Elkhart Common Council inching closer to approving 2026 budget

ELKHART, Ind. — Residents got the chance to weigh in on Elkhart’s proposed 2026 budget at Monday evening’s council meeting, however no residents spoke during public comment.

The proposal is a conservative financial plan with a near seven-million-dollar reduction from 2025, sitting just under 119 million for budgeted appropriations. First district councilman, Aaron Mishler, said the reason for the reduction is the passage of Senate Enrolled Act 1 (SEA1) at the state level.

“We’ve really had to tighten our belts and look at how we could continue to provide top level essential services to our community while understanding the fiscal realities that our city is going to face in the future,” said Mishler.

The worry is how much SEA1 could reduce Elkhart’s revenue by. Councilman Mishler said it could impact it as much as 40 million when 2028 rolls around due to property tax and local income tax system changes. With that in mind, the city is looking to air with caution, having no choice but to make some cuts.

“…a little bit here, a little bit there, one of programs, The Elkhart Ambassadors, which if you attended any of our festivals, like jazz fest, you would see them in kind of blue shirts picking up trash and things like that around the community, that program is being ended and that’s around 400,000 dollars itself… the bright side is that we are going to survive through it. We are going to continue to provide top level parks… we’re still going to see things like Jazz Fest, we’re still going to see things like our Blues Festival, pickleball lessons… those things are going to continue in our community,” said Mishler.

When it comes to what the community thinks, Councilman Mishler has been hearing from social media, but hopes to see some more residents take a part in the process before the final vote on Oct. 16.

“I try to be active on social media to reach out to folks to see any input they have on the budget and there’s a realization that SEA1 is going to cut things and it’s pretty split, some people want to see more things cut, some do not like the cuts... we are civil servants, and we need to hear what is important to people and have them participate in the process. Municipal financing is completely different from how we balance our checkbooks at home. It’s shocking for some folks to hear the high numbers that we discuss, but once they attend a couple meetings… it’s like a lightbulb goes off and they become more involved and want to continue to participate,” said Mishler.