Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness and Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren go before the City Council Monday evening with the city’s 2027 budget proposal. Earlier that day, both men sat down at City Hall for a wide-ranging conversation about what’s in the spending plan — and about the state tax changes reshaping how it gets paid for.
Hultgren said the all-in proposal, combining operating, capital and debt service, totals about $224 million, up from the $203.6 million the council adopted for 2026.
Fadness said operating costs grow incrementally while capital spending swings year to year, because the city banks cash and then spends it on large one-time items. That matters more now, he said, with municipal borrowing costs running much higher — a change from years when the city financed fleet vehicles at about 1% and now buys them with cash.
Property taxes remain the biggest question mark. Hultgren said the city expects about $72.8 million in property tax revenue in 2027, while the state’s Senate Enrolled Act 1 homestead deduction phase-in steadily reduces assessed value. Fadness said the city is forecasting a property tax rate increase of about 6.7 cents, its first in years, even as the homestead deduction climbs toward 66% of assessed value.
“I can’t even really articulate to the individual homeowner what it’s going to mean to them specifically,” Fadness said. Generally, he added, residents should see a marked slowdown in property tax increases, and in many cases an actual reduction.
Department highlights from the conversation:
Public works. Capital spending more than doubles. Hultgren tied that largely to sewer work that wasn’t in the 2026 budget — panel replacements and pump station projects — following the HSE utility acquisition that took the city from about 100 miles of sewer pipe to more than 400, and from 29 lift stations to 53.
Streets. The city is setting aside $1 million to begin work on failing concrete streets in two or three older neighborhoods, where reconstruction runs $800,000 to $900,000 per 1,000 feet. Resurfacing holds at 15 to 18 miles. Fadness said the 116th Street traffic signal is “on the priority list” but not committed for 2027; staff are checking whether poles pulled from intersections converted to roundabouts can be reused. A new signal costs $500,000 to $700,000.
Police. Body camera contracts alone run about $750,000 a year — “equal to having six additional police officers,” Fadness said. Asked about Flock camera misuse cases elsewhere in Indiana, Fadness said Fishers has had no such incidents and no related discipline, and that officers who misused the system would be held accountable.
Fire. Thirty recruits started this month, mostly replacing retirements. The city plans a fourth ambulance, likely at Station 93 on Allisonville Road.
Parks. Agri Park West is scheduled to open in spring 2027, and a country store is coming to the original Agri Park.
Community Center. Projected 2027 net income tops $257,000, reaching self-sufficiency ahead of the three-year timeline. Fadness said the revenue stays in that fund for building upkeep.
On staffing, Hultgren said departments requested roughly a dozen new positions. The budget funds one — an additional detective.
Fadness summed up the plan this way: “I think this budget is boring in some regard, and I think the world needs a little more boring right now.”\This podcast is sponsored by Citizens State Bank.
Listen to the full conversation with Mayor Fadness and Deputy Mayor Hultgren here, or at the link below.
