Winder to have budget hearing Thurs.

And in a noteworthy departure from previous years, Winder’s city administration has posted online for public review a draft of the upcoming year’s budget days in advance of the first public hearing.

The draft document was posted on the city’s website (www.cityofwinder.com) Monday.

Finance Director Leslie Henderson said city administrator Don Toms at the May 19 public hearing would give a full presentation of the FY2012 spending plan. That represents another major shift toward openness in the budget process.

Also, she said, Toms directed the finance staff not to finalize the fiscal year’s inter-fund transfers of water and natural gas profits to the general operating fund, because the council wants to provide direction on how much to transfer.

“We are waiting to plug in certain numbers until after we get direction from the council,” Henderson said. “We did not balance the budget. We want to see where they want us to go. There may be some things they want us to add or delete.”

Another budget hearing is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday, May 26, at the community center. The council plans to adopt the budget on June 7.