From the Indianapolis Star:
The public will have a chance to speak out about Westfield’s proposed $30.3 million budget during Monday night’s City Council meeting.
The figure is about $2.6 million more than the 2013 budget, although Deputy Mayor Todd Burtron said much of the difference is related to existing expenses that were initially funded out of the water and sewer department before the sale of utilities to Citizens Energy.
“They’re existing expenses,” he said. “We’re just accounting for them in a different way. We try to keep the budget flat. There’s a $2.6 million increase, but it’s an artificial increase.”
Burtron said 64 percent of the budget will go toward public safety. Two new police officers will be hired in 2014.
“The lion’s share of almost any, if not every municipality is their public safety expense,” he said.
Property taxes will fund $15 million of the budget, and about $7 million will come from the county option income tax. The rest of the budget will be funded by other revenues such as food and beverage tax and permit fees.
City employee salaries have been frozen.
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The meeting starts at 7 p.m. The council is expected to vote on the budget Oct. 28.
The Noblesville City Council also will introduce its 2014 budget this week.
The proposed $79.4 million budget is $6 million more than the 2013 budget, and includes 2 percent raises for city workers. It will be introduced at Tuesday’s 7 p.m. council meeting.
Along with the raises, deputy mayor Michael Hendricks said there was a 7 percent increase in insurance costs and a 3 percent increase in the amount to public employee retirement funds that had to be taken into account.
“We had three years of no raises during extremely tight times,” he said. “We were able to do this and stay in the black and only use 95.9 percent of county option income taxes.”
Property taxes will account for $18.4 million of the budget, and $14.4 million will come from county option income taxes.
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A public hearing and budget vote is scheduled for Oct. 29.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013310130028
