The first of three public forums to discuss the St. Pete’s budget is Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the J.W. Cate Center on 22 Avenue North and 58 Street. The Budget Listening Tour for the 2016 fiscal budget will be attended by St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman and City Council.
Members of the public will have the opportunity to learn how the annual budget works and weigh in on their priorities and ideas for the upcoming budget year.
During the three meetings, citizens will also be introduced to a new online tool called St. Pete OpenGov. It allows users to easily sort through data in a series of easy-to-read graphs and charts. Users can sort information by various criteria like allocation by department or by things like salaries or housing.
Data from fiscal year 2011 until the present is available on the website.
Members of the public will be allotted the usual three minutes to comment. Following that, City Council members will also speak.
Two other meetings will be held on May 20 at the Enoch Davis Rec Center located at 1111 18 Avenue South and on June 16 at the Willis S. Johns Center on 6635 Der. M.L. King Jr. Street North. Both meetings will begin at 6 p.m.
Kriseman is expected to deliver his budget recommendations to City Council in July. They will consider the budget and approve or reject it in September.
