Budget Explorer · City of Fort Wayne

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

Comparable revenue, spending, and debt for City of Fort Wayne, on the same Census classification used for every city, county, and state in the Library — so the figures line up with peers rather than with the government's own budget book. Latest year: FY ending Dec 31, 2023. City of Fort Wayne's own 2026 budget, in its own structure, follows below.

Audited actuals · Census classification · 268K residents

At a glance

Total revenue

$537M

$2,005 per resident

Total spending

$433M

$1,618 per resident

Spending per resident

$1,618

5th percentile of 71

Debt outstanding

$642M

$2,396 per resident · 24th percentile of 70

Own-source share

75%

32nd percentile of 71

Capital share

19%

56th percentile of 71

Where the money comes from

$537M total

Own-source revenue (taxes, charges, interest) versus aid from other governments. Utility and trust revenue are shown alongside general revenue but run on their own books.

Property tax$180M33%
Income taxes$102M19%
License & other taxes$11M2%
Federal aid$57M11%
State & local aid$60M11%
Charges & fees$34M6%
Interest, fines, other$22M4%
Utility revenue$72M13%

Own-source share of general revenue 75% · federal aid 12% · property tax is 61% of taxes

Where it goes

$433M total

Current operations plus capital outlay, grouped by Census function. Interest on debt and transfers to other governments are broken out so they are not hidden inside services.

Public safety$153M35%
Transportation$95M22%
Environment & housing$69M16%
Culture & recreation$43M10%
General government$35M8%
Interest on debt$31M7%
Health & hospitals$5.0M1%
Public welfare$2.5M1%

Show top functions with operating vs. capital ▸

Function	Category	Operating	Capital	Total
Police protection	Public safety	$87M	$324K	$87M
Highways	Transportation	$33M	$39M	$71M
Fire protection	Public safety	$58M	$8.0M	$66M
Housing & community development	Environment & housing	$40M	$11M	$51M
Parks & recreation	Culture & recreation	$28M	$15M	$43M
Financial administration	General government	$21M	$7.5M	$28M
Transit	Transportation	$19M	$1.9M	$21M
Solid waste management	Environment & housing	$18M	$110K	$18M
Health	Health & hospitals	$4.9M	$41K	$5.0M
Central staff services	General government	$4.2M	$16K	$4.3M
Parking	Transportation	$1.7M	$944K	$2.6M
Public welfare	Public welfare	$2.5M	—	$2.5M
General public buildings	General government	$2.1M	—	$2.1M
Judicial & legal	General government	$719K	—	$719K

Trend · 3 fiscal years

Nominal dollars. The Census Bureau cautions that single-government series are edited only for aggregates — read direction, not decimals.

Revenue

+17% over 2 yrs

$460M → $537M

Spending

+28% over 2 yrs

$338M → $433M

Debt outstanding

+20% over 2 yrs

$536M → $642M

How it compares · 71 cities and counties in the Library

Percentile within the cohort on each place's latest Census year. Higher is not better — the last column says what a high reading means so you can decide whether it matters here.

Measure	City of Fort Wayne	Cohort median	Percentile	Higher means
Spending per resident	$1,618	$3,741	5th	more spent per resident
Revenue per resident	$2,005	$3,548	6th	more raised per resident
Taxes per resident	$1,092	$1,328	30th	heavier own-tax load
Debt per resident	$2,396	$3,865	24th	more borrowed per resident
Own-source share of revenue	75%	81%	32nd	less dependent on aid
Federal aid share of revenue	12%	7%	87th	more exposed to federal cuts
Capital share of spending	19%	18%	56th	more building, less operating
Interest share of spending	7%	4%	84th	more spend servicing debt
Debt ÷ annual revenue	1.20×	1.05×	64th	more leveraged

About this data

Census classification categories, not this government's own budget structure. Figures are audited actuals for the fiscal year shown, not the adopted budget.
The Census Bureau edits unit-level data only to produce state and national aggregates and advises against reading it as a precise time series for any single government; treat year-over-year moves under ~5% as noise.
Employee-retirement-system revenue is excluded (published separately by Census). Utility and insurance-trust revenue are shown separately from general revenue.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances (Individual Unit public-use files), unit 182003163465 (Fort Wayne City). Retrieved 2026-09-07. Classification manual.

Spot an error, or know a better source for this place's adopted budget? Suggest an edit on the assessment.

Adopted budget · 2026

City of Fort Wayne's own budget, in its own structure, from the budget it filed with the state, checked fund by fund against the state's certification. This is the current year — more recent than the Census series above, but only comparable to this city's own history. Totals cover 17 departments.

$286M total

No Department$103M36%
Police Department (town Marshal)$91M32%
Street$24M8%
Finance & Administration$20M7%
Public Works$14M5%
Traffic Engineering$8.7M3%
Community Planning & Development (chamber of Commerce)$6.8M2%
Animal Control$5.6M2%
Communications Department (radio-phones-dispatch)$4.7M2%
Mayor$2.4M1%
Street Project Management$1.8M1%
City Council/town Board (common Council)$972K0%
All other (5)$3.3M1%

From the budget the city filed with the state through Indiana Gateway, limited to the 13 funds the Department of Local Government Finance certified in its 2026 budget order. Each fund matches its certified amount to the dollar, and together they come to the order's unit total of $285,509,633.
Excludes funds the order does not certify: Economic Dev Income Tax Cedit ($33.6M), Economic Development Allocation Nonreverting Fund ($10.2M), Public Safety Loit Fund ($8.8M), Municipal Surtax Fund ($4.9M), Municipal Wheel Tax Fund ($0.4M).
Department names are the descriptions attached to the state's accounting codes, and a few are funds or programmes rather than departments.
Indiana cities budget on a calendar year.
Fort Wayne's website posts only the mayor's submitted 2026 budget, which council reduced before adopting; the state's filing and certification reflect the adopted budget.
Source: Indiana Gateway 2026 Line-Item Budget Estimate (Form 1), funds certified by the state (state budget filing), retrieved 2026-09-13. Open the state's certification.

Looking for how this fits City of Fort Wayne's capacity to deliver? The fiscal dimension, binding constraint, and pathways live in the City of Fort Wayne capacity assessment.