Considering what is spent on new roundabouts and road work, does the city run a deficit each year? And if so, how much?
There seems to be a great deal of confusion about our city finances. Many believe what they read on certain social media pages that Carmel is in a deficit, we can’t pay our bills, our tax rates are sure to increase very soon … and the sky is falling.
The truth is, we have a balanced budget, we pay all of our bills (on time, with $56.8 million in the bank at the end of 2018), our city tax rate remained pretty much the same and we generate plenty of revenue to make our debt payments without any sky falling.
It is common to confuse headlines about budget deficits in Washington with the budgets of our local city government.
It is common to confuse headlines about budget deficits in Washington with the budgets of our local city government. But cities play under very different rules. Under state law, we must have a balanced budget each year. While the federal government borrows money for its operating budget, cities only borrow for infrastructure needs.
The city of Carmel generates enough tax revenues to operate efficiently on an annual basis without having to borrow money.
As for building roundabouts and roads, we try to be proactive by investing now to build infrastructure BEFORE it is too late – a strategy that helps us keep ahead of the growth, keep our local economy booming and ensure that both current and future residents and commercial taxpayers will share the responsibility of those costs.
Authored by Laura Campbell, Ron Carter, Sue Finkam, Anthony Green, Bruce Kimball, Kevin Rider and Jeff Worrell