It’s that time of year again. City supervisors and managers are in the midst of preparing budgets for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. According to City Manager Michael Peoples, “Developing the City budget is the most critical work we do each year. It establishes the financial framework for how we provide services.”
City Council held its annual retreat with the senior management team and department heads on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25-26. On Friday afternoon, the group discussed the status of the City’s 2018-2020 strategic goals and objectives: goals that were achieved and work that is still underway. In some instances, new goals were set or added based on projects planned or unfolding in various departments. On Saturday, City Council and the management team spent the day discussing the budget and outlining what the City’s priorities should be for the upcoming fiscal year.
With the direction from those meetings, the departments have begun developing their individual budgets, guided by the priorities and the overall budget parameters set by Council. Departments are expected to have preliminary budgets ready by the first week of February. Each department’s budget will be reviewed and discussed with the senior management team around mid-March.
“The meetings are often lengthy and involved,” Peoples said. “But this process allows for constructive discussion between the senior management team and department heads about existing initiatives as well as proposed ones and where funding is coming from.”
Council will review and make adjustments to the proposed City budget in a late March or early April work session. The budget should be balanced and finalized by mid-April. A public hearing is planned on the proposed budget in early May and it is scheduled to be adopted by Council in a June 4 meeting.