LAFAYETTE, Ind. — When reflecting on the city’s accomplishments in 2023, Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski used his State-of-the-City address to highlight the commitment to public safety, strong financial situation and the city’s continued commitment to investing in Lafayette.
One aspect of 2023 in which Roswarski takes pride is the completion of the city’s new Public Safety Center, and Roswarski noted the immediate impact that the city has seen since its opening.
“Crimes involving firearms are our No. 1 priority,” Roswarski said, “and through the dedicated hard work of officers, detectives and civilian crime scene investigators, we increased our arrests by 25% with cases involving firearms.
“We’re at multi-year lows (in crime) here in our community,” he said. “Public safety continues to be our No. 1 priority.”
The city still desires more outreach programs for residents to stay informed about the police and fire departments, Roswarski said.
For example, throughout 2023, the Lafayette Police Department committed to several outreach goals. Included in these goals were creating a Facebook page where the police department can post community news, arrest updates or highlight community events, as well as creating a podcast called “Inside the Squad,” which allows residents to learn about their local police department.
The mayor announced that the Lafayette Police Department will be releasing a monthly newsletter later this year. This newsletter will provide residents with crime stats, highlight community events, publish new hirings and provide information on upcoming community outreach events.
As part of the city’s vision to create an accessible public safety campus, the mayor noted that in 2024, the fire department will be moving its administration staff, inspectors and civilian staff from the city’s central fire station located at 443 N. Fourth St. to the east wing of City Hall, where Lafayette Police Department was housed before moving to the new Public Safety Center.
“This will create a true public safety campus, bringing the leadership of the police and fire departments together along with other city officials,” Roswarski said.
Beyond the city’s commitment to public safety, Roswarski wanted to also emphasize the strong financial position the city found itself in 2023.
The city has around $8 million in the city’s rainy-day fund and around $6.6 million in allocated reserves. The city has a total of $14,637,830 in reserve, which is 28.7% of the city’s general fund and 17% of the overall city budget.
Roswarski noted that the city was able to maintain a strong financial position even after reducing the city’s taxes for the second year in a row.
In 2023, the city tax rate went from 1.125 cents per $100 of assessed value to 1.0566 cents per $100 assessed value, and just the year earlier, the city tax rate dropped from 1.1526 cents per $100 of assessed value to 1.125 cents per $100 of assessed value.
“People may say, well I still feel like our tax bills are going up,” Roswarski said. “Well part of that is due to assessments,” Roswarski said. “It’s good that property values continue to rise. That’s what we hope for. That’s a positive trend for a growing prosperous community.
“Only a portion of a tax bill you receive, only a portion of the money comes to the city of Lafayette,” he said. “For example, if you have a $1,000 tax bill, depending on what taxing unit you live in. Out of that $1,000, the city of Lafayette only gets $438 of it.
“We are only about 40% of that overall tax rate.”
In regards to the future of Lafayette, Roswarski noted that the city will continue to invest in infrastructure, including installing two additional water well fields, two solar panel fields, completion of the Wea water tower and more.
In the realm of the parks, the city will be completing the second phase of its revamp to McCaw Park, installing a new playground at Columbian Park, and installing a new commissary building and monkey exhibit at the Columbian Park Zoo.
Roswarski failed to highlight that in 2023, Lafayette was recognized several times as one of the most desirable cities to move to in the nation.
Last year, the Lafayette and West Lafayette metro area appeared at the top of the Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Market Index in the country as well as the fifth best place to live in the United States as a remote worker.
