Budget Hearings in June
UPDATE 8 June 2006: The Mayor's budget presentation to the Board of Aldermen is now online (.pdf file).
For Public input on the proposed FY 2007 budget, Alderman William A. White Jr., chairman of the Committee on Finance has ordered a public hearing before the Board of Aldermen, Tuesday, June 20, at 7 p.m. in the committee room on the second floor of City Hall, 93 Highland Avenue.
In addition to the proposed municipal budget for the 2007 fiscal year, the budgetary hearing schedule, from the City Finance Department, is now online.
Alderman at Large, Bill White, in an e-mail correspondence, provided this thumbnail summary of the municipal budget process.
The City's fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30, so that the proposed budget that has been submitted would run from July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007. With regard to the proposed budget, the Board of Aldermen only has power to cut from various line items, the Board cannot add or switch money around. As part of the budget process, when the Mayor submits the budget, the Mayor demonstrates where the revenue is to come to fund the budget. A city must have a balanced budget and cannot run a deficit, unlike the federal government. Basically, the revenues that you see in the proposed budget are estimates. Usually in December, the Mayor submits the items to the Board of Aldermen that are necessary to set the property tax rate. Once set, this tax rate cannot be changed. If revenues do not come in as anticipated during the year, the City either must lay off workers to reduce expenditures or transfer funds from free cash, which is basically a reserve.
The Mayor's budget presentation to the Board of Aldermen is this evening.