How Bristol is run
Bristol spent $11.9 million in the year to December 31, 2024, about $6,686 per resident.
What stands out about how Bristol is run
Read from the town’s budget, meetings and records. The page puts what stands out first.
About $6,686 per resident a year, or $18.32 a day
The biggest line: sewer & trash, at 18% of spending.
Thank you for being a neighbor
Elkhart Community Schools
Bristol’s K–12 school district, shared with Cleveland, Osolo, Washington, Elkhart, Concord. It’s its own government, with a budget separate from the town’s.
Of the $15,724 per pupil, $8,544 goes to the classroom (teachers, aides, supplies); the rest to buses, buildings, counselors and administration. Building projects and debt payments aren’t in the per-pupil figure.
Indiana districts overall: 33% local, 56% state, 11% federal.
School year 2023–24. Census Bureau school finance survey.
Per resident, spending is up 45% since 2022
Spending per resident, by fiscal year. Prices rose too: about 4% a year in 2022–2024.
Spending per resident by year
* A Census Bureau estimate for that year (the town didn’t report most of its figures).
Who’s in charge in Bristol
Local officials aren’t in the public records we use for Bristol yet. Neighbors can add them.
One full-time town employee for every 78 residents
On the payroll in March 2022.
By department full-time, plus part-time
Pay is March payroll times twelve, so it’s approximate. Part-timers count half in the bar lengths.
The typical homeowner pays $1,792 a year
Every local property tax on the home: town, schools and county. About 0.78% of the home’s value, vs 0.74% across Indiana.
Typical yearly bill next door and statewide
The Housing page’s calculator splits a monthly payment into loan, tax and insurance at Bristol’s rate.
Can I afford it? →The median bill homeowners report to the Census survey (bills of $10,000+ are reported as “$10,000+”). The effective rate is that bill ÷ the median home value: a rough guide, not the official tax rate. In a town this small the estimate has a wide margin.
From town hall to Washington
Every level of government that speaks for Bristol.
- 1Your cityMayor & councilLocal officials aren’t on record yet.
- 2Indiana HouseState representatives
- 3Indiana SenateState senator
- 4GovernorStatewide
- 5U.S. HouseYour representative in Congress
- 6U.S. SenateBoth represent all of Indiana
Democrat · Republican · other or independent. Tap a name for their official page.
Reach Bristol’s government
Numbers and hours come from neighbors and the town’s own site (the Handbook). A new one goes live once two neighbors confirm it.
Questions about how Bristol is run?
Neighbors who’ve been to the meetings can help.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Budget and staff: U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Governments and Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances and the Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll. School district: Census school finance survey. Property tax: Census American Community Survey, 5-year estimates. Representatives: Open States, the Census and congress-legislators.