City Budget Review Enters Final Stage
The City Council is in the final stages of reviewing the FY 2025 – FY 2026 recommended City budget, after nearly two months of work sessions. The City Manager and various staff members first presented the recommended capital budget to City Council on April 9th. An additional work session on the capital budget was held on April 23rd, with a special meeting on May 8th for capital items. Three work sessions on the recommended budget were held on May 8th, May 14th, and May 15th, which encompassed all expenses and estimated revenue.
Work sessions are an important step in the annual budget process, as the City Manager and staff provide explanation and detail for the recommended budget and Council Members ask questions. Work session series are followed by special meetings, during which City Council Members can propose motions to change the recommended budget. As the end of the budget process nears, a work session and Special Meeting will be held on May 22nd where City Council will have a second opportunity to propose changes to the recommended budget. The adoption of the city budget for fiscal year 2025 and 2026 will follow in June.
“We greatly encourage interested community members to join work sessions and special meetings. Work sessions provide a good overview of the material and help break down the budget into understandable pieces. Residents also have the opportunity to provide public comment on the city budget,” says the City of Laramie Administrative Services Director, Jennifer Wade.
The City budget includes all expenses and anticipated revenues; however, there is often heavy interest in the capital plans described in the budget. Capital plans include construction, software projects, streets, storm drainage, water and other infrastructure, parks, vertical building construction, equipment items, and more.
The City of Laramie operates with a biennial budget; therefore, biennium budget preparation begins in November every other year, with supplemental budget work in between. A community budget survey was distributed in December which helped gauge community priorities and specific wants for the budget. The City works to align the budget with survey data where applicable. The current recommended budget does address survey data received from residents, especially in regard to public safety which can be found on page 18 in the budget book.
“Budget preparation is a lengthy process, but it’s meant to ensure that the City is operating efficiently and effectively and that we’re accomplishing public policy goals all while remaining transparent to the community. Government budgeting isn’t hard to understand; put simplistically, it’s a phased process that goes through several filters to arrive at the final adopted budget – from Director requests to the City Manager’s Recommendation and then, with Council changes, to the adopted budget. We recommend residents join work sessions to fully understand the budget and its process,” says Wade.
Laramie residents interested in the City budget should attend the Work Session and Special Meeting on May 22nd at 6:00 pm in the Council Chambers. Learn more about the budget and review it in full at https://www.cityoflaramie.org/108/Budget.