FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — Fort Wayne City Council approved the city's 2025 budget Tuesday, but one of the biggest items wasn't on the budget. Citilink approached City Council at the beginning of the budget season to ask for a tax levy and said the organization would need to cut service routes without it. City Council was afraid the levy would have an interaction with tax caps that would strip money away from other city and county departments until two new councilmembers teamed up for a solution. "This is such a monumental accomplishment, I know it's a late meeting, [but] it deserves an additional minute to note that two weeks ago this was mission impossible ... it was just not possible," said Councilman Russ Jehl. "Then two freshman councilmembers (Councilman Nathan Hartman and Councilwoman Rohli Booker) somehow led the negotiations, along with great cooperation from the city administration, the Citilink board." Fort Wayne City Council approves 2025 budget, makes cuts across multiple departments The ordinance that City Council passed was amended by Booker before it hit the table. In essence, it allows Citilink to come to councilmembers to ask for money after they have whittled down to $500k in their cash reserves. City Council wanted to add provisions to make sure they could keep tabs on public transportation in Fort Wayne. "This is not a blank check, we have put different propositions, in this ordinance that require Citilink to come back quarterly," Booker said. "They won't come back in six months, ask for $1 million and have us blindsided by it." Citilink has $1,618,191 in its rainy day fund as of Tuesday. The move looks to give Citilink enough to survive next year, while hoping that the state will increase funding for public transportation so the city isn't in the same spot when making the 2026 budget.