Open Budget Meetings - City of WL

Courtesy of the City of Williams Lake:

The City has set its first two meetings of Council to discuss the 2012 budget and the five-year financial plan on Wednesday, January 18th and Tuesday, January 31st. Both meetings will begin at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall, 450 Mart Street. The public is invited to these meetings, and will be able to observe Council deliberations around the budget and financial plan.

“This is an improvement on our usual budget process,” says Mayor Kerry Cook. “Now, in addition to receiving a budget information package and coming to the public consultation meeting, residents can watch us at the table as we work to address both challenges and opportunities in our budget and long-term financial planning.”

The dates of future meetings will be announced as soon as they are set. Budget information packages are expected be available on the City’s web site on the Fridays prior to the meetings. A formal public consultation meeting on the 2012 budget and five-year financial plan will be held in March.

Under the Community Charter, the City’s financial plan and property tax rates must be adopted by May 15th of each year.

Editor's Note -- While I agree this is an improvement - I still think to get maximum public input, the meetings ought to occur at 7pm, not 6pm and the public should have an opportunity to provide oral input at the beginning of the meetings, similar to the City of Prince George Council where they allow 15 minutes for public input at the beginning of their budget meetings