Top officials in the mayor's office are calling it a "maintenance" budget. Mayor Greg Ballard has referred to it as "pretty vanilla." And so the 2016 spending plan for Indianapolis -- Ballard's eighth and final -- is being set up as a dull one, but there are still some areas where the City-County Council could take issue.

Indianapolis is joining Carmel, Westfield and Greenwood in an economic development group that will seek millions of dollars in state grants.

A multi-million dollar state investment will bring a major youth agriculture convention back to Indianapolis.

The Indianapolis City-County Council debated and advanced several measures at its July meeting, but few have any solid legal impact. The council advanced a move against BlueIndy electric rental cars, mandatory reporting of stolen guns and the first major overhaul if zoning laws in four decades. It also urged banks to do more to take care of abandoned properties stuck in foreclosure purgatory.