Finance committee presses controller for explanation of in-year budget amendments

MUNCIE, Ind. — Members of the Muncie City Council Finance Committee pressed the city controller during a working session for detailed explanations of budget amendments that appeared to add money to adopted line items without explicit council approval.

The committee raised several examples and asked the controller to show where the additional appropriations came from. “I will get the answer for you,” the controller told the committee when asked why funds had been amended into specific salary lines.

The exchange centered on how the controller’s office calculated pay increases and where supplemental money entered adopted line items. The controller said the office had used the amended salary ordinance as the basis for some increases and described multiple methods used to calculate totals, saying, “I did it several different ways.” Committee members pointed to specific, line-item amendments recorded since the October budget adoption: $1,725 for the deputy controller, $1,874 for the city controller and $3,900 for the payroll clerk. Committee members also flagged what they called an apparent numerical error in an overtime line item that listed $53,352, which the controller acknowledged and agreed to correct.

Council members pressed for clarity on process and statutory limits. A finance committee member said the city’s adopted budget cannot be increased by adding to advertised line items after publication, and asked how the controller had moved money into already-adopted appropriations without bringing transfers or additional appropriations before the fiscal body. The committee noted that some changes followed negotiated increases for municipal employees and union actions (the controller referenced AFSCME and salary-ordinance changes), but sought documentary evidence tying each amendment to an allowable source. “I will get the answer for you,” the controller repeated, promising follow-up documentation.

Committee members also asked why some funds showed activity despite a zero appropriated balance for those lines in the adopted budget as of June 30. The controller said he would research and report back; the chair and other members requested that any transfers, additional appropriations or accounting corrections be documented and sent to the committee. The committee emphasized the need to see whether adjustments were corrections of posting errors, reclassifications of payroll charges across funds, or formal appropriations that should have been acted on by council.

The finance committee did not take formal action on the point at the session; members directed the controller to supply a written explanation and supporting documentation showing the source of the amended dollars, line-item transfers, and any additional appropriations recorded since adoption. The committee also signaled it will review the controller’s response before the next finance meeting.

The discussion came during a broadly scheduled budget review of department proposals for the 2026 city budget, where committee members questioned several departments about how salary ordinance changes, negotiated raises and fund reclassifications affected adopted appropriations. The controller told the committee he had used the amended salary ordinance and would provide the requested reconciliation; the committee deferred further decisions until the documentation is received and reviewed.