Lynchburg City Council expected to share spending goals

City Council will be asked to share its early spending goals for the coming financial year when it meets on Tuesday.

Administrators are seeking guidance as they begin the lengthy process of compiling the government’s next annual budget. Council members have been asked to weigh in with the issues and projects they’d like to see prioritized.

The city’s department heads have already been instructed to submit flat budget requests for the coming year as officials attempt to grapple with a contracting economy and pending cuts in state aid.

City Manager Kimball Payne has said employee raises could be among the items that wind up on the chopping block.

Payne is expected to make his final budget recommendations in March. Council is scheduled to vote on the matter in May. The approved budget will run through the new fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009.

City Council is holding two meetings on Tuesday, a work session beginning at 1 p.m. and a regular business session at 7:30 p.m.

Both meetings will take place in City Hall, 900 Church St. This will be council’s only meeting day in December.

The budget discussion is slated for the afternoon session. Other items on that agenda include a review on the latest city audit, an annual report from the Greater Lynchburg Transit Company, and updates on the status of the Rivermont Avenue bridge renovation and D Street bridge replacement.

The evening session will include a vote on the city’s new legislative agenda, which outlines local goals for the coming General Assembly session.

Student voters are among the concerns listed in that document. Council plans to ask legislators to clarify the voting rights of students and others whose residency status may be unclear.