Budget Introduction - When?

Those who have watched municipal government closely over the years know that the administration prepares the budget, but the governing body does not get a whack at it until the budget is introduced. It is then said to be the council's budget and deliberations, including hearing from division and department heads on the rationale for their budget requests, can ensue.

Now that the city has switched from a state fiscal year budget beginning July 1 to a calendar year budget, introduction should be imminent. But exchanges at Monday's City Council were not reassuring.

The council was discussing a resolution to adopt temporary budget appropriations for April. The process allows for a three-month temporary appropriation to allow for budget introduction, but then month by month the council must approve enough money to keep the city running until the budget is passed.

City Administrator Eric Berry, when asked about budget introduction, first called Finance Director Al Restaino in front of the council. Restaino said the city's auditing firm was "finalizing revenue numbers."

The budget document outlines anticipated revenues as well as appropriations.

"It's the middle of March and we haven't seen anything," Williams said.

Restaino promised to send the council members the information "electronically."

But Council President Adrian Mapp said, "We need the actual budget."

Mapp said he "can't make heads or tails" of a document he was given.

Councilman Cory Storch said he was "also uncomfortable " with the document, but said, "We need to keep the city running."

Turning to City Administrator Eric Berry, Storch asked, "Can we get some help on what we can expect?"

Berry said he was going to "stick with Al" on the need to get the revenue figures.

Storch asked whether a special meeting would be needed to introduce the budget and Berry said it could be done after a meeting with the Finance Committee.

A discussion then proceeded on how to put more pressure on the administration without causing a stalemate. Storch suggested that the Finance Committee could go through the "other expense" requests for April and reduce any that were not needed.

With that, four members of the council - William Reid, Storch, Annie McWilliams and Bridget Rivers - agreed to move the resolution on April appropriations to the March 12 agenda for a vote. But Williams said "no," saying she has seen "nothing but errors and incompetence" and Mapp joined her in declining.

For those who want to explore the whole process as it is supposed to take place, click here for an overview. The change to a calendar year was, in part, supposed to help avoid the city's chronic scenario of not having an adopted budget until late in the third quarter of the year. By then, most of the funding has been expended through temporary emergency appropriations and there is no leeway for cuts.

--Bernice