Shanor: Cheyenne City Council Needs Earlier Budget Info

Cheyenne City Councilman Dicky Shanor says a proposal he is sponsoring to require most city departments to submit spending estimates for the upcoming fiscal year in February is needed to give the council more information on the budget process.

He says under the current system by the time the council get's it's first look at the mayor's proposed budget on May 15th, the process is already 5-6 months along. He says since the early 1990's the council has adopted a progressively more ''hands off"" approach to the budget process.

Shanor says his proposal would open up the budget process to the council and the public.He also says the change would bring the city budget process closer to that followed by the state legislature, where the Joint Appropriations Committee goes over the budget "line by line" during the budget process.

Mayor Rick Kaysen, who opposes Shanor's resolution, says the February numbers would have little real value because they would only be estimates. The mayor also says February represents a very preliminary point in the budget process and says the city's fiscal situation at that point may be very different than it is in May and June.