Budget Talks, Diwali Invitation, & More - 10/12/25

Hello neighbors,

This week marked another round of budget discussions, both from Carmel constituents and city council members, which I'll discuss below.

However, before we get into that, I did want to take a moment to tell you about the upcoming Carmel Diwali celebration!

On October 18 from 5 pm to 9 pm, join me on the Carter Green for an unforgettable night of decorations, traditional music, and family friendly activities that capture the essence of this beloved festival. We'll have delicious food from a variety of vendors and enjoy fun activities for all ages. Diwali is the Festival of Lights, and the evening will be complete with cold-spark fireworks as we celebrate the victory of light over darkness and good over evil in a night filled with culture, color, and connection.

I look forward to seeing you there!

CITY COUNCIL MEETING UPDATES

Public comments

• At the beginning of the meeting, we heard from several members and supporters of PrimeLife Enrichment who were concerned over the lack of funding for PrimeLife in the 2026 budget draft.

  • PrimeLife offers exercise classes, clubs, transportation, and many other vital services for seniors in our community.

• To those who spoke, Executive Director Gary Wagner, Marcia, Lisa Brooks, Lisa Brandt, Angela, Andrew, Cindy, Pearl, Beth, Jan, Mark, Matt, Mary, and Winnie: I understand your frustrations and I thank you for bringing your stories and concerns to the council. I am a firm believer in the mission of PrimeLife and support the incredible work this organization has done for our community's seniors. It is my hope that we can work together to find a way to fund Prime Life annually as we had promised to do in last year's budget.

  
  

Comments from Council 

• Council members spoke about how they were moved to support PrimeLife's funding by both their personal experiences with the organization, as well as the comments from its community members.

• There is still some uncertainty regarding the funding of Gazebo Concerts, however all members would like to see them continue. As your councilwoman, I believe that as Carmel taxpayers, residents should be able to experience the full benefits of living in this city.

• We need to ensure that things that make Carmel the most desirable city to live in are understood and valued by all and that we as a city continue to support them.

Carmel Redevelopment 

• Henry Metesky, Carmel redevelopment director, assured us that the redevelopment projects are progressing well.

Finance, Utilities, and Rules Committee  

• The committee sent the salary ordinance back to council with a negative recommendation.

  • More about this under the heading Ordinance D-2779-25

• Ordinance D-2780-25 and Ordinance D-2781-25 came back with positive recommendations, which are discuss below.

Land Use and Special Studies Committee  

• The committee discussed procedural changes to the rental ordinance. The language of the ordinance is acceptable, but we want council to send it back to Land Use in order to finalize and formalize the language as written to ensure that it meets the needs and intent. Rest assured, it will be back at the next council meeting.

Old Business

Ordinance D-2762-25

• This ordinance establishes a 15-minute parking space at the beginning of each block along Main Street from Knoll Ct to 1st Ave SE, regulating parking on Range Line from Main Street to 1st Street, and removes inconsistencies and duplications of code.

• We are waiting for a parking study to determine the best course of action.

  
  

Ordinance D-2779-25

• This ordinance, which returns to the council with unanimous negative recommendation from Finance, establishes the 2025 salaries for employees of the Executive Branch.

• We will use this ordinance to clean up outdated titles in the branch and revamps the salary assignments from a grading system to a range.

  
  

Ordinance D-2780-25

• Approved

• This ordinance removes the requirement that the Common Council publish notice for zoning map changes.

• Though this sounds serious, the Plan Commission already publishes 2 business days notice for zoning map changes, meaning that this requirement is redundant.

• In fact we as a council would like more time to discuss these projects at our land use meetings which are open to the public and we encourage citizen feedback at all these meetings.

  
  

Ordinance D-2781-25

• Approved

• This ordinance keeps vehicles from double parking in front of a particular resident’s home by creating a 15-minute unloading/loading zone on 2nd St SW west of Monon Blvd.

Public Hearings

Ordinance D-2785-25

• Establishes 2026 appropriations for the City of Carmel. Our general revenue forecast hasn’t changed and we're looking at $144,265,651 in 2026.

• As a reminder, we did not take a final vote on the budget at this meeting, but went over the priorities and continued progress in getting the budget approved.

• Overview of this discussion:

  • We affirmed budget priorities, like:

    • Keeping taxes at a flat rate

    • Ensuring that yearly spending does not exceed revenues 

    • Funding essential services, like utilities, safety, arts, parks, education and improving infrastructure

    • Cost of living adjustments for employees

    • Maintaining our capital reserves 

  • Unfortunately, one of the main considerations in reducing the gap between revenue and spending is reducing personnel, either through layoffs of hiring freezes.

    • Reductions will impact the Mayor’s office, Street department, FD, PD, Economic Development, Public Safety Quartermaster, Engineering, DOCS, Street/IT/Utilities

• The Mayor addressed the council and noted that Carmel's budget constraints are a direct result of Indiana Statehouse budget, which has crippled the ability of towns across Indiana to adequately fund many essential services and small-government initiatives. I wish to remind you all that only one party voted for this budget. She went on the say that we need to put aside "wants" for the city, including the Experience Carmel rebrand, in order to address the significant headwinds we're facing.

  
  

Comments from Public on Budget

• The council also heard from several members of the public on this budget:

  • Lt. Sean Sutton, president of fire union, approved of the fire department's funding, developing its middle management, and hiring 25 firefighters. He also reiterated his support for increased mental health support for our firefighters.

  • Jim Spelbring, city employee, advocated a pay increase for civilian employees since sworn employees had already received their increase in last years budget.

New Business

Ordinance D-2787-25

• Approved

• This ordinance vacates the Southern Portion of the Public Way Known as South Street within the D.W. Kinzer Subdivision.

  
  

Ordinance D-2789-25

• Approved

• This ordinance establishes 2026 maximum salaries for employees of the Carmel City Clerk.

  
  

Ordinance D-2791-25

• Discussion will continue at the next meetings

• Establishes 2026 salaries for Carmel’s elected officials.

• A long discussion arose between council members on the topic of COLA raises. In my view, this is a piddling amount of money to be arguing about roughly a total $6000 out of a $144M budget. If no raises will fund half the amount needed to run the gazebo concerts, so be it. However, we are your voice and we are such an insignificant amount of this budget that none of this matters. It's simply political theatre in my opinion.

  
  

CC-10-06-25-01

• Approved 

• Transfers $150,000.00 within the Finance Department Budget to a contract consulting line item related to long-term plans for the energy center including replacing and upgrading equipment 

  
  

Resolution CC-10-06-25-02

• Held for next week

• This is a resolution finding that the City 2026 property tax rate should not exceed 0.7783%, which is the same as the 2025 rate, and recommends how the DLGF should allocate the 2026 property tax levy among city funds.

Events Around Carmel

• Come to our Community Engagement Day for seniors, which will be held on October 10 from 10 am to 3 pm at the library. Hear about our ample resources for seniors, and learn how to avoid scams.

• The greatest swimmers alive are coming to the Carmel High School Natatorium for the 2025 World Aquatics Swimming World Club. On October 10, 11, and 12, there will be preliminaries at 10 am and finals at 6 pm.

• As mentioned before, please celebrate Diwali with me on October 18 from 5 pm to 9 pm on Carter Green. 

Thank you all for reading this recap, and please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions.

Caring for Carmel,

Dr. Anita Joshi

If you have a fifth grade Carmel student who would like to give the mayoral update at a council meeting, please reach out to me and I will be happy to put your student's name forward.

If you’d like to attend a City Council meeting, committee hearing, or other council events, please visit our website for the calendar.