The adoption of the 2007 budget by the City Council is just around the corner. The Council will get a look at the draft this Thursday evening. I certainly hope they receive a printed copy so they will be able to study it in great detail. Slides and online documents do not provide a good means of comparative analysis.

When the process is completed the council will be adopting a very short document which will detail the budget only in the aggregated totals required by State Law. This is done to maintain a tremendous amount of flexibility due to the fact that the budget is a "plan".

With a new City Manager around the corner, I'm hoping that the budget will not become an unused shelf item as it has been for the last five years. To me, it should be an expression of what our elected representatives want to accomplish during 2007 and the allocation of revenues to accomplish it. If it is to be changed by the staff, as has been the past, the council and the residents should be informed of all of the Whys in advance and the council should specifically and publicly approve of changes in the plan as they are deemed necessary.

Why did the former Manager and Interim Manager create and fill fourteen more positions than authorized by the Council in the 2006 budget without council knowledge? Why did the staff ask for an additional multi-million dollar addition to the 2006 budget in December of 2005 when the ink was still wet on the adoption of the 2006 budget? Why were nearly all the 2006 authorized capital improvement projects not constructed? The answer lies primarily in the budgeting process and adoption as allowed by the council.

This summer and early fall the council watched a multitude of slide presentations from the staff addressing the anticipated budget needs for 2007. In addition to providing justifications for the requests, the staff compared their various budget categories to the present budget and offered reasons for the proposed increases in all areas including detailed personnel changes. A very similar process was followed in prior years.

The problem with the process is that the proposals the Council has been receiving for months will not be specified or detailed in the budget proposed for adoption. Instead they will see millions dollars only listed as Commodities, Operating Expenses and Personnel in increments of hundreds of thousands with no additional details. The dog and pony shows of the last months were only that; shows. It doesn't have to be that way and I assure you the Manager will not object if the Council chooses to require more detail.

In a July 31st posting on my personal blog, I detailed some of the problems that have resulted due to a lack of specificity by the Council in the Appropriation ordinance. The ordinance is adopted immediately after the budget is adopted and it is the document that has the teeth. I hope the Council will step up and assume control of the city's financial operations as specified and allowed in the Charter.