North Battleford’s budget deliberation process is right around the corner.
City officials have confirmed at Tuesday’s council meeting that they are in the final stages of preparing the 2018 budget that will go before council for consideration later this month.
The plan is to release the draft budget document to council on Nov. 27 and to begin budget deliberations that week.
The first budget deliberation session is set for Nov. 29 and would include an overview of the budget as well as presentations by selected grantees making third-party grant applications.
The next budget session would be Dec. 4 and would cover items such as infrastructure, waste management, and the water and sewer departments. The last one would be Dec. 6 and cover leisure services, protective services and the planning departments.
All these deliberation sessions begin at 5 pm, and are scheduled to go for four hours. These sessions are open to the public at council chambers.
The intention is for the budget to then come back to the Dec. 11 council meeting, which could see council give its authorization to expenditures at that meeting.
However, it is also possible there could be no final decisions that night, and further budget deliberation sessions could be scheduled.
That was exactly the case last year: the entire 2017 city budget was in fact not settled until the new year, and then was revised again in the wake of provincial budget cuts in the spring.
According to city manager Jim Puffalt, 2018 budget preparations have been a “long-term” process that began this summer. Right now the official budget document is in the process of being completed.
“The budget process, we’re glad to say it’s just about done to the point of being able to present to council,” said Puffalt to council. “We look forward to your guidance and advice as to where we go forward.”
