Muncie's city council voted 4-3 to reject a plan that would have placed In God We Trust decals on the city's police and fire vehicles, ending a three-week fight over faith, fiscal priorities and taxpayer money. The council had only seven of its nine members present for the vote, after member Ro Selvey was absent because of a medical circumstance, according to a fellow councilor.
The measure, Proposed Ordinance No. 18-26, would have required the decals on police and fire vehicles and did not block taxpayer funding for them, according to WKRC, citing reporting from WXIN. Council President Jeff Green introduced the ordinance but declined to say who had encouraged him to propose the decals in the first place, the station reported.
The proposal had cleared an earlier hurdle in September, when the council voted 5-4 strictly along party lines to approve its introduction, with all five Republican members backing it, according to the Muncie Post-Democrat. That vote set up weeks of public debate before the ordinance ultimately failed at final passage.
Scope and Cost of the Decal Plan
During that September meeting, Council Member Nora Powell estimated the ordinance would mandate decals for more than 200 police and fire vehicles across the city, according to Indiana Public Radio. Green had told the same meeting that an unnamed vendor quoted an initial cost between $1,500 and $3,000 for the decals, though residents and council members argued at the time that weather-resistant vinyl and ongoing fleet additions would drive long-term expenses higher.
Mayor Dan Ridenour, a Republican, had publicly backed the proposal before the vote despite pushback during council public comment sessions, per reporting from WIBC 93.1. Ridenour reportedly stated that anonymous individuals had offered to finance the cost of placing the decals on the vehicles, which would have prevented the need to tap taxpayer money, but council members questioned him about when those anonymous individuals had approached him.
A Budget Backdrop Shaped by State Tax Cuts
The debate unfolded against a tight municipal budget. Ridenour had warned in August 2025 that Indiana's Senate Enrolled Act 1, a statewide property tax relief law, would cut Muncie's municipal revenues by roughly $1 million per year starting in 2026, threatening city staff positions, according to WTHR 13News. Critics of the decal proposal cited Muncie's financial troubles in arguing against the expense, alongside objections that adding the decals would violate separation of church and state.
That scrutiny followed a rockier budget season the year before. In October 2024, the city council scaled back Ridenour's proposed 2025 budget to 2023 levels plus 11%, with council leadership pointing to $1.7 million in accounting errors in the executive branch's submission, per Indiana Public Radio. Muncie residents voiced discontent with the decal ordinance before the final vote, with critics questioning the logic behind adding the decals at all given the city's finances.
The Legal Backdrop for the National Motto
Supporters of the decals could point to federal precedent on their side. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which holds jurisdiction over Indiana, ruled in 2018's Mayle v. United States that official displays of In God We Trust acknowledge national heritage and do not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, according to Religion Clause. Indiana drivers have also had the option of a standard, zero-fee In God We Trust license plate since 2007, a practice that survived an ACLU legal challenge when state courts ruled it a valid standard plate option rather than an unconstitutional specialty plate, per the Randazza Legal Group.
Congress designated In God We Trust as the national motto in July 1956 under Public Law 84-851, signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower during the Cold War, according to Britannica. Decal initiatives appeared around 2015 in states including Texas, Missouri and North Carolina, even as watchdog groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation have continued to challenge the trend. In Muncie, though, the council's 4-3 vote means the city's police and fire fleet will stay without them, at least for now.
