Gary approves ’19 budget, but it may be reviewed
Common Council votes to approve five ordinances
The Gary Common Council gave its approval Tuesday to a city budget for 2019, even though Mayor Karen FreemanWilson said the approved spending levels for city government approved will not be the actual amounts of money that city programs will have available to them.
The Common Council voted to approve five ordinances that, when put together, compose the spending plan for 2019.
One ordinance details expenses for city programs, while another provides the salaries for city workers. Two other ordinances outline the expenses and salaries for the Gary/Chicago International Airport, while a fifth ordinance consists of the expenses and salaries for the Gary Public Transportation Corp. that operates the city bus system.
All of the ordinances set spending levels similar to what the city agencies and programs had for 2018, with slight adaptations to the tax levy to let the city claim as much revenue as possible within the constraints of Indiana tax cap laws.
But Freeman-Wilson said she realizes Gary will not have that much money actually available to it.
She said her staff is still putting together an actual spending plan that will impose cuts across all of Gary government.
That plan should be ready for council review by November. But because Indiana law requires municipal governments across the state to file copies of their budgets for the upcoming year by the end of October, the vote was taken Tuesday on a budget base for next year.
Most council members voted for the budget plan. Council member Carolyn Rogers, D-4th, voted against the ordinances related to the city programs and salaries, while council member LaVetta Sparks-Wade, D-6th, was solidly opposed.
She voted “no” on all five ordinances.
Sparks-Wade said she is bothered by the idea of trying to maximize the tax levies, saying she thinks it violates the spirit of Indiana law, which intends to limit the size of tax hikes in any given year.
“That’s taxpayer money,” she said. “Perhaps that’s money we shouldn’t be getting.”
Sparks-Wade is the council member who has been most vocal about a shortfall in a city fund for emergency medical services due to transfers of funds to other parts of the Gary budget, and she said she thinks that is evidence that city officials don’t fully have control of the money they’re already overseeing.
Sparks-Wade said she thinks city officials should be open about admitting what spending levels will be, rather than waiting until November.
Council President Ronald Brewer, however, said he could back approving a budget now, saying he saw evidence city officials were trying to keep a handle on their spending.
Freeman-Wilson said it will be up to the council to be careful about watching over city spending.
She said once a final plan is put in place next month, there will have to be “weekly checkups” on how money is spent to ensure programs don’t go over what is actually available.
And while the mayor said some programs are in the works that could help provide more money for Gary government to cover expenses, she said, “We don’t want to count on anything until we have a sure deal.”
Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.