It's Your Money - Get Involved with the City's Budget Process

There is a famous proverb that reads, "It takes a village to raise a family." The same holds true in local government - it takes an entire community to make Meridian the wonderful, unique place we all love to call home. Whether you realize it or not, you are so important to everything our City does. Our citizens’ engagement and input has helped shape us into the vibrant community we are today.

The City is focused on our citizens and our service to you. We work hard to make sure you live in a safe community where police and firefighters are just a call away, a community where you are never far from wonderful parks, open space and pathways, and a City with a thriving economy. While our City Council members are elected to make the decisions which impact us all, the City wants - and needs - your input when it has important decisions to make.

An important part of what we do to provide services is done through our extensive budget process. We begin preparation in February where Finance and I, along with the specific City Council liaison, where we scrutinize each department's budget line by line, looking at budget performance, under/over variances, asset maintenance and replacement, how programs are meeting strategic goals and associated ROI. Budget enhancements are then considered relating to needs versus wants and to the City's five year capital improvement plan. Our Senior Management Team then presents their respective budget which is then discussed and the budget balanced. The 'Mayors Budget' is then given to the City Council several weeks prior to the budget workshops for their review and eventual adoption.

This week, each department director will go before the City Council to present their budgets and proposed enhancements for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts on October 1, 2013. These budget workshops, held on July 9 and 10, are the community’s first chance to hear where money may be allocated and what projects the City wants to fund. With this information City Council will be setting the budget for the 2014 fiscal year, a process that will be finalized during the August 20th meeting where public testimony will be taken.

We firmly believe it is important that the public is involved in the budget process. At the end of the day, this is your money! The budget helps guide the projects the City will deliver over the coming year. If you can’t attend these meetings, we will stream them live and post the video on our website at meridiancity.org/videos. If you have any questions or want more details about the budget process and how to get involved please call my office at 489-0529.

The financial decisions the City Council makes will impact our community, and most importantly, you. That is why I am asking you to get involved in this process. Public dollars make up our City budget and we would appreciate your involvement.