Budget discussions for the Evansville City Council could be at an impasse as the October deadline for final presentations gets closer.
With the pandemic, the normally tight Evansville budget is stretched even further. Evansville City Council members have various ideas on how to balance the budget for 2021.
Council finance chair Ron Beane says as of right now, he’s aware of three proposals from council members.
The first one, which prompted a heated debate at Monday night’s council meeting, would take money from the Local Option Income Tax designated for public safety and use it in the general fund for affordable housing.
The second, from Fifth Ward Councilman Justin Elpers, would raise city employee health insurance premiums and cut the pay for employees not covered by police and fire union contracts.
The third, from at large council member Jonathan Weaver, would generate a three percent across the board cut for all departments.
Beane says without changes, he won’t vote for any of them.
“If they want to reach out to me, I’ll be glad to discuss it with them of something I might be interested in voting for.”
The next city council meeting is September 28th.
