City Budgets
You can find City budget books here.
MAYOR'S BUDGET NEWSLETTER
Greetings,
I thought I’d offer a few words about how Greenfield develops its city budget. From November to May is budget season for the City of Greenfield, starting with department heads beginning to plan next year’s operating budget needs. The department heads and the mayor work closely with the finance director to receive guidance and parameters for spending money in the next fiscal year. This guidance is generally based on forecasting and knowledge of our incoming revenue and state aid, among other things.
Department heads meet with the mayor to discuss their submitted budgets, including the potential for changes to each department’s budgets. November to January, department heads also review their capital investment needs and submit those to the Capital Improvement Committee and ultimately to the mayor. The mayor decides what items remain in that year’s capital and how much money is spent. Our capital budget reflects priority investments in capital spending over five years.
Meanwhile our school department is also working on their budget with the superintendent and it is ultimately given to the School Committee to discuss and give direction to the school superintendent on changes, if any. The school budget public hearing will typically be held in late February or early March. The School Committee’s vote to approve the budget typically takes place in mid March.
Also in March, the mayor submits the final capital budget for the next fiscal year. It generally can reflect changes to both the department heads’ projects and amounts requested and the recommendations of the Capital Improvement Committee. Often the City Council votes on the capital budget before it votes on the operating budget, but sometimes the two are voted on at the same time.
The final operating budget is submitted to the City Council by the mayor in April (90 days before the start of the fiscal year). Council Ways & Means Committee deliberates over the department requests and makes their recommendations on each to the City Council to be voted on with or without amendments in late May.
MAYOR'S BUDGET NEWSLETTER
Greetings,
I thought I’d offer a few words about how Greenfield develops its city budget. From November to May is budget season for the City of Greenfield, starting with department heads beginning to plan next year’s operating budget needs. The department heads and the mayor work closely with the finance director to receive guidance and parameters for spending money in the next fiscal year. This guidance is generally based on forecasting and knowledge of our incoming revenue and state aid, among other things.
Department heads meet with the mayor to discuss their submitted budgets, including the potential for changes to each department’s budgets. November to January, department heads also review their capital investment needs and submit those to the Capital Improvement Committee and ultimately to the mayor. The mayor decides what items remain in that year’s capital and how much money is spent. Our capital budget reflects priority investments in capital spending over five years.
Meanwhile our school department is also working on their budget with the superintendent and it is ultimately given to the School Committee to discuss and give direction to the school superintendent on changes, if any. The school budget public hearing will typically be held in late February or early March. The School Committee’s vote to approve the budget typically takes place in mid March.
Also in March, the mayor submits the final capital budget for the next fiscal year. It generally can reflect changes to both the department heads’ projects and amounts requested and the recommendations of the Capital Improvement Committee. Often the City Council votes on the capital budget before it votes on the operating budget, but sometimes the two are voted on at the same time.
The final operating budget is submitted to the City Council by the mayor in April (90 days before the start of the fiscal year). Council Ways & Means Committee deliberates over the department requests and makes their recommendations on each to the City Council to be voted on with or without amendments in late May.