Special Meeting Wednesday
The City Council will hold a special meeting Wednesday (Sept. 24, 2008) to introduce the FY 2009 budget.
The meeting is 8 p.m. in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave.
Another item on the agenda are a resolution stating the council has reviewed a corrective action plan arising from FY 2007 audit recommendations, to be submitted to the state Division of local Government Services.
The city is also applying for extraordinary state aid for the FY 2009 budget year that began July 1 and ends June 30, 2009. The council must approve the application that will be sent to the state Department of Community Affairs.
This year's budget process will be aided by a 16-member advisory committee, with two members each named by the seven council members and the mayor. The committee will attend all council budget deliberations and make recommendations on modifications.
For those unfamiliar with the budget process, the city's special charter calls for the mayor and city administrator to prepare a budget document that includes a budget message, a current operating expense budget, a capital budget, a budget summary and any explanatory charts or other exhibits deemed necessary. Each city department head makes requests for appropriations for the budget year and may be called on to explain them to the city administrator, who may make modifications.
The budget for day-to-day running of the city may then be further modified by the council after hearing from department heads. Anyone who wants to know what's in the initial budget may file an OPRA request to look at the big binder that contains a rationale for expenses of each department and division. In the front is a summary of the original requests and the administration's recommendations. The last column is for the council's final decisions after deliberations are complete.
No schedule for budget talks has been set, but usually it includes twice-weekly sessions over several weeks. Very few people attend these talks, but they can be very revealing. Councilman Rashid Burney has lamented the lack of public interest in how the taxpayers' money is spent on city operations. Now that he has a blog, he will most likely keep people informed on how they can follow the process.
The city has three departments under which all divisions operate. Public Affairs & Safety, which includes the Police and Fire Divisions, commands the lion's share of spending, mostly for salaries. The other departments are Public Works & Urban Development and Administration, Finance, Health and Social Services. The last is a hodge-podge of divisions that came about in a reorganization under former Mayor Mark Fury to suit his nominee for department director. In the charter, the three departments are Administration and Finance; Public Works; and Public Affairs and Safety.
The big budget book also includes names and salaries of employees, which is public information, along with staff and expenses of the prior year. A lot of this information helps give a clearer picture of budget needs and trends.
Over the more than 20 years that this writer has observed the budget process, the city has tried various ways to get a grip on it. At one point, there was a 21-member budget advisory committee. For several years, the council hired its own outside budget advisor, John Surmay of Elizabeth. Most recently, a three-member council Finance Committee reviewed the budget and made recommendations to the governing body.
Anyone who is thinking of running for elected office would be well-advised to take a look at the budget process. The same goes for anyone who is really curious about how municipal government spends millions of their tax dollars. Plaintalker will post the budget deliberations schedule as soon as it is available.
--Bernice Paglia
The meeting is 8 p.m. in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave.
Another item on the agenda are a resolution stating the council has reviewed a corrective action plan arising from FY 2007 audit recommendations, to be submitted to the state Division of local Government Services.
The city is also applying for extraordinary state aid for the FY 2009 budget year that began July 1 and ends June 30, 2009. The council must approve the application that will be sent to the state Department of Community Affairs.
This year's budget process will be aided by a 16-member advisory committee, with two members each named by the seven council members and the mayor. The committee will attend all council budget deliberations and make recommendations on modifications.
For those unfamiliar with the budget process, the city's special charter calls for the mayor and city administrator to prepare a budget document that includes a budget message, a current operating expense budget, a capital budget, a budget summary and any explanatory charts or other exhibits deemed necessary. Each city department head makes requests for appropriations for the budget year and may be called on to explain them to the city administrator, who may make modifications.
The budget for day-to-day running of the city may then be further modified by the council after hearing from department heads. Anyone who wants to know what's in the initial budget may file an OPRA request to look at the big binder that contains a rationale for expenses of each department and division. In the front is a summary of the original requests and the administration's recommendations. The last column is for the council's final decisions after deliberations are complete.
No schedule for budget talks has been set, but usually it includes twice-weekly sessions over several weeks. Very few people attend these talks, but they can be very revealing. Councilman Rashid Burney has lamented the lack of public interest in how the taxpayers' money is spent on city operations. Now that he has a blog, he will most likely keep people informed on how they can follow the process.
The city has three departments under which all divisions operate. Public Affairs & Safety, which includes the Police and Fire Divisions, commands the lion's share of spending, mostly for salaries. The other departments are Public Works & Urban Development and Administration, Finance, Health and Social Services. The last is a hodge-podge of divisions that came about in a reorganization under former Mayor Mark Fury to suit his nominee for department director. In the charter, the three departments are Administration and Finance; Public Works; and Public Affairs and Safety.
The big budget book also includes names and salaries of employees, which is public information, along with staff and expenses of the prior year. A lot of this information helps give a clearer picture of budget needs and trends.
Over the more than 20 years that this writer has observed the budget process, the city has tried various ways to get a grip on it. At one point, there was a 21-member budget advisory committee. For several years, the council hired its own outside budget advisor, John Surmay of Elizabeth. Most recently, a three-member council Finance Committee reviewed the budget and made recommendations to the governing body.
Anyone who is thinking of running for elected office would be well-advised to take a look at the budget process. The same goes for anyone who is really curious about how municipal government spends millions of their tax dollars. Plaintalker will post the budget deliberations schedule as soon as it is available.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 7:34 AM
2 Comments:
Bernice, have you seen any legal notice of the meeting? I think that 48 hrs must be given which would mean Monday's papers at the latest. It certainly a sof 8am today was not posted on the city site. email reply at your convenience appreciated. HSY
Bernice, A VERY good synposis of the process. Could you post the number of Mayor's appointments making over $100,000 ? Jack Gill used to do that for the over $30,000 crowd as I recall. Thanks JS PS and the 24 hour City Car users.
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