Annexation In Indianapolis, annexation involved a struggle between those in city government who saw physical growth as progress and citizens who viewed absorption into the city as a loss of autonomy… Read More »Annexation
Budget Process The budget process determines the unified budget of Marion County and the City of Indianapolis, Special Service Districts, and Municipal Corporations. The 1970 Unigov reorganization brought the budgets of several… Read More »Budget Process
City Charters Between its founding in 1821 and its municipal incorporation in 1832, Indianapolis was governed by state laws that were enforced by county officers. From 1832 until 1970, Indianapolis functioned under… Read More »City Charters
City Manager Proposal The Indiana General Assembly in 1921 authorized first-class cities such as Indianapolis to adopt a council-manager form of government. This legislation made provisions for a special election to implement the… Read More »City Manager Proposal
City Planning The history of city planning in Indianapolis began with the founders’ plat. As the plan for the capital city of Indiana, it was given impressive features not often seen in… Read More »City Planning
Creation of Unigov Indianapolis had an unusual municipal government structure as of 1967. A nine-member city council, known as the COMMON COUNCIL, was elected at four-year intervals by a hybrid district/at-large system that… Read More »Creation of Unigov
Excluded Cities One of the compromises made to secure passage of the Unigov legislation was that all incorporated Marion County municipalities with populations of more than 5,000 would be excluded from the… Read More »Excluded Cities
Fusion Movement The Fusion Movement was a political coalition that evolved into the Indiana Republican Party. The Kansas-Nebraska dispute of 1854 triggered an effort in Indiana to bring together such diverse groups… Read More »Fusion Movement
Home Rule The concept of “home rule” permits local communities within a state to provide for their own governments and to exercise all powers not prohibited by state law or by the… Read More »Home Rule
Joseph H. Hogsett Administration First elected in 2015, Democrat Joseph H. Hogsett went on to win reelection as Mayor with 71 percent of the vote in 2019. With a commitment to extending the city’s… Read More »Joseph H. Hogsett Administration
