Richmond Common Council members found thick binders containing the city’s 2027 preliminary budget at their seats prior to their Sept. 8 meeting.
It’s the second budget cycle in council’s three-year mandate for the city to balance its budget, and Beth Fields, the city’s director of strategic initiatives, said 21 city funds are balanced. However, two others are only structurally balanced, using cash reserves only to pay for capital expenditures, and five more will use cash reserves for operational needs.
Mayor Ron Oler said it’s the best budget he’s seen in a long time, and he looks forward to 2029 when a city-adopted local income tax will take effect. During 2028, the city can adopt up to a 1.2% municipal tax rate. He said that the city now provides the best services it can, but it responds slowly because of understaffing. By 2030, he said, the city’s responses should be speedier.
Council has time to review the budget and ask questions before a budget ordinance is presented for first reading Sept. 21. Council will then meet Sept. 22 as its Committee of the Whole to hear departmental budget presentations.
The budget’s public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 5 with adoption expected Oct. 19, well before the state’s Nov. 2 deadline.
Before then, budget information must be uploaded to the state Department of Local Government Finance’s Gateway transparency website. All Wayne County budgets are accessible through links at https://wwn.to/budgets26.
Vehicle charging grant
Alison Zajdel, representing the city’s Environmental Sustainability Commission, requested permission to join a Charging Smart cohort funded through the U.S. Department of Energy. The cohort, which will last through May, will evaluate the city’s electric vehicle infrastructure.
Zajdel said the city has already been identified for the program and just needs to formally accept its cohort spot. She said it’s a no-cost program now that the commission has the bandwidth to handle working toward EV goals.
Zajdel also updated council about 250 trees planted with grants that also provide initial care after planting. When the trees are most vulnerable, she said, others will water and prune to provide better survival odds.
A public tree inventory has now been completed, and work has begun on a management plan for the city’s tree canopy. Knowing tree conditions helps the city plan to remove trees rather than reacting only in emergency situations.
Other issues
- Oler said that Flaherty & Collins will open a temporary leasing office in October for the 6Main apartment project. Two model units will be available to tour. Sometime in October, Oler expects to dedicate a plaque that commemorates the 1968 downtown explosions on the 6Main site.
- Council approved appropriating $46,416.70 to the finance department for contractual services by Baker Tilly consultants.
- Council assigned to its finance committee an ordinance that would permit Richmond Sanitary District to accept a $23,794 Indiana Department of Environmental Management grant to dispose of hazardous waste. The district will partner with the county, opening the service to all Wayne and Union county residents
- Council approved Richmond Police Department receiving a $4,500 grant from the Drug Free Wayne County Partnership for its K-9 units.
A version of this article appeared in the September 16 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
