BL2026-1430 and Amendment: Budget Book

This discussion topic was request by Council Member Russ Bradford, relative to BL2026-1430 and the proposed amendment, regarding the budget book.

Colleagues,

Over my time on Council, I’ve noticed an inconsistency with how we receive the materials needed to understand the Budget. Looking at this year, Council did not get department budget materials until that afternoon at the start of that hearing, leaving no time to review numbers or prepare questions beforehand or even understand what was in it. This is inefficient, and I believe we should look at making this process better so that we can improve the service we give to the taxpayers.

This bill as amended seeks to fix that by requiring the Mayor to deliver each department's budget materials at least 3 days before that department's hearing, instead of one big packet delivered all at once, sometimes weeks later.

Materials must include:

• Budget summary
• Organizational structure
• Recommended budget modifications
• Financial details

"Department" means any department, board, commission, or agency of Metro government.

Subsection B (the Capital Improvements Budget) is unchanged — still delivered by May 20 with an index, as current law already requires.

The Amendment

Conversations with the Mayor's staff explained the difficulty of getting complete operating budget materials delivered to Council by the May 1 deadline. To that end, they sent me the language for the amendment that changed the date from May 1 to May 10, and the 3-day-prior delivery requirement for each department's materials ahead of that department's hearing. It also included a provision that would limit it to four departmental hearings per day. For context, the May 10 start date was based on when Council budget hearings began in past years.

Still Being Worked Out

Two pieces of the amendment came up in Budget & Finance Committee this week:

• May 10 start date for hearings — Again, this was set to allow property time for Mayor’s staff to prepare and provide materials and was based on historical start dates. However, I’m open to removing this or amending to state a certain period of time following the filing of the budget.
• Four hearings per day limit — Mayor’s staff informed me that the intent was to limit the first couple of days of hearings to avoid overwhelming staff who would be preparing the information and not to limit the number of hearings across the entire process. Historically, no more than four hearings have ever been scheduled in a day over the last three years. One thought would be to make sure larger departments would be scheduled later in the first week or on the second since that material would take more time to prepare and focus on the smaller departments in the opening days. I’m open to rewording this in a way that still allows proper prep time for staff and doesn't tie the Budget Chair's hands in future years.

Why It Matters

Better-timed information means Council Members can actually prepare, instead of reviewing a department's numbers for the first time while sitting in the hearing. This is a process fix that would allow us to be better stewards of our constituents’ money.