By Adam Aasen
After the Carmel City Council recently heard presentations from each city department, now begins the work of hammering out a budget for the next fiscal year.
And while every councilor has their own opinion on budget priorities, there appears to be a difference of opinion on how frugal Carmel should be.
City Councilor Luci Snyder told the Current that she wants to see a plan for tightening the city’s budget.
“I would like to see five percent cut from the budget because I think you can always find five percent to cut from any budget,” she said. “And I think we have to hold our costs down because the economy as a whole is contracting. It’s not a robust economy and I don’t think we can continue to increase spending. It’s not wise. So I’ll ask the question and I’ll see what the mayor says.”
Mayor Jim Brainard defended the city’s budget, saying, “It’s a good solid budget. It does what it needs to for the citizens and it doesn’t raise taxes.”
He believes the budget is fiscally conservative and increases are in line with the city’s substantial growth. While he understands cuts sometimes have to be made, he said it’s important to look at revenue and not just throw out a number.
“I think five percent is a pretty substantial cut,” he said. “That’s close to five million dollars and we’d have to lay people off to do it. Just pulling a number out of the air like that doesn’t make sense.”
City Councilor Sue Finkam agrees, saying it’s important to stick to a plan and not just adhere to an arbitrary number. She also believes that considering increased revenue streams such as the phasing in of Southwest Clay and rising property values should mean growth not contraction.
“I’m less concerned with revenue this year than in years’ past,” she said. “Given all of the leading indicators, it should be positive on the revenue side.”
City Council President Eric Seidensticker said he believes with “all the debt the city is making payments on,” it’s the not the time to increase spending.
Of course, the question is raised about where to cut.
Brainard said he thinks there’s really not a lot of fat in the budget. He said it would be hard to cut five percent without laying off employees or falling behind on infrastructure needs.
Some city councilors raised the question about spending so much money on outside consultants for needs such as public relations. City Councilor Rick Sharp said he’s not against spending on marketing, but his top concerns are issues such as road repairs.
“If we are going to have a tight year, you have to really look at our necessities,” Sharp said.
City Councilors can vote to cut money from the budget, but it cannot increase the budget. Snyder said she would most likely ask Brainard himself to identify the places to cut.
“I’ll ask, ‘What will you do if you have to cut four or five million from the budget?’” she said. “He’s the chief executive. I always hear, ‘I’m going to have to fire people.’ No, you’re not. You’re just going to have to do different things.”
