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Budget Adoption

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2020 11:56 pm
by Steve Adler
Colleagues,

As we prepare for budget adoption this week, here are a few notes on logistics, subject to the will of the council:

• All speakers (remote or in-person) must register in advance by Monday, August 10 by 5:00 p.m. to speak at the budget adoption reading meetings on August 12 and August 14 (if necessary).

• We will begin the meeting on Wednesday by taking speaker testimony for all items. Each speaker will be recognized to speak only once and may use that time to speak to one or more of the posted items. Each speaker will have one minute and there are no donations of time. This will be the case if the speaker is either remote by telephone or in-person at the Palmer Events Center. For complete instructions on signing up, please go to the following link: https://gcc01.safelinks.protection.outl ... reserved=0

• All Council Members, please finish posting draft budget amendments and riders to the message board before 5:00 pm on Monday, August 10, as requested by staff. The budget office sent out a template to use as a consistent format for amendments. We anticipate these to be compiled by staff and distributed/posted on Tuesday.

• After taking speakers, we’ll have a brief presentation from city staff and will see if there are any updates to the Manager’s proposed budget we’ve previously received. Following a motion to establish a base budget, we’ll start with a general conversation by Council Members on their priorities (without offering specific amendments). This will give us information about how best to proceed thereafter.

• Council Members should be prepared to present their proposed amendments and to receive questions from colleagues as well as feedback from staff.

• Next, we will take up amendments for programs we seek to fund with any available monies and amendments that seek to cut spending in the budget so as to free up funds. While we won’t vote on riders until after we’ve made all the monetary moves, it will be okay to introduce budget riders, changes to financial policies, and performance measures that relate directly to items being added to or taken out of the budget.

• Next, we will take up any budget riders, changes in financial policies, and performance measures.

• We will then consider any changes to enterprise funds and the fee schedule, before we vote on the budget.

• Consistent with prior years, we’ll divide and take separate votes on any offered amendment that seeks to both find new monies and to spend those monies. In other words, council will be given the option to accept an amendment that finds or frees up revenue, but to reject the way it may have been proposed that this money is to be spent.

As the conversation on the message board develops and we learn more about speakers, etc., I’ll update this post.
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