The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, which has oversight of county, municipal and public school budgets throughout the state, approved the 2015 budget submitted by the city of New Castle without making any cuts.
As the city’s chief executive, it is Mayor Greg York’s responsibility to draft a budget. He does so after consultation with city department heads regarding their wants and needs and with the clerk-treasurer, who participates in the process by supplying the mayor with forecasted spending needs for her office and anticipated revenue numbers. The budget is then reviewed and must be approved by the city council before being forwarded to the DLGF which can decrease but cannot increase any given line item.
City Clerk-Treasurer Christy York said the mayor intentionally under-budgets because he realizes the city isn’t realistically going to collect 100 percent of the taxes owed by everyone who owes them.
Not being cut is welcomed news because if cuts are implemented a determination then has to be made at the local level regarding how to operate city government and services with less funding than was already determined to be needed.
“Our goal in this administration was to get us out of the red and to avoid the need to borrow just to keep things running, which we’ve accomplished,” the clerk-treasurer said. “The bottom line, as far as the budget goes, is we try to budget lean and mean and stay within our income parameters.”
York said prior to the statewide property tax cap former Governor Mitch Daniels championed, if a city planned to spend more money than it was taking in its city council simply voted to raise taxes. That’s no longer an option, she said, and cities now must budget very conservatively and live within their means.
Mayor York said he was somewhat surprised, but pleased, the submitted budget was left unchanged at the state level.
“We work hard on the budget every year and there’s never anything there to cut, so if they do cut anything we’re in big trouble. Luckily, they didn’t make any cuts so we’re in pretty good shape,” he said.
Budget breakdown
Following are New Castle's budget numbers as approved by the Department of Local Government Finance:
General: $11,368,655
Fire Pension: $553,100
Police Pension: $803,100
Community Services: $26,800
Local Road & Street: $332,707
Motor Vehicle Highway: $625,244
Continuing Education: $37,845
Park Bond: $170,300
Sewer: $3,749,196
Aviation/Airport: $75,700
Cumulative Capital Improvement: $60,000
Cumulative Capitol Development: $196,837
Transportation: $439,784
Trash/Sanitation: $927,965
Water: $3,212,965
