City Council approves 2019 budget for Columbus

Columbus’ proposed budget for 2019 passed its final reading at Tuesday night’s city council meeting. The council approved the nearly $61 million proposal unanimously.

Jamie Brinegar, the city’s director of finance, explained that the proposed 2019 budget is 4.3 percent higher than 2018’s budget. He explains that the lion’s share of that increase is due to the new local income tax passed by the Bartholomew County Council. Brinegar says this increased funding will allow the city to lower the property tax burdenin the coming years.

Of the total 2019 proposed budget, $20.8 million will be used for public safety needs, $9.9 million would go to public works for things like enginnering and public transportation and $4.9 million will go to projects to improve roads throughout the city. Brinegar noted the city’s good financial position, pointing out that only $1.4 million will go towards debt service, a marked decrease from the 2018 budget. Other highlights he mentioned include the hiring of two additional School Resource Officers for coverage at middle schools and increasing employee salaries as the new salary study suggested. Brinegar noted that the school resource officers will be reimbursed by BCSC. As for the salary adjustments, eligible public safety officers will see an increase taking them to 50 percent of the “mid-point” of the new salary ranges. Eligible civilian employees will see increases to take them to one-third on the “mid-point” for their salary ranges.