The City of Fort Wayne today announced that two meetings have been scheduled in an effort for citizens and business leaders to gain a better understanding of a framework of ideas that have been outlined to save the community money and bring additional revenue to the City.
Schedule of meetings:
Citizen and Neighborhood focus
*6 p.m. Wednesday, April 24
Omni Room in Citizens Square; 200 E. Berry St.
Business leaders focus
*8 a.m. Thursday, May 2
Chamber Building; 826 Ewing St.
Mayor Henry created the Fiscal Policy Group in 2012 to gain a full understanding of fiscal conditions and identify financial options available to the City to help meet fiscal challenges in 2014 and beyond.
Fort Wayne is the first city in Indiana to assemble a team of local and state experts, members of City Council and City staff to develop strategies to combat looming budget issues.
Property tax caps implemented by the Indiana General Assembly have made it more difficult for cities to meet demands and expectations. The impact of property tax caps has been in effect since 2009, and the result has been a loss of $53 million in revenue to the City.
However, through strong fiscal management, leadership and bipartisan efforts, the City’s been able to weather the storm and build a healthy savings account. But, due to continued constraints on the budget because of the tax caps, the City’s had to continue to utilize its savings account to fund essential services.
The framework of ideas that’s been developed can be accomplished while maintaining services that citizens have come to expect.
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