It's Budget Season! Time to get into the numbers!
Robert Barron III, Finance Director is hunkering down as the Fiscal Year 2017/18 Budget Season begins!
Everything starts right after the Mid-Year Report for the FY 2016/17 Budget which was sent to the Council at the February 15, 2017 Council Meeting. Following that update, we start having internal departmental meetings and meetings with the City Manager (me) to review each departmental budget.
OpenGov Fiscal Transparency Portal - Town Website #OpenGov
Led by the Finance Director, each department head starts working through a general fiscal overview and line-item budget details. Templates are sent to each department to complete for each line-item within their proposed budget. Written justification for any major expenditure change (up) is required. This all occurs between February 15 and March 13.
Once the Finance Director has all the detail back, departments meet with the City Manager during the week of March 20 to go through item by item their operational and capital budget proposals. These meetings continue through April 5 and toward the end, include the Town’s Capital Improvement Project Budgets.
If you like numbers - these are the meetings to attend for the Town’s Budget Process:
- Public Meeting No. 1 - On April 5 at the 4 pm Study Session, the City Council will host a Public Meeting (joint meeting with the Finance Committee) to go through a Budget Kick-Off. This is an overview of the Budget Process and Policy; a review of the FY 2016/17 Projected Fiscal Condition; an overview of the Town’s Major Revenue Sources and 5-Year Forecasts; an overview of the Town’s Major Expenditure Categories; and 5-Year Forecasts for the General Fund.
- Public Meeting No. 2 - At the Regular Meeting on April 19 (7 pm), the City Council will review all Special Funds. This is a review of Special Revenue and Other Funds such as the Library Fund, Parcel Tax Fund, Measure A, Measure M and Tennis Fund.
- Public Meeting No. 3 - Then, at the May 3 Study Session (4 pm), the Council will review the Capital Improvement Budget. This will include all major capital infrastructure projects with specificity.
Once the May 3 Study Session is complete, staff takes all of the feedback and pulls it together into the “draft” Final Budget.
- Public Meeting No. 4 - The June 7 Study Session (4 pm) is a review of the “draft” Final Budget - all in. Final changes are made at this point. At this meeting, the Council will also review planned expenditure needs for the Parcel Tax.
- Public Meeting No. 5 - The June 21 Regular Meeting (7 pm) is where the Council hosts its final Public Meeting on the Budget and adopts the Budget for the coming year. At this meeting, the Council will also set the Parcel Tax rate for FY 2017/18.
More information on the Town’s budget and budget process can be had by contacting Finance Director Robert Barron III at rbarron@ci.atherton.ca.us or the City Manager, George Rodericks at grodericks@ci.atherton.ca.us.
And remember....you can also visit the Town’s online Fiscal Transparency Portal to drill down into the numbers as they are updated!