It is budget season in Valparaiso. One of the hallmarks of this season is long municipal meetings. The October 12th Valpo City Council meeting went for just under five hours. There was one resolution and five ordinances on the agenda, along with two items for discussion under other business. The meeting concluded just before eleven o’clock with liaison reports and public comment.
First was the meeting’s resolution. Resolution No. 10, 2025 was presented by the United Steelworkers Local 12775 and represents council’s support for the steelworker’s petition to strengthen NIPSCO staffing, reliability, and storm response for Northern Indiana. The Steelworkers petition titled, Keep Utility Jobs Local, calls “upon state regulators, policymakers, and utility leadership to prioritize investment in a robust local utility workforce that can effectively serve our communities, maintain critical infrastructure, and respond rapidly during emergencies.” The main claim is that NIPSCO has let its own skilled labor workforce dwindle while relying more heavily on outsourced labor. The Resolution passed unanimously and will now be sent to Governor Braun, Senator Charbonneau, Representative Soliday, the General Assembly, and several other offices dealing with utilities. The resolution’s sole purpose is to show Valparaiso’s support for local utility workers.
The first budget for the evening was Ordinance No. 22, 2026 the Valparaiso Community Schools 2027 budget up for second reading and final vote. The school’s budget for its 6,239 students is just over a hundred and six million dollars. There was some discussion on the likelihood of another 2030 school operating referendum. With the uncertainty of where tax legislation will be though the school is not able to confidently project that far ahead. They said they are concerned with getting kids onto buses and educating them, but that they are working on plans to avoid another referendum. The Valpo School’s budget was passed unanimously.
The next ordinance up for second reading and final vote narrowly passed and is the
ordinance Mayor Costas said he would veto. Ordinance No. 19, 2026 is Councilman Robert Cotton’s amendment to the municipal code concerning prevention of certain contractor fraud. The passing vote on this was 4 to 3, Councilwoman Diana Reed voting no with the two Republican councilmen. As it is written this ordinance gives the Valparaiso City Council investigative authority over any building permit over 250,000 dollars. This misinterprets Indiana law giving the city council investigative authority over anyone entering into a contract with the city. The ordinance treats building permits as contracts, which they are not.
The Valpo city attorney outlined how this ordinance, if ever challenged in court, could bring the intervention of the Indiana Attorney General. Mayor Costas asked why the council is even considering such a legally questionable ordinance saying “Is this a solution looking for a problem.” After the ordinance passed the majority Democrat council Mayor Costas said he would be exercising his veto power by not signing the legislation. If Robert Cotton wants to override the mayor’s veto he will have to bring the ordinance back and get a two thirds, or 5 to 2 majority vote. READ more about this ordinance in the minutes.
The City of Valparaiso budget was next with Ordinance No. 23, 2026. This is the budget for 2027 which is required by law to have and be present to the public and city council. The Valpo budget for next year is 71,598,362 dollars, this is up 3.5 million from last year. The majority of that increase, 2.9 million, is from personal services which includes wages, retirement, medical, and other benefits. Overall, personal services make up around 55% of Valpo’s budget. There is also a planned salary study for next year. Steve Poulos, who gave the budget presentation as the new city administrator, said one thing he heard requested from all department heads was room for salary growth. He then said if we are going to be a destination city, our salaries should reflect that. The salary study would look at the salaries of comparable cities and see how Valpo compares. City employees are a large part of what makes Valparaiso such a great place to live. If we strive to be the best, we should pay the best.
Both the city budget and Ordinance No 24, 2026, the salary budget, were carried over to the next council meeting for second reading and final vote. The salary budget and the city budget must be presented separately. One change to the salary ordinance was putting in language that would let a city employee accept tips. This change was required since Valpo Parks took over management of Memorial Opera House. The Opera House has a bar and they were having difficulty finding bar tenders when tipping was not allowed.
The final ordinance for the meeting was Ordinance No. 27, 2026. This ordinance just appropriated funds in the Fire Territory’s current budget to cover the rising cost of diesel fuel. The dynamic impact study of the Valparaiso Redevelopment Commission (RDC) proposal was back on the agenda under other business. This would be a nearly hundred thousand dollar ($100,000) study to look at how the RDC is serving the community through an academic study. This study is being proposed by councilmembers Robert Cotton and Barbara Domer and has been criticized as overspending. The proposed contracted study was tabled so the contract could be revised before entering into it. THIS DRAFT PROPOSAL CAN BE FOUND HERE.
Next under other business was further discussion of House Enrolled Act 1001. This state legislation deals with how municipalities sort funds. There will now be a required fund for building permit expenses kept separate from the general fund. This was to address high home
building prices where municipalities over charge for building permits to pad their general fund. Valparaiso actually does the opposite, it keeps building costs low by padding permit expenses with the general fund. So Valpo will have to decide whether to raise building permit fees or keep paying for expenses out of the general fund.
There were two public comments at the end of the evening nearing 11:00. One was a tongue-in-cheek remark applauding the Democrats for passing a legally questionable ordinance to help Valpo fight illegal immigrant labor. The second comment was from the father of an injured Valpo schools athlete, currently involved in litigation with the schools, asking the city to do something before “it becomes even a larger circus.”
The next Valparaiso City Council meeting is Monday, October 27th, 6pm at city hall. Upcoming Halloween events include; Porter County Trunk or Treat at Sunset Hill Farm county park Saturday, October 17th, 3-6pm, Downtown Trick-or-Treat in Valparaiso’ downtown Friday
October 23rd, 4-6pm. The official Valpo trick-or-treating hours are 5-8pm October 31st.
The meeting was ivestreamed, and a recording of this meeting will be posted on the City’s website — If you have any comments or questions as to any item on the Agenda and cannot attend the meeting, you are encouraged to send an email prior to the meeting to mpalmer@valpo.us.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The city’s agenda’s is usually posted 4 days before the City Council meetings. These agenda’s are all in pdf format and are not searchable, making it extremely difficult for the ordinary citizens to find out what’s being voted on or discussed. Here at Panoramanow, we don’t get the agenda via email until the day before the meeting. It’s extremely difficult for the population at large to be aware of what is going on with the city of Valparaiso’s government’s policies. It is our opinion that just posting a pdf on the website (and also on Facebook,) is not enough. This meeting’s agenda was posted on October 8th, – four days before the meeting.
TO FIND THE CITY’S AGENDA ONLIN IN PDF FORM ONLY, You’ll Need To Click Here.
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Susie Young Baxter, CEO, has published PanoramaNOW Magazine for 31 years. Her hobbies are Camping, Boating, Hiking, Nature, Gardening and Outdoor Activities. She is an Artist, Graphic Designer, an Avid Seamstress, Dabbles in Homemade Crafts and Landscaping. Since her Father was a Health Teacher, she also likes homeopathic Health Solutions. Since blogging started over 10 years ago, PanoramaNow has been added to Newsbreak – a national news affiliate.
