The Noblesville 2019 Civil City budget was passed at the Common Council at its Oct. 23 meeting. The 2019 proposed Civil City budget totals $69,259,933, with a general fund budget of $43,193,151.
A guiding theme for Controller Jeff Spalding and the finance and accounting office was to “right size and realign” for fiscal transparency, forecasting and planning, cost efficiency and performance metrics.
Spalding
“This budget reflects the operational goals and needs of city departments. All expenses get accounted for and are budgeted for,” he said. “The overall structure of civil city budget to best use taxpayer dollars wisely and allocate finances logically and clearly. Noblesville is a growing community, the point is to do things well and do things better. We still want to be cost-efficient, but doing a job well costs less than doing it cheaply.”
The Noblesville Civil City budget does increase, but the proposed 2019 budget is balanced and builds reserves by approximately $4 million.
Several recommendations with the 2019 Civil City budget include:
- The hiring of 17 new full-time positions, which include fire department (4), street (4), parks (2), police (2), planning (1), economic development (1), information technology (1), human resources (1) and finance and accounting (1). The estimated costs with benefits for the positions is $1,361,900.
- Full-time city employees, mayor, clerk and city judge will receive a 3 percent raise. Common Council members have a 1.5 percent raise.
- Public safety is the No. 1 priority in the community. In 2019, public safety accounts for 68 percent of the general fund budget and 47.3 percent of the overall Civil City budget. Capital equipment requests include 18 new police SUVs, a new fire engine and ambulance and a remount ambulance chassis.
- The budget includes $3 million for road resurfacing and sidewalk, trail and alley design and construction.
“While the 2019 tax rate has not been calculated and finalized by the state, the city anticipates it will be no higher than the 2018 rate of $1.0735 per $100 of assessed value, or decrease marginally,” Spalding said.