City Council member William Christie, who also serves as vice mayor,  has expressed his concerns before Council about decreasing amounts in the City’s annual fund balance.
He told the T-G this week, “I am very concerned with the decreasing amount of reserves. I really wanted to see a balanced budget presented to the City Council without going over the amount of money coming in. Unfortunately, the proposed budget is $8,000,000 roughly over the revenue. Going from $23,000,000 two years ago to $8,000,000 for the 2026 calendar year is not the direction I want Shelbyville moving.”
Christie added, “I want to see our employees receive annual raises and I want to provide good services to our community, but we cannot let the reserves get too low to cover unforeseen expenses, like the flume for example. The City Council is very aware of the situation after the budget meeting Friday.”
The meeting to which Christie referred was a special called held last Friday at the Council Chambers at 100 N. Cannon Blvd. Items on the agenda included an ordinance for adopting the annual budget and tax rate for fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2026. All Council members approved to keep the tax rate the same for the coming year.
But will that remain the case in the future?
Shelbyville City Council discussed during a budget workshop, operating and capital expenses and how both have affected the City's annual fund balance. Discussions will continue throughout June.
Council didn’t vote in this particular workshop. But some major decisions are being discussed as to what is really needed this year in the fiscal year budget.
At this time, Council is going through the budget workbook which includes departmental requests. Council meets in study session on Tuesday, June 3, at 6 p.m.

See more of this story in  the  Thursday, May 29, T-G.