City Council will meet Tuesday, March 31, at 6 p.m. to complete its department-by-department review of the working draft of a budget submitted by City Manager Joe King. The meeting is open to the public and will be held in the fourth floor conference room at the Municipal Building.
The departments under review on March 31 will be utilities and parks and recreation.
Council has met on each of the past three Tuesday nights for departmental reviews. Departments reviewed include community development, transportation, information technology, human resources, economic development, police, fire, and public works.
Next week, at its regularly scheduled meeting, City Council officially will introduce the budget for public consideration and schedule a series of public hearings for April and May.
Final adoption must take place no later than June 30. The final budget will serve as a blueprint for city operations from July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016.
Under the current working draft as submitted by King, municipal services and programs will remain at current levels with no increases in real estate, meals and lodging taxes.
The budget draft includes a utility rate study recommendation for an average 3.5 percent increase in wastewater rates. The bill for the typical residential customer would increase by $1.85 a month. No increases for electricity, gas and water are included in the budget draft.
The working draft of the city’s budget is for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.