Huntingburg Fire Department Budget Feels the Pinch

The November meeting of the Huntingburg Redevelopment Commission focused on supplementing a strained budget at the HFD.

The primary agenda item for the evening was a request to amend the 2025 TIF spending plan. The change would reallocate an amount not to exceed $30,000 from the Street Department to the Huntingburg Fire Department. A letter from HFD Fire Chief Don Heim explained that an increased number of runs this year has strained the department’s budget. There have been approximately 80 additional runs this year to date. Funds have been transferred from the general operations fund to cover payroll expenses, which has led to a shortfall.

The $30,000 allocation to the Street Department was originally reserved for a project on 9 th Street going into the OFS property. In the event that a multi-family residential development at the location began construction, upgrades would have been required. Since the project is not currently moving forward, the request was made to reallocate the funds to the HFD. The RDC approved the request and signed the amended 2025 TIF spending plan.

Docket claims were approved for $371,363.91. The charges were reviewed by the committee members, all of which were described as being average expenses. Non-docket claims of $130,706.36 were also approved. These payments function as reimbursements to the city for claims that have already been paid. Most of these charges were directly related to the Senior Center project.

The RDC will convene for their next meeting on December 16.

For more information on these and other updates, visit www.huntingburg-in.gov

- By Drew Hasselbring