Indy Councilor Hart Calls for OPHS Funding Freeze
INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis City-County Councilor Michael-Paul Hart is pushing for changes in the Office of Public Health and Safety (OPHS) after an internal audit revealed shortcomings in operations and spending.
The audit found that $45 million in federal funds allocated to combat crime could not be fully accounted for. It also couldn’t find if the OPHS programs that the money funded were effective or successful.
Hart is proposing to cut off all OPHS funding in the upcoming 2027 budget until significant changes are made. He suggests that OPHS implement a system of standard operating procedures in managing contracts and invoices.
“No more blank checks for OPHS without any accountability,” Councilor Hart told reporters recently. “If there is no oversight from the Office of Finance and Management, and if the City Council leadership does not sign off on these procedures, then the City Council would not provide any more funding to OPHS moving forward.”
OPHS Director Andrew Merkley responded to Hart’s suggestion, saying that they have implemented staff training and improved data tracking. He also said it would be premature to cut funding for those projects.
“A total halt seems like a knee-jerk reaction,” Merkley said. “We need to do a better job of identifying those metrics at the outset and to ensure that we can correlate back to the decreasing crime in Marion County and increasing public safety.”
The Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss the issue further. Councilor Hart said that’s when he will call for a halt to OPHS funding.
