Want to know what happens to the $19.50 of city taxes you pay for every $1,000 your property is worth? (Make that $39.25 per $1,000 if you’re a business owner.)
Over the next couple of weeks, Springfield city officials will begin the process of putting together the municipal budget for the coming fiscal year. In a series of meetings starting today, city department heads will come before Mayor Domenic Sarno to make their cases for their requested funding for Fiscal 2011.
An announcement from Sarno’s office notes that the meeting are open to members of the public. (The hearings will not, however, be open to public questions or comments.) In addition, the press release notes, “[t]he hearings are open to all Springfield City.” That’s an important—and wise—change since Sarno’s first year in office, when he attempted to keep councilors from attending the meetings, a move that added to the criticism that the new mayor was failing to communicate openly with the Council. While that criticism hasn’t gone away completely —most recently, some councilors have expressed frustration that the mayor did not include them in designing a new civilian police review board—at least it won’t be a distracting issue in this year’s budget process.
While the meetings are open to the public, they’re not exactly accessible to most working people, taking place during weekday hours. Still, for residents who can make them, they’re a good opportunity to see how the city’s roughly $530 million budget is put together. They’re also an opportunity for residents to let city officials know, by their presence, that they’re paying attention to how the city supports its public libraries, or elder services, or public safety, or whatever departments mean the most to them.
The hearings will take place in Room 310 in City Hall. A complete schedule of the budget hearings is available at the City Hall website. Among the higher-profile department hearings are:
Fire: Monday, Feb, 22, 3 p.m.
Building/House: Tuesday, Feb. 22, 10:30 a.m.
Planning: Tuesday, Feb. 22, 11:30 a.m.
Public Works: Tuesday, Feb 22, 2:30 p.m.
Library: Thursday, Feb. 25, 10:30 a.m.
Elder Affairs: Thursday, Feb. 25, 11:30 a.m.
Parks: Monday, March 1, 1 p.m.
Veterans: Tuesday, March 2, 1:30 p.m.
Police: Wednesday, March 3, 10:30 a.m.
