Council begins to consider budget issues
SIKESTON -- Reviewing a first draft is where the Council begins the process of approving a budget for Sikeston's next fiscal year.
Council members were presented with a budget summary and advised of the schedule for the budget approval process by City Manager Jon Douglass during their regular monthly briefing session Monday.
Douglass told Council members he tries to "balance" providing them with "enough information to make good decision without drowning you in so much information you can't make heads of tails of it."
The Council is "not constrained to stick with what we have come up with so far," he assured. "This is by far not the last time you will see the budget ... The Council and the public will get a a lot of opportunities to weigh in."
Douglass listed May 4, May 14, May 25, June 5 and June 15 as city meetings dates for discussing and working on the budget.
The second reading and approval of the budget ordinance are scheduled during a meeting to be held at 5 p.m. June 15, according to Douglass.
"That's a Monday," he said.
While the city's revenues are "not a whole lot different today than they were 10 years ago," according to Douglass, staff are anticipating adjusting tax receipt projections and expenditures to be a bit higher in the next draft.
As additional time passes "we get a better idea of what our year end balances will be," he said.
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