Lockport NY

The process is beginning but is expected to be late this year. The Buffalo News reported:

It happens almost every year in Albany, but a late budget is rare in Lockport.

However, that’s the case this year. Mayor Michael W. Tucker says the city won’t even attempt to comply with the City Charter, which says the annual budget must be adopted at the first Common Council meeting in October. This year, that would be Oct. 6...

The reasons being:

• How many employees are going to take the early retirement incentive that the Council approved Monday? The period for eligible workers to decide to retire lasts until Oct. 30. The city will have to pay the state for extra pension credits for each retiree, but most of the retirees won’t be replaced.

• What will be the cost of a privatized system of garbage collection, including a full curbside recycling plan? Requests for proposals are expected to be issued in mid-September; the results of the bidding won’t be known until mid-October, if not later. The final garbage plan may include a user fee.

“We have a lot of variables. We want to have a real budget,” Tucker said. “This is an unprecedented time. The incentive is unprecedented, privatizing garbage is unprecedented, recycling is unprecedented.”

It is nice to see the system set up so voters can quickly let there feelings be heard after (every other) budget.

He was referring to the purpose behind the Charter’s requirement of the budget’s adoption in the first week of October: to make sure the voters know what the coming year’s budget and tax rate are before they go to the polls in November.

There have been times when unhappy voters have taken immediate revenge on the City Hall incumbents. However, city officeholders are elected in odd-numbered years, so this year no city officials are on the ballot.