City budget deliberations will be delayed by election

City Council's budget deliberations, which usually begin in December, will be delayed until next year because of the Oct. 24 municipal election.

"We have an election year. The budget deliberations will be postponed until the new term," Shelley Schell, chief financial officer and treasurer, told a meeting of the city's finance committee on Wednesday.

"The middle of February is the date that we have scheduled right now," Schell said.

"For the first budget of the new council term, we decided to move forward with outside agency presentations, just for the first year."

"Those are tentatively scheduled for January 2023. So everything has moved back about a month, and a month and a half for deliberations."

"We're looking at having the preliminary budget presented to council on Jan. 30, so it gives about two weeks before it goes to deliberations."

The new City Council's term will start Nov. 15, and run until Nov. 14, 2026. 

Schell also told Wednesday's meeting that city staff will start using new software next year that will allow more accurate tracking of salaries and benefits.

"We have training scheduled for employees in the middle of June," she said.

KMPG LLP's contract as the city's independent external auditors expired in 2021 and a request for auditing proposals will be issued this summer.