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Finance director outlines Mebane’s budget calendar, deadlines and typical trade-offs
Summary
Daphna Schwartz, finance director for the City of Mebane, described the city’s year‑round budget process — from a September kickoff and October capital submittals to the manager’s May recommendation, a June public hearing and adoption effective July 1 — and explained options leaders use to close funding gaps.
Daphna Schwartz, finance director for the City of Mebane, outlined the city’s annual budget calendar and the decision points officials use to balance requests against projected revenues.
Schwartz said the city’s fiscal year runs July 1 through June 30 and that planning for the next year effectively begins almost immediately. She described an early fall budget kickoff, formal deadlines for capital and operating requests, and statutory dates that govern when the manager must present a recommended budget and when the council must adopt it.
The finance director said capital project requests are due in October, with the city typically treating projects over $25,000 as capital items requiring a project description, timeline and five‑year planning detail. Operating and personnel requests are due in November; department heads must explain why additional positions are needed and include first‑year costs such as vehicles or laptops.
"Our fiscal years start July 1 and run through June 30," Schwartz said. "Capital would be large projects. Typically, we count very large projects as as over 25,000." She added that property taxes are the city’s largest revenue source and that county tax‑roll information, required in January, helps sharpen the February revenue estimates.
Schwartz described the calendar of decision points: staff compiles departmental submissions, management meets with department heads in December and January, and revenue estimates are refined in February after tax reports. In February–March staff compare estimated revenues to requested expenditures to identify any gap; options to close that gap, she said, include deferring projects, issuing debt, increasing the tax rate or appropriating fund balance.
"Are we going to push things off to a future year? Are we going to issue debt? Or are we going to increase the tax rate? Are we going to appropriate fund balance," she said, listing the typical approaches.
Schwartz stressed statutory calendar constraints. She said the statutory deadline for department submissions is April 30; the proposed budget must be presented to the governing board by June 1; and the budget must be adopted no later than July 1 to take effect at the start of the fiscal year. In practice, she said, the city manager presents a recommended budget the first Monday in May, and Mebane’s council — which meets on the first Monday of each month — holds the budget hearing the first Monday in June so the public can comment before adoption.
Schwartz noted the city holds budget workshops in the spring (she cited a March 12 workshop already held and an April 9 session planned) and posts the recommended budget for public review during May. After council adoption, finance enters the approved budget into the accounting system so it is effective on July 1.
The presentation was instructional in tone and focused on process rather than specific proposals or dollar amounts for this fiscal year. Schwartz closed by directing listeners to recorded meetings and upcoming workshops for more detail.
