Princeton councilmembers discussed the overarching goals they want staff to address in the upcoming budget.

Council held a special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, July 25, ahead of the regular meeting that was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. 

City Manager Derek Borg led the meeting, telling councilmembers that this is the first step in the city’s budget process. After approval, staff will use the policy goals to help guide each department’s budget requests, he added.

In the past, the city has received feedback from assessments of its budget that it does not clearly identify certain policy goals the budget is oriented to fulfill, said Borg, adding that broader goals should help address the issue.

Mayor Brianna Chacon said other cities, such as Frisco, have implemented policy goal headings to identify areas of the budget council wants staff to address when preparing it for the upcoming fiscal year.

The mayor said the current document is not optimized for the more streamlined version council was asked to create.

“It does get very wordy in this [existing] document,” Chacon said. “I wouldn’t say it’s loose to interpret but it can be convoluted very quickly. If you look at other cities that have changed their approach, they have a heading and it’s a general synopsis of what that means for the budget.”

This makes it easier for departments to interpret the intent of focus areas and tie budgeted items to them, said Chacon.

For the upcoming budget, Chacon presented the following: financial health, public health and safety, planning and management, sustainable smart city, infrastructure, community-focused government and excellence in city government.

“A lot of these bullet points are going to fall under the same headings,” Chacon said. “It gives our departments a little more direction when they are preparing their budget.”

For the full story, see the Aug. 4 issue of The Princeton Herald.