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.

Mayor Scott Fadness will propose a total city budget of $224 million for 2027 when he addresses the Fishers City Council Monday night.

That compares with the council’s approved 2026 spending plan of $203.6 million.

The mayor and Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren confirmed the bottom-line number in a podcast interview early Monday morning.

Department presentations were made to the City Council Finance Committee earlier this month. The biggest single driver was Public Works, which requested about $17.9 million, up 21%, largely on a doubling of capital spending for wastewater infrastructure following the city’s acquisition of HSE Utilities. Police sought $2.46 million, up 10%, while the fire department’s request was essentially flat.

A public hearing on the budget is also set for Monday night. Council adoption is scheduled for Oct. 12.

This story will be updated later today with a link to the podcast.

Jim Shella covered the Indiana Statehouse for WISH-TV, Channel 8, for decades. He retired several years ago, but he never stopped paying attention. He still writes commentary for Forefront, the opinion section of the Indianapolis Business Journal.

His most recent column, published Sept. 18, is mostly about data centers and the bipartisan anxiety they are generating across Indiana. But the part that stopped me cold came at the end.

Shella wrote that he checked his voter registration online and discovered he had been removed from the rolls. So had his wife. He has voted regularly for 40 years.

If it can happen to Jim Shella, it can happen to anyone.

I checked my own registration the moment I finished reading his column. I am still registered. The whole thing took about a minute.

Indiana has been working its voter rolls hard. The secretary of state’s election division mails address-confirmation postcards as part of routine list maintenance, and a registration can be canceled when that mail comes back undeliverable and the voter never responds. Separately, House Enrolled Act 1680, in effect since July 1, 2025, requires county officials to demand proof of citizenship from anyone who registered using a temporary BMV credential number. Court filings reported in June by the Indiana Capital Chronicle showed 1,625 of those registrations had been rejected or canceled.

None of that necessarily explains what happened to the Shellas, and I am not going to guess. The point is simpler. The rolls are changing, and the voter is usually the last to find out.

Checking takes almost no effort. Go to indianavoters.in.gov. You can confirm your registration status, find your polling place, preview your ballot, or register for the first time — all in the same place.

The deadline matters. Indiana closes its rolls 29 days before Election Day, one of the earliest cutoffs in the country. That means Monday, Oct. 5. Online applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. that day, and mailed forms must be postmarked by then. Early in-person voting in Hamilton County begins Tuesday, Oct. 6. Applications for a mailed absentee ballot are due Oct. 22. Polls are open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.

There is plenty on the Hamilton County ballot to justify the trip: four Hamilton Southeastern Schools board seats with no incumbents running, the Indiana Senate District 31 race, the contest for county sheriff and the 5th Congressional District.

As always, my message is this. Register, educate yourself, then cast your ballot Nov. 3, or earlier if early voting suits you better.

That is how democracy works.

Josh Perry credits Hamilton Southeastern Schools with preparing him for college. Now, as an HSE parent and candidate for the District 2 school board seat, he wants to help preserve that academic preparation while expanding opportunities for students pursuing other paths.

Perry joins me on the latest LarryInFishers podcast to discuss his candidacy, school finances, teacher retention and how board members should handle disagreements.

An HSE High School graduate with children attending Harrison Parkway Elementary, Perry studied agricultural education at Purdue before building a career in insurance. He says managing a team has taught him the importance of listening, working through competing ideas and making people comfortable disagreeing.

Those lessons shape a central theme of his campaign: bringing a steady, collaborative approach to the school board.

Perry says board members should be able to cast different votes and explain their positions respectfully. Once a decision is made, however, he believes members should help carry it out and avoid continued political grandstanding that he says can damage the district’s reputation.

We also discuss Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness’ endorsement of Perry. Asked how he would respond if city and school interests diverged, Perry says his responsibility as a board member would be to do what is best for the schools, while maintaining honest communication with city leaders.

On finances, Perry supports the operating referendum, citing district presentations outlining projected budget shortfalls. He says competitive teacher pay and benefits, academic programs and opportunities beyond the traditional college pathway should be priorities.

If the referendum fails, Perry says protecting a competitive compensation package for teachers would be important. Before supporting changes to staffing, programs or building use, he would want to examine long-term enrollment projections.

Teacher retention, in his view, also depends on workplace culture. Perry says greater stability and less board infighting could help make HSE a place where educators want to work.

Our conversation explores his support for the HSE Network Model and opportunities in the skilled trades. Perry says partnerships with employers could help the district determine whether programs prepare students for worthwhile careers.

We also cover his experience as an instructional assistant working with students with emotional and behavioral disabilities, school safety and artificial intelligence. On AI, Perry favors teaching students how to use the technology as a tool and recognize when its answers are wrong.

Asked how voters should evaluate him after a year in office, Perry points to following through on campaign commitments, collaboration and progress toward a strategic plan.

The LarryInFishers podcast series is sponsored by Citizens State Bank.

Listen to the full podcast at this link for the link below.

What would Cyrus Keck bring to the Hamilton Southeastern School Board? In my latest LarryInFishers podcast, the District 2 candidate discusses why he is running, his priorities for school spending and how he would approach the board’s responsibilities.

Keck says friends who are teachers encouraged him to enter the race. With two sons in HSE schools, he also has a personal interest in the district’s future. He points to his experience chairing the board at Grace Church as preparation for setting budgets, reviewing policies and overseeing leadership while leaving daily operations to administrators.

Supporting teachers is a recurring theme throughout our conversation. Keck says compensation, benefits and a culture that values educators are important to retaining staff. If the district faces further budget reductions, he says protecting teaching positions would be his first priority.

Keck also expresses strong support for the operating referendum, encouraging listeners to vote for it even if they choose another school board candidate. He acknowledges that he would need a deeper understanding of the district’s expenses before making specific spending decisions.

We discuss financial accountability and how a board should evaluate its superintendent. Keck identifies budget performance, student outcomes and staff satisfaction as areas he would examine, along with clear annual goals and regular progress reviews.

On charter schools, Keck says he is not fundamentally opposed to the concept. But before supporting a proposal, he would want a clearly identified problem, evidence that a charter would offer a better solution and an understanding of the financial impact on other students.

The conversation also covers the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association’s endorsement of Keck. He says he made no promises of specific pay or benefit increases to secure that support and would exercise his own judgment if he disagreed with the association.

Other topics include college and career pathways, artificial intelligence in education, support for students with additional needs and civil discussion when families disagree about school policies.

Asked how voters should judge his performance if elected, Keck offers a straightforward wish: “I think we need to get back to the school board just being kind of boring.”

The LarryInFishers podcast series is sponsored by Citizens State Bank.

Listen at this link, or the link below to the full podcast.

I run a one-person newsroom out of Fishers. No lawyers on retainer, no network behind me. If the mayor’s office, the Hamilton Southeastern school board or a state legislator ever decided LarryInFishers had written one story too many and quietly took me off the list, I would have almost no leverage beyond saying so out loud.

That is why the fight over First Amendment press access in Washington this weekend matters here.

On Friday, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he was “banning” CNN, MS NOW (the former MSNBC) and Politico from the White House, accusing them of reporting “FICTION and LIES.” Saturday morning, it stopped being a social media post. MS NOW’s Akayla Gardner was asked to hand over her badge; a Secret Service officer told her it had been disabled and that the decision was “above him.” CNN’s Betsy Klein, who has covered the building since the Obama administration, found her credential deactivated. Politico’s Cheyenne Haslett was turned away at the gate.

Trump pointed to no specific story. He said he was “tired of reading and seeing fake news,” and told a reporter in the room, “I dislike dishonest press, like you. I think you’re terrible.”

That is the whole case, and it is exactly why the ban fails.

The law is not new

The controlling authority is nearly 50 years old and comes from the federal appeals court in Washington. In Sherrill v. Knight (1977), the D.C. Circuit held that once the White House opens its press facilities to reporters generally, it cannot deny a journalist access “arbitrarily or for less than compelling reasons.” A reporter who is shut out is entitled to notice of the factual basis, a chance to respond and a written statement of reasons.

Courts have enforced it. In November 2018, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly — a Trump appointee — ordered the White House to restore CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s press pass on due process grounds. In 2020, the D.C. Circuit upheld an injunction blocking the suspension of Playboy correspondent Brian Karem’s credential, ruling the White House “may not rely on unarticulated standards of professionalism” to justify pulling a pass.

Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told CNN’s Brian Stelter the current ban is “flatly unconstitutional” and “textbook viewpoint discrimination.” The criticism is not partisan. George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, a frequent Trump defender and Fox News contributor, wrote on X that “barring disfavored media from the White House is a terrible precedent and practice.”

Indiana already ran this experiment

Hoosiers have seen a smaller version. On Oct. 14, 2021, Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office refused to let Abdul-Hakim Shabazz into a Statehouse news conference. Shabazz is an attorney and a journalist who has covered Indiana politics for roughly two decades — he publishes Indy Politics, writes columns and has been a familiar voice on Indianapolis radio. He had RSVP’d. Rokita’s office said the event was for “actual journalists,” not “gossip columnists,” pointing to the tongue-in-cheek disclaimer on Shabazz’s newsletter.

The ACLU of Indiana sued on Feb. 7, 2022. Rokita’s lawyers moved to dismiss, arguing there is no constitutional right to attend a government news conference in person, that a livestream was good enough, and that the Supreme Court “has never recognized a constitutional obligation for a government official to disclose government-held information, to respond to a particular reporter in a press conference, or to otherwise interact with the media.”

That argument was never tested. On March 28, 2022, Rokita settled and agreed to let Shabazz attend his news conferences on the same footing as every other reporter. Indiana’s attorney general folded, and folded fast, because the position was not a winner.

The strongest argument on the other side

The administration’s best card is Associated Press v. Budowich. After the AP kept using “Gulf of Mexico,” the White House cut it out of pool events. On June 6, 2025, a divided D.C. Circuit panel let the administration keep the AP out of the Oval Office and Air Force One while the case proceeded, reasoning those are not spaces the government has opened to the press generally. Judge Cornelia Pillard dissented.

But look at what that panel did not do. It left the AP’s East Room access alone. It drew a line around a few small, physically limited rooms where a rotating pool has always stood in for everyone else. Expelling three news organizations from the entire White House complex — briefing room, workspace, grounds — is not that. And the stated reason here is the coverage itself. Budowich turned on the character of the space. This turns on the content of the reporting, the one justification the First Amendment squarely forbids.

Why a Fishers reader should care

None of this requires anyone to like CNN, MS NOW or Politico, any more than defending Shabazz required agreeing with a word he wrote. The principle runs one direction: if a president can pull a credential over a story, so can a governor, an attorney general, a mayor or a school board.

Indiana’s Open Door Law and Access to Public Records Act rest on the same idea — the public’s business is done in public, and reporters are in the room as stand-ins for residents who cannot be. The day an elected official gets to hand-pick which journalists are allowed in, the information you get about your own government stops being a right and becomes a gift, revocable at will.

I would rather it stay a right.

Fishers drivers face new roundabout restrictions, continuing road closures and weekend interstate disruptions as construction moves forward heading into the week of Sept. 21, according to the city’s weekly construction report.

Beginning on or after Monday, Sept. 21, the fifth leg of the Southeastern Parkway and Olio Road roundabout will permanently close. Olio Road will narrow to one lane in each direction between the roundabout and a point just south of 136th Street.

During this phase, 136th Street west of Olio Road will close for approximately three weeks, with traffic detoured using 134th Street. Access from I-69 to IU Health Fishers will remain open via the bypass lane, and emergency access will be maintained.

A separate widening project continues to close 136th Street to through traffic between Southeastern Parkway and Prairie Baptist Road. Drivers should follow the signed detour along those two roads.

At 116th Street and Allisonville Road, traffic remains reduced to one lane in each direction, with designated turn lanes. That pattern is expected to continue through early October, weather permitting. The west connection of Fishers Crossing Boulevard to Allisonville Road is closed, requiring shopping center customers to use another entrance. Businesses remain open.

Other work includes lane restrictions through October on USA Parkway north of 106th Street and possible periodic restrictions at 131st Street and Brooks School Road during utility relocation.

Resurfacing work on 96th Street between Carroll and Olio roads begins the week of Sept. 21. Milling is scheduled for Sept. 25, followed by base repairs and paving the week of Sept. 28. Drivers should anticipate rolling closures. The intersection of 96th Street and Cyntheanne Road is fully open.

On I-69, Clear Path 465 work will bring lane and ramp restrictions Sept. 18–21. The southbound ramps to Binford Boulevard and 82nd Street are scheduled to close from 9 p.m. Saturday until 5 a.m. Monday.

Southbound I-69 is expected to open in its final configuration on or after Sept. 21, restoring access from the 82nd Street ramp to westbound I-465 and southbound Binford Boulevard. The ramp to southbound Binford will then remain narrowed to one lane until mid-October.

Schedules are weather-dependent and subject to change. The complete report below includes additional projects, utility work and detailed closure schedules.

Continue reading Fishers road update: Roundabout changes, 136th Street closures and I-69 restrictions ahead →

Hoosier Crossroads Conference play continued Friday night with another challenging evening for Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern, as both schools fell to unbeaten conference opponents.

Fishers dropped a 49-10 decision at home to Brownsburg, while Hamilton Southeastern traveled to Westfield and came away on the short end of a 36-7 score.

The Tigers (0-4, 0-2 HCC) found themselves facing another of the conference’s top programs, and Brownsburg showed why it remains among the favorites in Class 6A. The Bulldogs controlled the line of scrimmage, piling up 227 rushing yards and 412 total yards while converting six of nine third-down opportunities.

Fishers’ offense generated 208 total yards, including 185 through the air.

Quarterback Drew Wessel completed 12 of 23 passes for 185 yards and one touchdown but was intercepted three times. He also connected with Proll on a 23-yard completion.

Despite being outgained on the ground 227-27, the Tigers avoided turnovers on downs and converted two of nine third-down opportunities. Brownsburg finished with 21 first downs compared with nine for Fishers and converted all five of its trips inside the red zone into points.

Hamilton Southeastern (1-3, 0-3 HCC) also faced a difficult assignment against unbeaten Westfield.

The Shamrocks remained one of the conference’s hottest teams, defeating the Royals 36-7 to improve to 5-0 overall. Hamilton Southeastern managed one touchdown but was unable to slow a Westfield team that has now won its first five games of the season.

The Royals have now opened conference play with losses to Avon and Westfield after beginning the season with a victory over North Central sandwiched between defeats to Fort Wayne Carroll and Avon.

For both Fishers schools, the early conference schedule has proven to be among the toughest in Indiana. Fishers has opened against Carmel, Lawrence North, Noblesville and Brownsburg, while Hamilton Southeastern has faced Fort Wayne Carroll, Avon and Westfield in addition to its win over North Central.

Both teams will look to regroup next week as conference play continues, with the focus shifting toward finding consistency on both sides of the football before the second half of the regular season.  Fishers will travel to Avon and HSE faces Zionsville at home

U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz is demanding that Democratic challenger J.D. Ford remove or correct campaign website statements about her finances and congressional record, while challenging him to a public debate on health care, Big Tech and data centers.

The Republican congresswoman outlined her objections in a Sept. 18 letter to Ford. The two are competing for Indiana’s 5th Congressional District seat, which includes Hamilton County.

“These are not differences of political opinion. These are objectively verifiable facts,” Spartz said in a campaign news release. “If Mr. Ford has evidence to support these allegations, he should produce it. Otherwise, he should correct the record.”

Ford’s campaign website alleges that Spartz traded $5 million in stocks in industries she regulated, resisted congressional stock-trading reforms, violated disclosure rules and used her office to enrich herself.

Spartz denies those allegations. In her letter, she says she has never personally owned or traded individual stocks and that the transactions cited by Ford involved her husband Jason’s retirement account.

A congressional transaction report included with her letter identifies a September 2024 sale of Simon Property Group stock as a transaction made through Jason Spartz’s Roth IRA. It lists the sale in a disclosure range of $1,000,001 to $5 million, rather than specifying an exact $5 million amount. Spartz says the proceeds were substantially below $5 million and were used to purchase farmland.

Spartz also disputes the claim that she opposed stock-trading reform, citing her July 22 vote for H.R. 7008, the Stop Insider Trading Act. The House’s official roll call confirms that she voted for the measure, which passed 232-198.

On financial disclosures, Spartz says the House Ethics Committee confirmed that a filing questioned in earlier news coverage complied with applicable requirements. The materials supplied with her letter do not include that committee confirmation.

She also rejects Ford’s assertion that congressional service enriched her, saying her financial position has not materially changed because of her service.

Beyond the financial dispute, Spartz proposes a debate covering both candidates’ legislative records, campaign contributions and committee service. She disputes Ford’s claims about her health care and technology positions and says she has refused campaign contributions from Big Tech.

In a separate Sept. 18 letter to media organizations, Spartz asks them to independently verify disputed allegations against public records before running advertisements or other paid communications containing those claims.

Ford’s response to the letters was not included in the materials provided for this story. His campaign website contained the disputed allegations when reviewed for this report.

The Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office announced convictions in four trials over the past two weeks, with three of the cases built on Fishers Police Department investigations.

“It’s been an extraordinarily busy trial week for us here in Hamilton County,” the office said in a post on its official Facebook page.

Jurors in the first case heard evidence Sept. 8 through Sept. 11 against Giovanny Javier De Jesus De Jesus, who faced two counts each of attempted murder and battery by means of a deadly weapon.

Fishers police responded July 21, 2025, to a report of a person shot on Benton Drive and found a woman with multiple gunshot wounds. She was taken to a hospital in critical condition. The office said De Jesus De Jesus fired at the woman and at the 18-month-old child in her arms as she tried to leave a residence. Officers arrested him the same day.

The jury deliberated about two hours before returning guilty verdicts on all counts, the office said. Sentencing is set for Oct. 9.

A second jury trial began Monday, Sept. 14, in Hamilton Superior Court 1. Xinjun Zhu faced five counts: two counts of rape and one count each of sexual battery, criminal confinement and resisting law enforcement.

Those charges followed a Fishers police investigation into a report from a woman who said she was sexually assaulted while receiving a massage at Massage Finesse, a Fishers business. After three days of evidence, jurors convicted Zhu on both rape counts, as well as sexual battery and resisting law enforcement. The office did not report a verdict on the criminal confinement count. Zhu is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 8.

A bench trial began Tuesday, Sept. 15, in Hamilton Circuit Court in State of Indiana v. Natalia Arreaza Ramirez, who faced charges of aggravated battery, battery resulting in serious bodily injury, criminal recklessness and possession of cocaine.

Prosecutors said the charges stem from a June 2, 2024, encounter in which Arreaza Ramirez stabbed a person at a party at her home. Fishers police investigated. After two days of evidence, the judge convicted her on all four counts. Sentencing is set for Oct. 14.

A second bench trial that also began Sept. 15 involved Kenneth Guy, charged with a single count of dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death.

Westfield police responded Jan. 27 to a report of an unresponsive man and suspected an overdose based on evidence at the scene, according to the prosecutor’s office. Detectives later identified Guy as the source of the drugs that killed the victim. The judge found Guy guilty after two days of evidence. He will be sentenced Dec. 1.

“The convictions in each of these cases are the direct result of the commitment of our law enforcement officers and prosecutors to public safety,” the office said. “We take violent and deadly crimes seriously, and we will utilize every resource at our disposal to ensure those committing such acts in Hamilton County are held accountable.”