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Commission hears proposed charter changes to operating budget timeline, adds schools to early review
Summary
CFO Jared Schmidt proposed codifying earlier joint hearings, adding the superintendent and the school CFO to early operating‑budget sessions and aligning transmission dates to give BET and the council the same materials at the same time. Commissioners raised concerns about the council’s short window to set the appropriation cap.
City Chief Financial Officer Jared Schmidt presented proposed changes to the operating‑budget charter process at the Feb. 18 Charter Revision Commission meeting, including earlier joint hearings and closer alignment of transmission dates to the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) and the common council.
Schmidt recommended formalizing a September calendar publication and two joint public previews —A an early September session and another by Jan. 21— and adding the school superintendent and the school CFO to those joint briefings. "The superintendent and the public school CFO are not members of the group as it's currently written. So I'm recommending that they be added," Schmidt said.
Under the proposed timing, departments and the Board of Education would file requests with the mayor by Dec. 15; the mayor’s recommended operating budget would go to BET and the common council around mid‑to‑late February; the common council would set a maximum appropriation limit by Feb. 28; BET would review and prepare its appropriation statement and could alter the budget to comply with any council action before final adoption in early May. Schmidt noted this sequencing mirrors the operating cycle and that codifying it would make the process clearer.
Commissioners focused questions on how much time the common council would have to consider the mayor’s recommendation before it must set the appropriation cap. Several members said the proposed calendar gave the council only a short window and suggested shifting transmission dates to a council meeting schedule (for example the council’s first meeting after transmission) to allow more deliberation. Schmidt and commissioners agreed to refine the draft dates and to align calendar language with statutory requirements for tax‑bill installments.
Schmidt also reiterated that BET has line‑item authority in the operating budget (opposite its capital‑budget role), and that changes between the BET and council involve statutory two‑thirds thresholds in some cases.
Ending: The commission asked staff to produce proposed charter text for the operating budget changes, including explicit calendar language that accommodates council meeting dates and provides clearer public‑notice deadlines.
