (Deputy Mayor of Economic Development) to save $130,000, as economic development functions were transferred to the new Indy Economic Development Inc. Other changes include right-sizing of the India Chiefs program and inclusion of $400,000 for Circle City Readers.
  • Key Priorities: Continued focus on public safety (NICJR gun violence reduction strategy – 50% homicide reduction since 2021), infrastructure (HB 1461 matching funds), housing (Streets to Home Indy, tenant advocacy), quality of life (parks, trails), and economic development (supporting IU Indianapolis and Purdue University Indianapolis growth).
  • Discussion: Councilors Lewis and Boots commended the collaborative budget process. Councilor Barth asked about how community feedback was incorporated; Parker cited council input, neighborhood advocates, and agency-level engagement. Councilor Gay discussed potential for AI in the Mayor’s Action Center to improve efficiency and language access.

Office of Finance and Management

  • Presented by: Controller Abby and Budget Director Jake McVeigh.
  • Budget Overview: The total proposed 2026 budget is $12,493,934, a decrease of $858,755 (6.4%) from 2025. Reductions come from lower ISA and building authority rent charges and agency reserves. Personnel costs include a 2.6% COLA and 5.6% health insurance increase, offset by keeping three positions vacant. The Drug Free Community fund is maintained at $200,000 by supplementing with opioid settlement dollars.
  • Key Highlights: Implementation of a centralized fleet accident tracking system (Vision Zero recommendation), expansion of the online bidding portal for vendors, development of a customer service center in the City-County Building, and continued community outreach through Indiology internship program. Fund balance policy targets were adopted to maintain strong credit ratings.
  • Discussion: Councilor Nielsen asked about outstanding debt collection and the Kroger payment option. Councilor Lewis asked about the impact of reduced Drug Free Community revenue on grantees; Controller committed to follow up.

Office of Equity, Belonging, and Inclusion

  • Presented by: Chief Diversity and Equity Officer Ben Tapper.
  • Budget Overview: The total proposed 2026 budget is $1,041,566, a decrease of $35,629 from 2025. The reduction is entirely in professional services and training (Character 3). Personnel costs increased due to COLA and health insurance.
  • Key Priorities: Expanding equity training (270 employees trained in 2025, goal of 300 in 2026), rollout of the city’s first Language Access Plan, expanding employee demographic data collection (including country of origin), and supporting enterprise-wide cultural assessment (launched August 2025).
  • Discussion: Councilor Lewis requested that OEBI include enterprise-wide demographic data in future presentations. Councilor Boots asked about involvement in Devington/Brendon Park neighborhood advocacy; Tapper explained OEBI’s role as facilitator. Councilor Allen asked about partnership with Eskenazi on health equity and language access for Haitian and other communities in her district. Councilor Cahill asked about metrics for the Language Access Plan; Tapper agreed to provide data on requests received.

Key Outcomes

  • Proposal 234: Passed unanimously – appointment of Laura Larimer to the IT Board.
  • Proposal 235: Passed unanimously – amendment to confidential employee definition.
  • Proposal 274: Passed unanimously – authorization to request DLGF approval for levy freeze rate reduction.
  • Budget Hearings: Informational; no votes taken. The committee will consider the full 2026 budget at a later date.

Meeting Transcript

Good evening. Welcome to the uh new room. For the admin finance committee meeting. I'd like to start with introduction to my left. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Derek Cahill, District 23. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Brian Mowra, District 25. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Renate Allen, District 15. Thank you, Mr. Chair Nick Roberts, District 4. Thank you, Chairman Muscary, Andy Nielsen, District 14. Thank you, Mr. Chairman Dan Boots, District 3. Good evening, Chairman Miss Gary. Christa Carlino, District 11. Good evening, Maggie Lewis. Good evening, Mark Frank Mascarry, District 19. With consent, I'd like to move the uh budget hearing of the Office of Mayor to the front. Consent, consent. Mr. Parker, you have the floor. I understand you're supposed to take your wife out to dinner tonight, correct? This is my first time in this in this new room, so it's great sunlight. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Uh Dan Parker, uh Chief Deputy Mayor uh for the office of uh Mayor Joe Hogsett. Um mayor to present the uh consolidated office of mayor budget uh to all of you and appreciate your time. Um first slide, I'm gonna try to make this quick because the chairman likes me to uh not talk too much and get to your questions. Um but as the mayor laid out uh last night and you heard from our controller, um this was a uh challenging budget season, um, but one that uh provided us an opportunity to follow through on some of the things that we talked about at this committee last year, which was uh closer collaboration between the administration and the council. Uh and I think we executed that through the through uh the process to build this budget. Um there was tremendous amount of transparency that that both the administration and the council uh provided each other in terms of priorities. Sorry. Um and I think we had a better product for it. So I wanted to thank uh members of the leadership uh and counselors um Nielsen, Boots, and Barth that joined leadership in terms of those conversations with council staff and the administration. Uh I'm not gonna go over the overview for the mayor's office. I think you all know what what the mayor's office does. We uh support uh the mayor in implementing the initiatives across um uh across the administration and making our our city the strongest and most livable city in the Midwest. As you heard from the mayor last night, there was a lot there's a lot of good things happening in the city. Um, but wanted to make sure that you that I stressed the uh six objectives that the mayor gave us all when when uh trying to put this budget together. Uh number one was obviously fully balanced. You heard that last night. This is the ninth consecutive balanced budget. Second was uh no uh tax increases in the in the budget. Third was to fully fund the labor contracts that we negotiated last year for most of our major uh city unions. Fourth was to um plan and deal with the changes that came from the legislative session from Senate Bill 1 and other legislative actions.

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