Mayor Henry announces proposed 2024 City budget

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - Mayor Tom Henry and City Controller Garry Morr held a press conference on Thursday to announce the mayor’s proposed 2024 budget for the City of Fort Wayne.

The proposal includes plans for investments in neighborhood infrastructure improvements, investments in public safety, and upgrades to the city’s parks.

The Mayor’s Office laid out budget highlights below. You can read the full proposal here.

• Balanced budget with a 4.6% reduction in the City’s tax rate
• Continuation of commitment to neighborhood infrastructure projects with a planned investment of $44.6 million, which includes $33.2 million for streets, roads and bridges, $9.3 million for sidewalks and alleys, and $2.1 million for trails. The proposed list includes the Leesburg Road extension with a roundabout at Main Street and Leesburg Road, concrete street rehabilitation on East Cook Road, improvements to the Bluffton Road Bridge and Goeglein Road Bridge, and trail expansions on the Pufferbelly, Covington Road, and Liberty Mills Road trails.
• The Fort Wayne Police Department will have its 68th recruit class that will keep the budgeted number of officers patrolling City streets to protect the public at 500. The FWPD will expand the drone as first responder program. The FWPD will also receive new hand-held radios for officers, as well as additional moving radars for increased traffic enforcement.
• The Fort Wayne Fire Department plans to add five new engines in the first quarter of 2024. The 96th recruit class is planned and will bring the number of firefighters to 375. Planned drone technology will assist fire investigators at emergencies to aid in gathering data and temperature analysis on hazardous materials releases, hot spot determination during large fires, and photo documentation.
• Investments in maintenance projects through the Parks & Recreation Department will total $3 million. There will also be improvements to Franke Park, Brewer Park, Packard Park’s master plan work will continue, and there are plans for renovations to the Mechanic Street Bridge at Swinney Park.
• The City’s information technology department will have cyber security as a focus
• Utilization of the State of Indiana’s allowable tax levy to assist in preserving funding to provide essential services
• The property tax supported budget including LIT – public safety, also known as the Civil City budget, totals $235.1 million. This budget does not include Fort Wayne City Utilities, which has its own budget funded by ratepayers.

The budget proposal will be presented at the Fort Wayne City Council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 26.

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