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Fort Wayne council sets $30 million floor, tightens rules for Legacy Joint Funding
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Summary
The Fort Wayne Common Council on Dec. 16 adopted a resolution formalizing the Legacy Joint Funding Program: it sets a $30,000,000 corpus, limits annual payout to approximately $2 million, tightens application and scoring rules, and requires supermajority approval and mayoral sign-off for requests by taxing entities.
The Fort Wayne Common Council unanimously approved a revision to the Legacy Joint Funding Program on Dec. 16, establishing a $30,000,000 corpus and tightening application, scoring and approval procedures for grants from the fund.
Sponsor Councilman Nathan Hartman told colleagues the change followed work by a task force and noted the fund’s history: about $80 million in contributions and roughly $25 million in investment returns over 15 years, leaving a current balance near $40 million. Under the new rules, the council set a corpus (floor) of $30,000,000 to preserve long-term growth while allowing use of annual earnings for community projects.
The resolution limits awards to roughly $2,000,000 annually — an amount Hartman said is consistent with conservative projected returns — while providing a path to exceed that cap for exceptional projects: requests above the cap can move forward only with approval from seven council members plus the mayor. The measure also formalizes the Legacy Joint Funding Committee’s operations, updates term structures for committee members, clarifies that the fund is intended for capital or transformative projects (not routine operations), and establishes that taxing entities seeking legacy support for capital projects must secure a supermajority and mayoral concurrence.
Council discussion emphasized stewardship and selectivity. Hartman said the change is intended to preserve resources for future generations while still supporting transformative community projects. Council members who spoke expressed bipartisan support for preserving a strong corpus and asked for clarity about the committee scoring process; Hartman and task force members said scoring criteria would be provided to the committee and that projects would continue to be evaluated case by case.
The resolution passed without recorded opposition in committee and was adopted in the special regular session by an 8–0 vote. After passage, the council proceeded to appoint citizen and council representatives to the Legacy Joint Funding Committee, including Luke Fries as a citizen member and council members Michelle Chambers and Marty Bender to council seats on the committee.
The council record shows the measure’s immediate effect: it establishes a conservative governance baseline and a clear path for future legacy proposals, including an elevated approval threshold for larger awards.
