I understand that annual government budgets can be geeky to understand, but I have found they are important because it says a lot about the priorities of your local elected officials.  Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness presented his 2025 budget proposal to the City Council Finance Committee August 22.  The mayor proposes the spending plan, the City Council provides final approval.

The mayor is asking Council members to approve $182.5 million in spending next calendar year.  The budget approved for 2024 totaled $164 million.

The mayor is requesting a 6% pay raise for city employees.  For comparison, federal government workers are expected to receive a 2% raise in 2025.  The mayor proposed, and the Council approved, a pay hike in the middle of 2024, providing a flat $2,500 annually for public safety workers and a flat $1,000 wage increase for civilian employees.  The mayor argued pay for city workers was falling behind competitively.

Fishers decided previously to go with one network for health insurance, which has allowed Fishers employees to not see an increase in health insurance premiums next year.  The city contracts with Community Health.

Fadness told the Finance Committee he is proposing increasing the employee contribution match to the “457” employee retirement plan by $1,000 per year, upping the total match to a maximum of $2,500 per year.  A “457” plan is roughly similar to a private sector 401(k) retirement savings plan.

It is impressive that Fishers will fund additional police officers in local schools, buy a new fire truck, add a second Agri Park and add other items without increasing the city’s part of the local property tax rate.  That rate is $0.707.

Mayor Fadness has been able to keep the property tax rate stable, even in the midst of building a new City Hall/Arts Center, constructing an Events Center on schedule to open in November and a new Community Center also under construction near Hoosier Road Elementary School, set to open next year.  For full disclosure, the mayor did convince the City Council to enact a food & beverage tax to partially fund the Events Center.  Also, the city sewer rate go up $3 per month, with Fadness saying this will cover increased costs.

The City Council is holding a public hearing at the session scheduled for September 9.  This is your chance to comment on the budget planned for your city next year.

After posting the story Saturday that Current Publishing and Public Radio Station WFYI were jointly sponsoring a forum for Hamilton Southeastern School Board candidates in the upcoming election October 1, I started getting messages immediately about the date of the event.

Turns out, the initial date for the forum, October 1, is the same night as the Hamilton County Republican Party Fall Dinner.  Since there are several HSE School Board candidates with ties to the local Republican Party, it was unlikely those candidates would attend the forum.

I understand the organizers were not aware of this conflict and efforts are underway to find a new date for the forum.  Once that is announced, I will post it here.

Two journalistic enterprises, Current Publishing and public radio station WFY I, are planning a candidate forum for the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board election.  The event is scheduled for Tuesday, October 1, at 7pm.

The forum will be held at the Fishers City Hall Theatre.  This is free to the public, but tickets will be issued to handle the size of the crowd.  Tickets will be available at a later date.

This is an at-large election, meaning all voters within the HSE District can vote in the three township races – Delaware, Fall Creek and Wayne Townships.

I commend Current & WFYI for sponsoring this candidate forum, both have excellent journalists working there.  The bigger questions is – which candidates will choose to appear and which will not?

The weekly road construction listing for the work week starting Monday, September 2 (which also happens to be Labor Day) mostly provides the latest information for ongoing projects in and near Fishers.  But, as you almost certainly know, there are plenty of ongoing projects to update.

Here is the update, as provided by the City of Fishers:

Continue reading Road construction update for the week starting Monday, September 2 →

The Youth Mentoring Initiative (YMI), providing adult mentors to students in the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools, had its biggest annual fund-raising event at City Hall Thursday morning, the Mayor’s Breakfast.  The main part of this year’s event was a conversation between Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness and Marissa Andretti, Vice President of Andretti Motorsports and daughter of Michael Andretti.

The Andretti auto racing operation, which competes in seven different racing series, has a new headquarters building under construction in Fishers near the airport, just north of 96th Street.  Fadness praised the relationship between the city and the Andretti family.

The new Andretti building is scheduled to have the first phase of the construction project complete by spring of 2025.  Marissa Andretti says she and her father Michael both already live in Fishers.

She says all the plans for the new headquarters are tied to four “pillars” – sustainability, technology, employee wellness and community.

Another panel featured 3 adults and one third-grade student, which discussed the value of his mentor to him.  The young man did a nice job before a room full of adults.

YMI Executive Director Brittany Rayburn told the crowd there is a current waiting list of 70 students needing a mentor, with a particular need for men mentors.

If you would like to explore the possibility of becoming a mentor for a student in the HSE Schools, use this link.

You can also donate to YMI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, at this link.

Fishers firefighters were able to safely handle a home fire at Sandstone Lakes Wednesday when a car apparently hit a residential home.  Those in the home and car were safely removed from danger by the Fishers Fire personnel, resulting in no injuries.

Fire officials say the blaze was quickly extinguished.  They credit Fishers Police and CenterPoint Energy for their assistance at the scene.

No other details were released.

“There are many opportunities for celebration in tonight’s report, and I am happy to share those with you.”  That’s how Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Deputy Superintendent Matt Kegley opened his presentation on academics in the HSE School District Wednesday evening.  Although he emphasized there is always room for improvement, overall, these numbers are good news.

Dr. Kegley pointed to 5 elementary schools that had reached the state goal of 95% of 3rd-grade students passing the I-READ3 reading exam.  There were comparisons with scores for the past 3 years, including 2024.  There were also charts comparing HSE scores with those of school districts by which HSE is often compared.

Demographic groups of students within the HSE system were compared in the report, with Hispanic students having the most difficulty academically, based on the test results.

Individual buildings needing improvement have a school improvement plan aimed at helping struggling students.  Dr. Kegley said the teachers and administrators at the building level know best what the students need.

New state requirements mandate 3rd-grade students failing the I-READ test to take 3rd grade again, unless the student goes to summer school and passes the I-READ test there.

You can review the entire, detailed report with plenty of numbers at this link.

For those of you traversing the construction zone that is 146th Street and Allisonville Road, be aware that Hamilton County Highway is about to restrict lanes even further to keep the work going.  See the update provided below by the Highway Department below:

Continue reading Watch for lane restrictions in coming days at 146th & Allisonville Rd construction site →

The City of Fishers took another step toward a city-wide trash collection service Tuesday morning when the Board of Public Works and Safety unanimously voted in favor of the final version of a 10-year trash collection service agreement with Republic.  The board consists of the mayor and his two appointees, Jeff Lantz and Jason Meyer.

The board held a public hearing on the proposed contract with Republic earlier in August.  The pact is now in its final form and that is the version approved by the board Tuesday.

Board members discussed what happens if local residents are not happy with the service provided by Republic.  City Attorney Lindsey Bennett said there is language in the contract if Republic fails to perform under the provisions of the agreement, if the city “reasonably believes” the vendor is not capable of providing the services.  There is also an opening to to terminate the pact at the 7-year mark of the 10-year contract.

The earliest start date for the city-wide trash collection service is January 15, but Mayor Scott Fadness made this clear – “We don’t start until we can deliver the services.”

The mayor had asked his Chief of Staff Jordin Alexander to look into surrounding communities on how they handle billing and customer service costs.  She said McCordsville has recently taken trash collection contract bids and vendors are charging $2 per month, with annual inflation adjustments.  “Our $2 admin fee seems on par with what the market is,” Alexander told the board.

Craig Lutz of Republic Services told the board his firm is ramping-up for the contract with Fishers.  Republic has been serving the greater Indianapolis area for 30 years.

The company is looking at current routes running in this area.  “There will be change and there will be adjustments we go through,” said Lutz.

Fadness emphasized that both the city and Republic have a lot of work ahead of them to get this rollout right.  He cited a recent conversation with a local Homeowners Association (HOA) that told him their trash collection costs have risen 70% over the past three contracts.

The mayor says he will ”look forward to saving hopefully a whole lot of money for our residents here in the City of Fishers.”

This action by the Board of Works is final approval of the contract language.  The City Council plans a public hearing and vote September 9, but that is limited to the rate schedule for this contract with Republic.

The contract language is available at this link.

For more details on the trash collection service, use this link.