As shown in the Revenues by Source schedule, the City has many sources of revenue to pay for the cost of operations and services.  The majority of City revenues are generated from taxes.  The largest three tax revenues are property taxes, County Option Income Tax (COIT) and County Economic Development Income Tax (CEDIT).

State statutes, and/or local ordinances, define how each type of revenue may be used.  Following is a brief explanation of the use of the City's larger revenue streams.

Taxes

Property tax, Commercial Vehicle Excise Tax (CVET), Financial Institution Tax, COIT, and Auto/Aircraft (license) Excise taxes are used exclusively to fund operations of certain City departments. These departments perform executive/finance, public safety, parks and community development work, and include administrative/engineering departments in the Public Works Division.  Most of these funds go into the City's property tax supported funds.

The use of CEDIT revenue is limited by state statute, and City ordinance, to economic development, infrastructure projects and public safety building/equipment purchases.  This revenue also may be pledged for debt service on bonds issued to finance these activities.

The Wheel Tax revenue is derived from Allen County vehicle owners who pay annual motor license excise tax.   A distribution to county, cities and towns within the county is based on the same formula as used for Local Road and Street fund distributions.  These funds must be used to construct, reconstruct, repair and maintain streets and roads.

License & Permits

The largest revenue in the License & Permit category is the Cable Franchise Fees.  These fees are added to cable subscribers' bills.  Forty percent of this revenue is used to pay for the operation of the government access channel with the remainder going into the City's General Fund for operating costs.  All other fees listed go into the General Fund.

Intergovernmental Revenues

Governmental revenues are primarily provided by the State to pay 50% of annual costs of the Pre'77 “pay-as-you-go” public safety pension plan ($10M) and to pay for the Street Department operating costs and projects ($9.7M.)

City of Fort Wayne 2005 Revenue

$160,757,461

 

 

 

Taxes

 

69.81%

Licenses & Permits

 

1.52%

Intergovernmental Revenue

 

16.16%

Services and Fees

 

10.96%

Fines & Forfeitures

 

0.63%

Miscellaneous Revenue

 

0.93%

The budget is developed on a departmental basis.  Both the dollar amounts and the number of positions are submitted by the Administration to the Council, along with detailed accounts of appropriation requests and other relevant information; such as, statements of goals and objectives.

The 2005 budget is $9,782,189 or 6.1%, higher than the approved budget for 2004. The increase is due to the anticipated needs for an expanding Fort Wayne City.

The Fire department's budget is up 5.8%.  The Police department's budget is up 7.6%.  These increases support the Mayor's commitment for a safe city.

The 2005 Executive and Legislative overall budgets are up 4.1% over the 2004 budget.

Finance shows a .5% increase in the 2005 versus 2004 budget.  The majority of the increase is with information systems.  Maintaining and upgrading computer systems is essential for productive and efficient government.

Community Development has been able to lower their budget by .8%, while initiating and continuing several economic development and urban renewal projects for 2005.

The Department of Public Works also increased their overall budget for 2005.  The 7.5% increase reflects the commitments to provide better streets, services, and economic development to the City of Fort Wayne.

The Parks and Recreation department's increased their budget by 2.1%.

image002

 

City of Fort Wayne
Budget by Department
                   
                   
        2004     2005    
        Approved     Approved   %
        Budget     Budget   Change
Executive & Legislative              
  * Mayor's Office $ 877,580   $ 894,834   2.0%
  * Office of Internal Audit   199,877     198,017   -0.9%
  * Law Office   431,513     480,697   11.4%
    City Clerk/Parking Control   444,213     471,356   6.1%
  * City Clerk & City Council   813,110     838,436   3.1%
  * Human Resources   685,469     708,828   3.4%
                   
    Total $ 3,451,762   $ 3,592,168   4.1%
                   
Finance              
  * Controller's Office $ 1,277,319   $ 1,254,134   -1.8%
    Cumulative Capital Improvement   1,401,820     1,134,131   -19.1%
  * Property Management   1,242,660     1,205,509   -3.0%
  * Payroll   228,587     236,835   3.6%
  * Information Systems (ACS)   2,628,435     2,991,999   13.8%
  * Purchasing/Office & Administration   585,463     581,410   -0.7%
                   
    Total $ 7,364,284   $ 7,404,018   0.5%
                   
Community Development              
    Administration  (Combined with Comm. Dev. in 2005) $ 124,581   $ 0   -100.0%
    Economic Development (Combined with Comm. Dev. In 2005) 626,415     0   -100.0%
  * Redevelopment Commission   315,871     415,553   31.6%
    Redevelopment Distr. Capital   571,320     488,800   -14.4%
  * Community Development   1,194,909     1,904,943   59.4%
                   
    Total $ 2,833,096   $ 2,809,296   -0.8%
                   
Department of Public Works              
  * City Engineer   254,418     265,419   4.3%
  * Flood Control   382,869     283,070   -26.1%
  * Transportation Engineering Services   1,099,388     1,104,500   0.5%
    Street Project Management/MVH   895,286     902,981   0.9%
    Street Department/MVH   8,684,442     9,490,214   9.3%
    Traffic Engineering Administration   463,656     469,363   1.2%
    Traffic Engineering/LRS   2,502,203     2,398,753   -4.1%
  * St. Light Engineering   2,932,722     2,731,043   -6.9%
    Solid Waste Management   6,580,611     7,987,746   21.4%
  * Sanitary Officers Pension   498,900     525,957   5.4%
  * Right of Way   295,579     312,836   5.8%
    EDIT Income Tax Fund   19,223,841     20,770,651   8.0%
  * Board of Works   2,438,611     2,590,108   6.2%
    Cable Television   794,000     719,600   -9.4%
                   
    Total $ 47,046,526   $ 50,552,241   7.5%
                   
Public Safety              
  * Police $ 37,261,182   $ 40,095,022   7.6%
  * Police Merit   2,950     27,500   832.2%
  * Domestic Violence   7,300     7,300   0.0%
    Law Enforcement Training   170,000     196,000   15.3%
  * Police Pension   7,855,743     8,460,702   7.7%
  * Fire   27,806,162     29,426,847   5.8%
  * Fire Pension   7,167,899     7,352,950   2.6%
  * Communications   4,908,725     5,400,897   10.0%
  * Animal Control   1,936,604     2,067,601   6.8%
  * Weights & Measures   122,991     126,596   2.9%
  * Neighborhood Code ( In 2004 this was under Comm. Dev.)   1,488,499     1,443,777   -3.0%
  * Unsafe Building ( In 2004 this was under Comm. Dev.) 142,000     159,000   12.0%
  * Metro Human Relations   602,735     613,440   1.8%
                   
    Total $ 89,472,790   $ 95,377,632   6.6%
                   
Parks & Recreation              
  * Parks & Recreation General $ 10,303,308   $ 10,518,600   2.1%
                   
    Total Civil City Budget $ 160,471,766   $ 170,253,955