Muncie’s 2025 civil budget was due for filing on the 26th, however according to City Clerk Belinda Munson it was turned in to her office late. The report as it stands conflicts with the ongoing negotiations between the Ridenour administration and AFSCME Local 3656, and also failed to include three different departments.

Ordinance 23-24 was discussed at a contentious and largely packed meeting on Monday night, where the annual budget for next year was the prime focus. Despite the deadline of August 26th, and reminders from elected officials and appointees in months prior, the budget was filed at the last minute and with little information provided beforehand to the council. Although it’s not entirely clear what went wrong with the filing of the document, as some pages were approved on the 26th and others on the 27th. Belinda Munson told the Post-Democrat it was filed late, however according to Political Spotlight host Kristopher Bilbrey there was more to the issue at hand nearly leading to a physical altercation between the City Clerk, Mayor Ridenour, and Craig Wright. Bilbrey stated he has several sources telling him that Munson was upset both with how late the document pages were brought to her and a lack of an increase to her salary.

City Controller Craig Wright did send the several missing pages to members of the council, however they were not available publicly on the City of Muncie website. The pages missing included the Parks Department, Beach Grove Cemetery, and Motor Vehicle Highway. Wright early in his sparring with council said that just a few pages were missing, however Nora Powell pointed out that this was pages 21 through 36 that were left off.