Susan Kilduff, chair of the 2010 Citizens’ Budget Advisory Committee, updated the City Council Monday on its status.
Kilduff said the committee has 12 members and had held an introductory meeting. Its first working meeting was “tomorrow night,” she said Monday. The committee was scheduled to “review and prioritize” council expectations. The committee will be working with the council’s own Finance Committee, which would be looking at how “peer cities” approach budget issues.
The governing body had given a “very, very broad charge” to the committee, she said.
Also during Monday’s meeting, City Administrator Bibi Taylor said budget introduction was slated for late August or early September. Council members are pushing for a speedier process than last year’s in which budget introduction took place in November and final passage did not take place until February, with three quarters of the 2010 fiscal year having elapsed.
The FY 2011 budget is for the year that began July 1. Some council members are in favor of foregoing a category of state aid that has traditionally not been announced until late in the budget year. Formerly called extraordinary state aid, it is now called transitional state aid. The city sought $3.5 million for FY 2010, but only got $250,000 with strings attached that curtailed all governmental spending on food, travel and other non-essentials.
--Bernice Paglia
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Sounds like this budget committee has become a puppet of the Council.
ReplyDeleteThe CBAC is appointed by the council. Members bring many professional skills to the process and they are volunteering their time. Their charge is to examine the budget and bring recommendations to reduce taxes. Take my word for it, they are not "puppets."
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