Fort Wayne City Council approves budget, more than $1.3 million in cuts

The Fort Wayne City Council cut more than $1.3 million from next year's city budget Tuesday, including wages and liability insurance from multiple departments.

The budget that council approved 7-2 totals more than $290 million. Councilman Russ Jehl, R-2nd, opposed it because he wanted more funding for roads, and Councilman Jason Arp, R-4th, voted against it because of $300,000 going to Greater Fort Wayne.

The council unanimously approved cuts in the amount for wages across 16 departments totaling more than $407,000. The Council wants the cuts to effectively cancel out a 4% cost-of-living increase for city employees who already received a raise of more than $8,000 during the mid-year adjustment.

The goal of reversing the increase was to lessen what the "top of the work chain" would receive compared with those making only livable wages, according to members Jehl, Glynn Hines, D-at large, and Sharon Tucker, D-6th, who proposed the cuts.

However, the council's attorney, Joe Bonahoom, told members they cannot control how the cuts are handled by each department.

And City Controller Garry Morr confirmed the council does not have that power and said it was confusing for the governmental body to make the cut.

"Council can only tell you, here's how much money you have to spend by department," he said. "They cannot tell you specifically for each individual what you are going to pay that individual or position."

Morr said regardless of the cuts, every non-public safety city employee will still receive the 4% cost-of-living salary increase that council approved earlier this month.

The council also approved cutting more than $500,000 to liability insurance fees from 18 departments with a 5-3-1 vote. Council members Michelle Chambers, D-at large; Tom Freistroffer, R-at large; and Geoff Paddock, D-5th, opposed the cut. Arp abstained.

Freistroffer, Paddock and Arp said they were uncomfortable with the uncertainty of potential consequences of the decrease.

Councilmen Jehl and Tom Didier, R-3rd, proposed the cuts to liability insurance that was approved. The liability fees include multiple insurance policies, such as fraud and cybersecurity, for which each city department pays a part with legal services.

The city receives lawsuits filed daily. The city received three on Monday, Morr said. Part of liability fees pays for potential rulings where Fort Wayne owes money through a self-insurance fund set up by the city.

Tucker said she favored the cut because she was not able to meet with Morr and the city attorney to ask about the amount of funds needed for liability. If departments run out of funds for liability coverage, they can request the money from the City Council, which Tucker said she thinks would be granted.

"I believe that tonight's budget was a successful budget in making sure that we're able to do the No. 1 job we were hired to do and let's be good stewards of the tax dollars that we collect from the citizens of Fort Wayne," she said.

Morr said he is pleased overall with the amount of cuts made and the budget's approval.

"This is a solid budget, and the things that were cut were not large amounts," he said. "That makes all of us and the administration feel good that we put forward a solid budget. And the cuts that were made, (council said) come back if you need more to fund those, and we can do that."

Although the council approved more than $1.33 million in budget cuts, members originally proposed cutting nearly $5.3 million. Many proposals made by council members were withdrawn during the meeting.

Mayor Tom Henry said in a statement the minimal cuts made shows how well the city is doing financially.

"Fiscal discipline and management are critical as we work with residents, neighborhoods and businesses to invest in projects and initiatives that will make a lasting and meaningful difference," he said.