Despite a difficult budget year and some recent city layoffs, Winder’s mayor and city administrator said this week that neither they nor the city council would be part of any public hearing process regarding the town’s impending $43 million FY2010 budget.
That position raised questions from one citizen at Tuesday night’s council meeting and appears to violate Georgia law regarding the city budget process.
City administrator Bob Beck said residents have “ample opportunity” to air their concerns at the hearings.
“If you are looking for an opportunity to sit there and do a conversation or have input back and forth between citizens and the council and the mayor, that does not happen,” Beck told a citizens who questioned the city's budget process.
The city’s proposed budget was distributed for the first time to the council Monday night. The city held a meeting May 26 at which a city employee met with two citizens, but that meeting did not have the mandatory seven-day public notice, and the mayor and council did not attend as required by state law for the meeting to be a legitimate hearing. In addition, the “budget” presented at that hearing was incomplete, consisting of a one-page data spreadsheet.
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