Council FY2016-17 Budget Development Process

[Steve Adler]

07/05/16

Council Colleagues,

At our June 1 meeting we discussed the process and identified several decision points remaining to proceed in implementing this process. There were several areas to determine before finalizing. As we were unable to finalize this before our break, MPT Tovo and I have agreed to put forward the below process. We will assume that this will be our budget development process going forward.

• August 22nd will be the cutoff to consider budget concepts
• There shall a one week period after receiving the City Manager’s budget on July 27th without the need for additional Council co-sponsors.
• After August 2, submitted concepts shall require a sponsor and 3 co-sponsors.
• A vote of six is needed to remove a listed concept.
• A vote of 5 at each work session will occur to move concepts forward. This will necessitate an ordinance to waive public comment requirements.
• A standardized form will be used to submit concepts to be included on the concept menu. This form is being developed by the Budget office working with my office and will be provided to the Council within the week. All concepts will be posted on the Austin Finance Online in a budget concept menu.
• The City Budget office will work closely with the Council in responding to their budget questions. The Budget office will inform Council members if their request might be considered a budget concept if extensive analysis is required with significant staff time, and if the scope of the budget question requires a number of departments to coordinate a response.

Please let Frank Rodriguez in my office know of any questions or concerns. Thank you.
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Steve