Lafayette mayor: Budget will be reduced LAFAYETTE, IN (wbaa) - The city of Lafayette's preliminary budget for next year totals a little more than $53 million.

But Mayor Tony Roswarski says that amount will be lowered over the coming weeks. This year's budget is about $50 million.

Roswarski says he would like to hire more police officers, but does not know yet how many.

He says the biggest challenge is a 28% hike in the cost of insurance, which he says has to be lowered.

Roswarski says employees may have to pick up a bigger piece of the cost of insurance.

The mayor also wants to increase recycling efforts, by going with a new toter system and sanitation truck, which eventually will cut down on the number of workers needed.

The first hearing on the budget is August 27th, with final passage in September. © Copyright 2012, wbaa