SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Officials passed the 2020 city budget after a nearly 4 hour meeting Monday night. 

The $358 million dollar budget was approved after back and forth discourse between the council, the community, and the city controller voicing their opinions over what and where the money should go to best benefit the city. 

This vote is the culmination of 13 budget presentations to best fine-tune what the community and the council want to see focused on this upcoming year. 

Spending was divided into two groups:

- baseline spending: what needs to be paid for no matter what, including things like street maintenance, waste, fire, and police. 

and  

- strategic spending: what the city can pool money to focus on.

The consensus--neighborhoods are the focus. 

64.7% of the strategic spending money was focused into neighborhood improvements as well as the introduction of a new advisory role to the mayor called the Community Initiatives Division. The role will be used for advisement on public safety and wellness and will control $360,000 to put towards projects and initiatives for the community and their safety. 

https://southbendin.gov/2019/10/15/city-celebrates-passage-of-2020-budget/