The Health First Indiana plan provided a significant boost to the Fishers Health Department in recent years—delivering $1 million in additional state funding in 2024, with even more support in 2025. However, that upward trend is set to reverse. The Indiana General Assembly recently voted to slash Health First Indiana funding to local health departments by 73%, a decision that has major implications for Fishers’ public health operations in 2026.

On Thursday morning, the Fishers Board of Health approved a required budget report to the state, detailing 2024 expenditures and outlining projections for the next two years. The report includes a response plan to address the steep reduction in state funding.

After a thorough review of departmental revenues and expenses, city officials offered one key reassurance: no current staff will lose their jobs. However, one open nursing position will remain unfilled. Savings are also being achieved through planned reductions in rent—thanks to the department’s upcoming move into the under-construction Community Center—as well as cuts to utilities, maintenance, and staff training. Staff emphasized that while training will be scaled back, essential professional development will continue.

Initially, the projected 2026 budget showed a deficit of $480,000. The cost-cutting measures outlined above have trimmed that gap to $200,000. Mayor Scott Fadness told the board that his administration will work with the City Council to identify funding covering the shortfall in the city’s 2026 budget process.

One area that will take a hit is funding for what Mayor Fadness described as “stakeholders” in the community—organizations or initiatives the Health Department has supported in past years. That external support will be reduced due to the loss of state dollars.

While the Health Department collects some revenue through service fees, the majority of its funding comes from local property taxes and Health First Indiana allocations. Unlike most state funding, which follows a July–June fiscal year, local health department funds from the state are allocated on a calendar-year basis.

Mayor Fadness pointed to one reason behind the legislature’s decision to cut funding: many local health departments across Indiana have not yet spent the funds they were previously granted under Health First Indiana. Statewide, more than $40 million remains unused. Fishers, however, has fully utilized its share.