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BUDGET PROCESS
BUDGET PREPARATION
Many administrative policies are incorporated into the budgetary process in order to assure that the budget is a management plan of action for the fiscal year.
Under the direction of the Mayor, the Chief Administrative Officer, assisted by the Administrative Budget Committee, is responsible for budget preparation. Department and agency heads formally begin budget preparation in January. Capital and administrative budget hearings are held with each department and agency head. After review by the Mayor, a final budget proposal package is prepared.
The City Charter requires that the budget proposal be submitted by the Mayor to the City Council in the form of a draft ordinance of appropriations at least six weeks prior to the start of the fiscal year.
The Appropriations Committee of City Council reviews the proposed budget and conducts another series of budget hearings with department and agency heads. A public hearing on the entire budget is conducted by City Council, at least one week prior to approval of an appropriations ordinance, which provides funding by department or function.
The Mayor may veto individual appropriation line items and a two-third vote of City Council is required to override the veto.
A "performance budgeting" system is used by the City of Macon in order to line the work program of the City to the budgetary dollar amounts. The essence of the performance budget is the establishment of departmental objectives and statistical performance indicators.
BUDGETARY AMENDMENTS
The budget is not a static document. It is a dynamic process which requires continuous monitoring and occasional revisions that reflect changing operational developments. In order to accommodate the changing needs of the government, the Legislative body makes amendments to the budget.
There are generally two types of budget amendments. The first type of amendment is one which may cause a net change in the overall budget or a department budget. This type of amendment may result from increased or decreased revenue and/or expenditures or requested changes in funding for a capital project. This amendment is known as a Supplemental Budget Appropriation. Budget amendments of this nature are legislative and require City Council approval.
Supplemental Budget Appropriations are initiated by a written request, from the department head to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and Finance Director. After proper research and verification, the request is approved (or disapproved) administratively. The Finance Director is instructed to prepare an "Anticipated Budget Change" form as support for a supplemental appropriation ordinance for submission to the Appropriations Committee of Council for review. With a recommendation from the Appropriations Committee, the supplemental ordinance is referred to "full" Council for approval.
The second type of budget amendment is an Administrative Budget adjustment. Administrative budget adjustments generally occur on the department level. This type of amendment does not cause any net change in the overall function budget. The effect of an administrative adjustment is that it redistributes appropriated funding within a function to different line items within the same function without causing an increase or decrease in the budget. The exception is that there are no funding increase allowed to the personnel compensation. These require approval of City Council. Administrative budget adjustments do not require Council approval.
To process an administrative budget adjustment, a request is submitted to the CAO and the Budget Specialist. The CAO reviews and approves the request. If there are no objections and/or questions, the Budget Specialist notifies the department head that the request has been approved or disapproved.
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