Guidelines for participating in the FY '06 Cary Budget Forum

[dhyatt]

In order to make participation in the budget workgroup as productive as possible, I ask that each of you follow a few simple rules when posting or responding to this forum:

1) Discussions should be centered around priorities and what we think they should be. Try not to get sidetracked by politics and/or what you think staff's or council's priorities are.

2) Use the forum as a vehicle for discussion - not as a personal soapbox.

3) Avoid personalizing things. i.e. - Stay focused on the task and do your best to keep personalities out of it.


I we all follow those rules then things should go smoothly and - more importantly - be productive.

[HW]

While I agree with the rules I can't help wondering what the priorities are. Is it strictly cuts in Capital projects. I think when you are talking about a budget, any budget, you have to include capital costs, operational costs, and revenue. The discussion at our first meeting dismissed revenue increases because only property taxes were considered. I think a small increase in development fees should at least be discussed. I think that warrants more discussion than any tax or fee increase.

Anyway, my point is that revenue and expenses go hand in hand and you shouldn't discuss one without the other. Having said that I think the focus of any cuts should avoid essential infrastructure (a no brainer to me). The problem is how "essential" is defined.

Just a few thoughts that surfaced reading the rules...

HW

[dhyatt]

Harold,
Didn't mean to imply that 'priorities' meant a spending only discussion. Revenues/fees seem like fair game to me as long they can be discussed from a budget perspective without letting politics of the past get in the way.