The city of Lansing is facing one of its toughest budget years–2010-11–ever with a dramatic decline in revenue. This will affect the delivery of city services that we’ve taken for granted.
How can you as a resident of the city or just somebody who has an interest keep track of these issues?
This has become particularly challenging with the dearth of local news media coverage to help track and provide understanding. However, there are various channels where information is provided.
One are the city council hearings on the budget. There are hearings for city departments and for feedback from city residents. These include a special hearing for testimony will be taken from budget officials about projected revenue for the city. This is vital information given the city’s reliance on property taxes and on state revenue sharing. Then there’s hearings with individual city departments about their budget requests for the new fiscal year.
Here’s the schedule for the budget hearings. This may change because of schedule problems.
Here’s Mayor Virg Bernero’s proposed 2010-11 proposed budget.
