Proposed 2011 budget
now viewable on city’s website
By Kathy McCarty
PRESQUE ISLE — In a continuing effort to make municipal business more transparent, City Manager Jim Bennett has made it possible for anyone interested to be able to view the city’s proposed 2011 budget online.
The first draft of next year’s budget was presented by Bennett to Council during its Oct. 4 meeting at City Hall. Bennett said a number of changes were proposed within the budget document, not only in terms of the actual layout and structure of the work but also in terms of what the budget will attempt to accomplish in the coming year.
“Continuing a theme of transparency since my arrival, we will make the entire budget document available to our citizens in several different formats. There will be two hard copies available for public inspection – one located in the city clerk’s office at City Hall and one at the Turner Memorial Library,” said Bennett. “In addition, the document will be available in its near entirety on the city website: www.presqueisle.govoffice2.com beginning Oct. 11.”
Council began the task of ironing out the 2011 budget with this week’s Council session, which took place Monday, Oct. 25.
“Over the next few weeks, the management team and I will work diligently to assist the Council as they begin the process of examining the suggestions. I believe the changes will have minimal impact on the current services being offered to our citizens. Furthermore, the changes will decrease our full-time personnel by 6 percent. These changes, in my opinion, will make the city operations more efficient and effective,” said Bennett.
All residents are encouraged to review the document and present any feedback they have at the next City Council meeting, scheduled for Monday, Nov. 1, at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
