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Committee recommends moving budget deadline, setting amendment cutoff and creating budget SOP
Summary
A council-led review recommended moving the city's budget-adoption date earlier, establishing a council amendment deadline and standards, exploring a charter referendum for a limited default-budget mechanism, and creating standardized question protocols and a shared Q&A tool to improve transparency and timeliness.
The Budget and Finance Committee reviewed findings from a targeted review of Allentown’s budget process and advanced several recommendations for council consideration, including changes that would require legal or charter actions and procedural actions the council could adopt by rule.
Council person Bender summarized survey results and the committee’s recommendations: "Our recommendation based on all of the information that we've gotten to date would be to move this to the first Wednesday in December," Bender said, arguing that an earlier adoption date would create more time for substantive back-and-forth between council and the mayor's office and reduce last-minute changes. Bender also reported survey findings (e.g., roughly 70% of respondents wanted earlier input; about 60% supported pre-meeting question submissions and better tracking of follow-up questions).
At the operational level, the committee recommended adopting an amendment deadline to reduce late changes that strain staff and shorten the window for preparing the new-year budget. The proposal presented calls for all council amendments to be submitted by the second regular council meeting in November and for amendments to be revenue neutral or to identify offsets so they do not increase general fund spending without explicit offsets.
The committee also recommended formalizing a standardized question-and-answer process for council inquiries and exploring a shared budget Q&A tool where council and administration could post questions and answers in advance. "Having a place where that could all live and all of us kind of provide to that would allow us to understand what's been asked," the chair said, noting potential efficiency and transparency gains.
Other recommendations included asking council to set priorities earlier in the cycle so department heads can build budgets around council goals; drafting a consolidated budget process outline or SOP that collates charter, code and council rules guidance into a single reference; an annual dedicated review of the city's five-year financial plan; and reviewing the budget book format to reduce unnecessary staff burden.
Genesis (staff) said next steps would include legal analysis to determine whether recommended changes require charter amendments (which would go to voters) or could be handled through council rules, resolutions or operating procedure changes. The committee did not vote on any of these proposals at the meeting; council members asked staff to return with legal options and implementation pathways.
