FY26 Budget Town Hall for District 5

Thank you to all of the District 5 residents and county groups who came out to last night's D5 Budget Town Hall. The county budget officer does a great job explaining the budget process for the executive branch each year, but there is an important role and timeline for the legislative branch. To help residents understand what happens when the budget comes to the County Council, I did a brief presentation on the legislative branch budget process and timeline, explaining that the budget is like a cake and the cake is nearly baked when it gets to the legislative branch for review, amending and voting.

The Executive branch has 8 months to work on the budget before passing it to the legislative branch. The council then has 1.5 months (or 45 days) to hear from roughly 30 departments, concluding with recommended cuts from the county auditor and the administrations rebuttal to those cuts. It is at that point in the timeline that the council has a full picture of budget and cuts that could be made, and less than two weeks to formulate decisions and have amendments drafted. This timeline is dictated by our County Charter. I will continue to work tirelessly during budget season, digging into the details and proposed spending that your tax dollars will be supporting. Until then, I hope you consider attending a future budget town hall in another district if you missed the District 5 event last night. This is a critical time in the budget process for your voice to be heard.