Every year as it prepares to vote on the municipal budget, the Springfield City Council holds a long series of hearings to pore over the spending plan put together by the mayor and his financial staff. But this year, the Council will take a different tact—one that, it’s hoped, will be more streamlined, and more open to public scrutiny.
On Monday, Mayor Domenic Sarno will present the proposed fiscal 2011 budget (to take effect July 1) to a full meeting of the City Council. From there—as reported by Peter Goonan in this morning’s Springfield Republican—the Council will hold several hearings, open to all councilors, where multiple departments’ budgets will be discussed. In the past, the budgets of individual departments were parceled out to various Council subcommittees, resulting in a longer and more cumbersome process.
“It makes a lot of sense, being more efficient,” Council President Jose Tosado told the Republican. “Department heads make the presentation, and city councilors, any and all, will have the opportunity to ask questions and hear the same response.”
Veteran City Councilor Tim Rooke has been calling for years for a more resident-friendly budget process. Noting that the mayor’s budget hearings—where each department makes its pitch for funding to the mayor and his financial team—are traditionally held during work hours, Rooke has proposed that the Council hold its hearings on the weekends, to allow more people to attend. He’s also suggested in the past that the Council hold hearings at neighborhood sites, rather than City Hall, to make them more accessible.
In a recent email to City Hall staff and fellow councilors promoting his weekend-hearing idea, Rooke wrote, “This would allow the concerned public to attend, participate and ask constructive questions if they so choose. …. Judging from the public’s response on the tax rate I am guessing we may have several resident[s] attend who would appreciate the opportunity.”
Sarno will present his fiscal 2011 budget at the City Council meeting on Monday, May 3, at 5 p.m. in City Hall. A copy of it is available on the City Hall website, here.
