Page last updated on August 15, 2022 at 2:06 pm
Each week, Mayor Hamilton and Deputy Mayor Griffin provide video updates on recent news and key initiatives.
Transcript
John Hamilton:
Hello, I'm mayor John Hamilton.
Don Griffin:
And I'm Don Griffin, the deputy mayor for the City of Bloomington. And today, John, we're going to talk about the budget.
John Hamilton:
Oh yeah. Okay.
Don Griffin:
It's fun times. Right?
John Hamilton:
Big time.
Don Griffin:
It takes a lot of people to get this going. And let's talk about the process for the 2023 budget and how we prepare for that.
John Hamilton:
So, thanks. It's a big process, a big project getting the budget done, and it involves a lot of people, as you said, and a long time. The 2023 budget, so for calendar year 23, we actually began working on probably three or four months ago in the spring as we start to plan and review. And it starts with every department of the city, looks at their budget and what they need and where their pressure points are, opportunities. It begins with city council too, because the city council passes the budget.
John Hamilton:
A mayor presents a budget, but the city council here will pass the budget. So we build the budget up with city council advisement. We've been meeting with them regularly and with all of our department heads. And then we have to look at the revenue that's going to come in from property taxes and income taxes and all the other sources and put it in a pot and mix it together and produce what is really the most important policy document that we do, which is allocating all the funds to all the different uses in the city.
Don Griffin:
And we do this every year?
John Hamilton:
Every year.
Don Griffin:
We started actually three months ago.
Mayor John Hamilton:
Yeah.
Don Griffin:
Now it's a little bit new. 2023 is going to be a little bit different because we've got the new LIT that we passed.
John Hamilton:
So right. We do have new revenue with the economic development, local income tax. That's going to be part of the mix now. And that generates about, we don't know yet for sure, but about 14 or 15 million dollars a year. City council passed that tax back in the spring. And they really allocated that or indicated where it should go in a series of areas, sustainability, public safety, housing, and affordability and equity, and then just general city operations. So all that stuff's in the mix. We have to present a budget and we'll be presenting it the week of August 28th. So people who want to get on the catch television or our website can check that out. But the whole week of August 28th, for four nights, Monday through Thursday, will be budget presentations of the city council.
Don Griffin:
It's kind of our super bowl. I didn't realize that I've been a year... What a year?!
John Hamilton:
You did it once already.
Don Griffin:
I did it once. I had no idea. It is quite an undertaking.
John Hamilton:
And it's really where you can learn a lot about what's going on in the city too. So every night there'll be presentations from different departments of the city. And then the council will react to that, give us feedback. By September 28th, I think is the first council meeting. After that, they will review the budget. And under Indiana law, the mayor proposes a budget and we set the numbers in there and the city council can reduce it, but they're not allowed to increase it. So once the budget is proposed, which we'll do by mid-September formally, the council can reduce amounts of it, but they cannot increase amounts of it. So that process goes on and we hope the budget will be adopted by October.
Don Griffin:
And it's a true exercise in democracy because we have to get nine different people to agree to this budget.
John Hamilton:
I love getting nine. Technically we need five.
Don Griffin:
We need five, but we got nine last time, didn't we?
John Hamilton:
Yeah, we usually get nine, but we never know, but you're right. It's a democratic vote. And they represent all the people of Bloomington and approve the budget that then goes into effect starting January 1st, 2023.
Don Griffin:
Okay. If people want to know more information about this, where should they go?
John Hamilton:
Go to our website. We'll have the budget published by the end of August pretty soon. And that huge detail will be there, but you can go to the website to get more information about the budget. And I do encourage people to read it, watch the presentations and get involved because it's a really important city policy document.
Don Griffin:
Thanks for watching. Have a good one folks.