Written by The ole Swamp Fox has been digging deep into the budgets for each of the city of Marion’s departments, so don’t think that he’s picking on the police or doesn’t “Back the Blue.”
Underneath that furry coat of red and white, he’s got a blue stripe tattoo to show his support for those who protect and serve the peace-loving people on the mean streets of Marion.
That being said, he doesn’t think that the po-po are above having their expenditures showcased and questioned. They work for the citizenry and are paid by the taxpayers, so it’s fair game.
The MPD just released its Annual Report for the year 2025, so we’ve got some fresh data.
MPD staffing levels at the end of December 2025 remained the same as at the end of the prior year, consisting of 59 sworn officers and a total workforce of 68.
As you can see from the attached chart, the total expense budget for the force was $8,221,559.02 in 2025.
When the first budget was proposed for 2026 in November 2025, the MPD had a projected expense budget of $10,792,040.35. That’s an increase of $2,570,481.33 over 2025’s numbers.
Within two weeks of the unveiling of the first version of the bloated 2026 budget, the city of Marion announced a state of fiscal distress. The Auditor of the State of Ohio intervened and placed the city in fiscal caution, while directing it to cut spending and increase revenues in order to tackle its significant $8.9 million dollar fund deficits.
Pursuant to that directive, Mayor Bill Collins instructed all department heads to cut their budget expenditures by a target of 10% off of what they spent in 2025.
However, that’s not what was done–at least not by every department.
The cuts, in fact, came from the highly inflated original budget proposal for 2026–not from the 2025 actual budget expenditures.
Some departments cut more than others, but the city’s most expensive department–the Marion Police Department–actually increased its budget, substantially.
There’s been multiple versions of the 2026 budget; at this point, we’re up to Version #4.
This latest version of the 2026 budget will be submitted to Marion City Council for its review this coming Monday, March 9th.
As you can see from the chart, it increases the expenditures for the MPD by $1,878,999.10 over 2025–an overall increase of 22.88%!
And those increases aren’t coming with the purchase of capital equipment, like new cruisers and the like. The increases are mainly in salaries and benefits–with nearly $1.2 million more in salaries alone!
Perhaps this increase–despite the city’s financial challenges and declining population–is warranted. I’ll let you be the judge.
Clearly, however, the people of Marion are being asked to sacrifice during these tough times, with higher service charges, reduced services, and the elimination of the income tax credit for those residents who work outside of the city and pay municipal income taxes elsewhere.
Perhaps it would be prudent for everyone–including the boys and girls in blue–to share the burden.
After all, everyone should have to have skin in the game.