Indiana property tax cuts could lead to reduced funding for Indianapolis
crime prevention program
[August 26, 2025]
MARY CLAIRE MOLLOY/MirrorIndy MirrorIndy
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A crime prevention program that advocates say is
helping Indianapolis curb violence could lose a large chunk of its city
funding next year as Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration grapples with
the impact of property tax cuts passed by the Republican state
legislature.
The cuts will cost Indianapolis an estimated $10.5 million in revenue,
leading Hogsett to ask most city and county agencies to cut their 2026
budgets by 4%. But a spokesperson for the mayor said departments were
given discretion to choose where those trims occur.
The Office of Public Health and Safety, for example, has proposed
pulling $1 million from The Elevation Grant Program, a local initiative
addressing the root causes of crime. It supports community organizations
working to improve neighborhoods, crisis prevention and people at risk
for gun violence.
Separately, the office has also proposed cutting $100,000 from the
Immigrant Legal Services Fund. The city partnered with The Indianapolis
Foundation, which runs both programs.
The Elevation program received a boost in funding between 2022 and 2024
after Hogsett dedicated about $45 million in federal pandemic relief
money to it. For the past decade, OPHS has also included about $3
million for the program in its yearly budgets. The Hogsett
administration provided another $2 million in a spring fiscal package.
Previous recipients include the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis, Edna
Martin Christian Center, the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion
County and Horizon House.
“We were asked to reserve a portion of our budget to address the cuts at
the state level and the property tax cuts from Senate Bill 1,” OPHS
director Andrew Merkley said at an Aug. 13 press conference. “We took a
million dollars out of the Elevation Grants for next year.”
In an Aug. 14 email, OPHS spokesperson Brian Heinemann said the $1
million loss “will not impact to-be-selected grantees.” He noted that
OPHS will still provide $2 million in funding for Elevation Grants in
the 2026 budget, and some of the money allocated to the program in 2025
will carry over.
A spokesperson for the Indianapolis Foundation acknowledged the changes
in the city’s budget and said the nonprofit will share any additional
updates with the public.
“The Elevation Grant Program will continue without disruption to the
important work happening in our community,” spokesperson Shari Finnell
Anderson wrote in an Aug. 18 email.
‘Saving lives’
The grant program is a key part of Hogsett’s strategy to reduce crime.
The Major Cities Chiefs Association, a professional organization that
represents police and sheriffs across the country, collected
self-reported data that shows homicides in Indianapolis have dropped by
about 30% this year.
Still, crime in Indianapolis continues to draw criticism. Last month,
the leader of Indy’s police union called on Republican Gov. Mike Braun
to intervene after a shooting downtown killed two teenagers and injured
five others.
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“It is apparent Indianapolis leaders are stuck in the very corner they
constructed with misguided policies and agendas,” Rick Snyder, the
president of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police, said in a July
14 statement. “It’s time for the Indiana legislature and governor to
step in.”
That same week, Braun told reporters “something has to change” in the
state capital.
Hogsett, a Democrat, pushed back.
“While we are saddened by the incidents that have taken place over the
last few weekends, the facts are irrefutable: violence has been on the
decline for the last three years,” the mayor said in a July 16 statement
to IndyStar. “Our gun violence reduction strategy is saving lives.”
Budgets for the police and fire departments and the Marion County
Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, have been spared from the cuts.
$100k cut to immigrant legal services
The Immigrant Legal Services Fund is another program facing cuts in the
proposed budget.
The City-County Council established the fund in 2021 to support
organizations helping people with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
renewals, naturalization applications and work authorization filings.
Additionally, the money can be used to defend someone in bond hearings,
asylum claims and deportation proceedings.
The Immigrant Legal Services Fund has about $1 million, according to the
foundation’s website, including the support from the city and The Clowes
Fund. Grants between $50,000 and $100,000 are given out to nonprofit
organizations with attorneys on staff.
As the Trump administration ramps up deportations and the Marion County
Jail continues to house ICE detainees, advocates say obtaining an
immigration attorney is more important now than ever.
It is unclear how the $100,000 cut proposed in the OPHS budget will
affect these services. A spokesperson for The Indianapolis Foundation,
which distributes the funds, declined to answer questions about that and
directed Mirror Indy to ask the city.
A spokesperson for Hogsett said the decisions for funding cuts like this
one are not “explicitly shared” with the mayor and directed Mirror Indy
to ask OPHS.
Heinemann, the spokesperson for OPHS, did not specifically answer
questions about why the agency chose to cut funds from this particular
program in its budget.
“When this fund was created, it was always the intention for additional
community partners and philanthropic sources to make contributions
alongside the city’s contribution,” Heinemann said in an Aug. 20 email.
The Office of Public Health and Safety’s budget presentation to the
City-County Council’s public safety committee is set for Wednesday, Aug.
27, in the City-County Building.
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