Budget Hearing Dates Proposed

Monday's City Council packet includes a proposed schedule for budget hearings, four sessions in April with an extra one if needed, leading to possible adoption at the May 9 regular council meeting.

All the proposed joint City Council/Citizens' Budget Advisory Committee meetings are at 7 p.m. in the Plainfield Senior Center. Tentative dates, to be confirmed at the April 11 council meeting, are April 12, 18, 20, 26 and 27.(revised)

Each council member names a CBAC representative. The roster, set in mid-February, includes Eric Graham, named to the committee by Councilwoman Gloria Taylor; Sal Carrano, named by Councilwoman Tracey Brown; Thomas Crownover, named by Councilwoman Rebecca Williams; Delois Dameron, named by Councilwoman Diane Toliver; Leighton St. Patrick Williams, named by Councilman Barry Goode; Alma Blanco, named by Councilwoman Bridget Rivers; and Nathan Vaughn, named by Council President Cory Storch.

In a March 7 presentation, Chief Financial Officer Al Steinberg and Finance Director Ron West outlined the 2016 budget. The process began late last year with departmental requests that were subject to modification by the administration. The budget handed off to the council totals $79,412,520.58, a 1.74 percent increase over last year's figure. It reflects a $94 increase on taxes for the average home valued at $113,000. Of that amount, $23 is due to the loss of ratables. The total value of all city property declined by $38,266,307 since 2011, now standing at $1,216,502,273.

Sixty percent of the budget goes to the Police and Fire divisions, which comprise the Department of Public Affairs & Safety. and which will be up first in the hearings. Other listed topics for subsequent hearings are Inspections and Recreation, within the Department of Public Works & Urban Development; Information Technology & Media, within the Department of Administration, Finance, Health & Social Services. Economic Development, which comes under Deputy City Administrator Carlos Sanchez, is another topic.

The hearings are supposed to produce recommendations from CBAC, which the council may take into account in making amendments. Lastly, there is a public hearing on the budget where any resident can speak before final adoption.

At the March 7 City Council meeting, Carrano announced he has been named to CBAC and chosen to be chairman. He complimented the administration on improving the tax collection rate to 97 percent, as noted in a budget presentation earlier in the meeting. On March 14, he reiterated that he was chairman of CBAC, but said, "I don't like double talk. I don't like shell games."

Citing a lot of figures related to the budget presentation, especially regarding an $8.5 million surplus amount, Carrano said, "I don't want my time wasted examining this budget."

Though intended to be a collegial process, the budget hearings have been adversarial at times.

The fiscal year began in January and the city has been operating on temporary budgets since then, based in most cases on one-twelfth per month of what was spent in 2015 for each . Transfers are allowed periodically for unanticipated expenses. 

--Bernice