Of slightly more than $3.4 million in proposed cuts, the Fort Wayne City Council on Tuesday approved trimming just less than $1.9 million, including the city’s public safety director position, before granting final approval to the city’s 2017 budget.

Over the course of a four-hour meeting, the council discussed potential cuts to 39 separate line items. Of those 39, 29 cuts were approved. The total cuts amounted to $1,868,954. The public safety director position alone will save the city $164,420. In an Oct. 5 preliminary vote, council approved removing the position from the city’s budget. Tuesday’s vote made the move official.

"The balanced budget focuses on what residents have asked us to do," Mayor Tom Henry said in a statement. "We’ll be adding 28 new police officers, continuing our record investments in neighborhood infrastructure improvements, and enhancing quality of life amenities."

After the cuts, the budget came in at about $156 million. The majority of the funds cut Tuesday came from a $1,046,579 line item for debt service for a 2017 bond for the Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department.

The council also approved a $418,632 operating transfer from the parks department to the city’s county economic development income tax fund. That amount represents the parks department’s contribution to annual bond debt service.

Councilman Russ Jehl, R-2nd, proposed the cuts at the council’s Oct. 18 meeting, saying that the parks department would be better off without another 12-year bond cycle, preferring to find $5 million in the city’s 2017 and 2018 budgets to pay for improvement projects over those two years.

But several of Jehl’s additional cuts to the city’s CEDIT fund were not approved. Those cuts included a $565,000 CEDIT appropriation for the Ash Skyline project, $75,000 to the Warsaw-based nonprofit OrthoWorx for marketing and $40,000 for legal fees.

A resolution for the parks department’s $10 million requested bond issue was also introduced. City Controller Len Poehler said if the bond issue fails at the council’s Nov. 8 meeting, Mayor Tom Henry’s administration will need to find $5 million to pay for parks projects in 2017.

All of the cuts proposed by Councilman John Crawford, R-at large, were approved Tuesday, including $260,000 in salary cuts for community development, Animal Care & Control, the Fort Wayne Fire Department, the parks department, Fort Wayne Public Works and the street department.

Those salary cuts removed funding for positions not currently filled, Crawford said, which means department heads will have to return to the council table at a later date to request funding to fill those positions.

A request from Councilman Jason Arp, R-4th, to cut a $105,400 line item for a veterinarian for Animal Care & Control was withdrawn, replaced with $30,000 in cuts from the department’s wages, solid waste disposal and existing veterinary services. Having a full-time veterinarian on staff will not only reduce the cost of contracting veterinary services to local partners but also increase revenue as a licensed veterinarian can provide rabies vaccinations for $25 a shot.

Other cuts came from the city’s 311 help line after the creation of two new positions for an administrative assistant for Director Julie Sanchez and a new citizen services specialist were denied.

"The budget reflects Fort Wayne’s position as a leader in economic development opportunities, job growth, and strong neighborhoods that make our community a point of destination," Henry said. "We’re seeing momentum, investments, and excitement in Fort Wayne like never before.

"Strong leadership and placing an emphasis on moving our community forward in the right direction with fiscal discipline is resulting in thriving neighborhoods, a positive business climate and new jobs."

dgong@jg.net