The West Lafayette City Council will take a first vote on the proposed 2015 budget Monday night.
The $19.2 million dollar spending plan represents a nearly a 4.5-percent increase from the current year.
It includes a 2-percent pay hike for city employees.
Clerk-Treasurer Judy Rhodes says the biggest cost drivers in the new plan are providing services to areas the city annexed last year and an anticipated 10-percent increase in health care costs.
“We’re prepared for that kind of increase," she says. "If we’re able at the renewal to achieve a lower increase, all to the better. But we’re prepared to respond to that kind of increase with this budget.”
A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for the council’s September meeting.
A final vote is set to take place at October’s meeting.
By law, all cities must submit their budgets to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance by November 1 each year.
