Indiana · 101,964 residents
How much does Carmel spend?
2026 is the budget the town voted. A year's actual spending is audited and published after it ends; the latest on file is 2025.
2026 is the budget the town voted. A year's actual spending is audited and published after it ends; the latest on file is 2025.
What is Carmel's money for?
Click a category to see what it pays for.
By categoryShare of budget against towns of the same size$139.5M
“elsewhere”: what towns the same size usually devoteCarmel devotes a larger share of its budgeta smaller share
- Police, fire and public safety$76.1M55%elsewhere: 65%55% · towns its size: 65%
- General government$45.6M33%elsewhere: 10%33% · towns its size: 10%
- Libraries, parks and recreation$8.3M6%elsewhere: 5%6% · towns its size: 5%
- Planning and development$4.7M3%elsewhere: 3%3% · towns its size: 3%
- Streets and public works$4.7M3%elsewhere: 8%3% · towns its size: 8%
- Transfers and other$135,033<1%elsewhere: 3%0% · towns its size: 3%
Shares of the town's general-fund spending. “Elsewhere”: the median share among the towns of the state closest in population — half give more, half less. A town that pays for a category from another fund is left out of that median.
Compare with a town of the same size in Indiana
Per resident, 2025 accounts, against the towns of Indiana closest in population. A town above or below is not better or worse run.
What it builds, levies and owes
What it builds
$14.5Mof construction and equipment voted for 2026 · $142 per resident · +26.0% vs 2025
Construction and equipment in the budget the town voted for 2026, all its funds together. Indiana publishes what was actually spent for the general fund only, where towns rarely build.
Where it goes (33 lines)
Property tax
$0.7783per $100 of assessed value · set for 2026 · unchanged since 2024
The 20 towns of its size: $1.4447 · $96.5M to be raised
The civil city's or town's certified rate, all its funds, as the Department of Local Government Finance certifies it for the year taxes are paid. The county, the township, the schools and the library add their own. Indiana caps a homestead's total bill at 1% of its value.
What it owes
$315.7Mowed at the end of 2025 · $3,096 per resident
$2,830 in towns its size · $14.0M of principal due within a year · −58.1% since 2016
Its largest loans and bonds (of 34)
Every fund of the town, its utilities included: a water or sewer revenue bond is repaid from the bills, not from taxes. Source: the town's Annual Financial Report filed with the Indiana State Board of Accounts.
Voted for 2026
$144.1MThe budget the town adopted for 2026, by category. Its actual spending is not on file yet.
By category
Understand
What this page covers
General fund only, on both sides: the line-item budget each city or town files with the state, and what it actually disbursed, by department. The state publishes departmental actuals for the general fund alone.
Voted budget and actual spending
The voted budget is what the town approved before the year began. Actual spending is what it paid out, audited and reported to the state after the year ended. The two differ: money set aside is not always spent, and budgets are amended during the year.
Comparing with other towns in Indiana
Each state collects its towns' figures in its own way. Some report the general fund only, others every fund; some include schools and others leave them to separate school districts. Per-resident figures are compared between towns of the same state only. A few cities also do the work of a county — San Francisco and Jacksonville among them — and spend far more per resident than a city of the same size.
Source
Indiana Department of Local Government Finance and State Board of Accounts — Gateway (Form 1 budgets, Annual Financial Reports). The state's records ↗ Population: U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Governments (population reported with the unit), 2024 file.
Source: Indiana Department of Local Government Finance and State Board of Accounts — Gateway (Form 1 budgets, Annual Financial Reports).