Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Budget Meetings Resume Tonight

City Council deliberations on the 2012 budget resume tonight (Wednesday, April 25) with a 7 p.m. meeting in City Hall Library.

The governing body is going over 2012 requests from city departments and divisions, which have been reviewed and given recommendations from the administration. The budget as introduced last month is now subject to amendment by the council before a public hearing and final passage, which could come next month.

The council and the Citizens' Budget Advisory Committee will review proposed budgets for the Public Works, Recreation and Inspections divisions as well as the offices of the mayor and the city administrator.

The Recreation Division is seeking an increase from $613,148 last year to $651,384 in 2012. The Inspections Division budget proposed for 2012 is $993,710, up from $975,858.

The Mayor's Office budget for 2011 was $123,116. The departmental request for 2012 is listed as $213,070 and the administration is recommending $286,070. In a breakdown of costs, the category for "Programs/Community initiatives" was $1,250 in 2011. For 2012, $63,500 was requested and that amount was modified to $136,500 by the administration.

Deliberations will continue at 7 p.m. Thursday in City Hall Library, when Planning & Economic Development, Community Development and Municipal Court budgets will be considered.

The council has tentatively scheduled a special meeting on May 15 for introduction of budget amendments, with budget adoption possible at a special meeting on May24.

A copy of the binder of budget information used by the council and budget committee is available for the public in the City Clerk's office during normal business hours and will also be on hand at the deliberations.

The sessions began on April 12 with Police and Fire divisions. The Police Division's budget of $14,678,882 for 2011 has an anticipated increase to $14,979,038 in 2012. The Fire Division's budget was $9,167,627 and is projected to increase to $10,164,454 in 2012.

--Bernice

1 comment:

  1. Pat Turner KavanaughApril 26, 2012 at 7:09 AM

    Bernice: is the mayor in pre-election mood or what? That's a incredible rise to pay for bread and circuses, at a time when the administration proposes to gut the library budget - which serves children, the unemployed and underemployed, and those who don't have computers at home.

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