Want to know what’s happening with the City’s budget? You’re in luck (the following is from a press release):

The City’s budget website – www.peoriabudget.com – has been updated to include the entire preliminary budget documents. The Mayor and City Council charged staff with creating a budget process that was more transparent, more open to public involvement and built more alignment with Council goals and priorities. For the first time in the City’s history, the preliminary is available for download by citizens, businesses and other interested parties.

The updated website includes the following information:

• Budget message (the transmittal the accompanies the presentation of the preliminary budget)
• Overview Presentation to Council (given 10/7 by Henry Holling)
• Revenue Presentation to Council (given 10/7 by Jim Scroggins)
• Budget tables for the operating, debt service and Community Investment Plan portions of the budget
• Budget calendar

In addition, the entire preliminary budget packet for each department has been placed on-line. This is normally a document of over 400 pages, but has been broken into individual files by department.

The Peoria City Council is committed to gathering citizen input on the upcoming budget. In addition to the recently released “Report on Citizen Budget Input” (also available on the website), citizens are invited to address Council at any budget meeting. Upcoming meetings include:

• October14—Regular Council Meeting (City Hall, 6:15 pm): Community Investment Plan (CIP) budget
• October 21—Special Council Meeting (City Hall, 5 6:15 pm): CIP budget, operating budget
• October 28—Regular Council Meeting (City Hall, 6:15 pm): Operating budget