Press release
On Monday, May 15, the City of Athens hosted its third annual Community Budget Input Forum with citizens. Two sessions were offered to accommodate the varied schedules of community members, both facilitated by City Manager Philip Rodriguez. Each session included a review of how the budget process works, an overview of key service areas by city department directors, and a budget priority exercise where citizens selected some of their priorities for the city’s budget.
“Receiving citizen feedback is an invaluable part of the budget process,” said Rodriguez. “Especially important is to have these discussions early in the process, just as the City is beginning to look at the entire budget picture for the upcoming fiscal year.”
During his presentation, Rodriguez described the different components of the budget, the funds, and why dollars in each fund are kept separate from other funds. For example, general fund dollars that are primarily raised from property and sales taxes cannot legally be utilized for improvements to the water system.
Also discussed were the nine budgeting principles that the city uses to guide its budget decisions. Through these principles, the city commits to budgeting with the long-term impacts in mind, whether through maintaining adequate reserves or planning for the timely replacement of infrastructure and equipment. The city also commits to minimizing the use of debt to fund services, reserving it only for projects that have long, “inter-generational” lifespans.
Perhaps the most notable event of the forum sessions was the budget priority exercise. Given a list of service options for the coming year, participants were given the opportunity to place colored dots next to the services that they feel should be higher priorities for the City. Options included increased street maintenance, drainage improvements, economic development, community events, beautification, among others. “This is a great exercise for citizens to take part in,” said Rodriguez. “Like all cities, we’re faced with many different needs and a limited amount of dollars to fund them. Through this exercise, a citizen is asked to make tough choices about which city services are most important to them, not unlike the tough choices made by the City Council. This, in turn, helps city staff and the City Council gain a better understanding of how citizens view the impact of different services.”
At the end of the forum, the participants were reminded of the number of future opportunities to participate in the budget process. The next opportunity for citizen feedback will be on June 19 at the City Council Budget Workshop and Budget Forum.
Residents with questions regarding the City of Athens budget are encouraged to contact the City at 903-675-5131.