Public weighs in on city budget process

A new and unusual series of community workshops on the city’s budget kicked off in Lynchburg on Thursday, drawing about 65 participants.

It was the first session in a three-part program created by the city to gather public feedback on next year’s budget.

This is the first time the city has undertaken such an extensive outreach effort on this topic or solicited public opinion so early in the budget process. The next fiscal year doesn’t start until July 2010.

“We hope this informs the budget process,” said City Manager Kimball Payne, noting officials will be facing some tough decisions next year. “We want citizens to understand that they have a role in government, particularly at the local level. They have influence.”

A collection of more than 30 local government officials representing nearly every area of city operations were on hand for the meeting Thursday night. They were relegated to the sidelines under the program format, though, in order to allow the public to steer the conversation.

The inaugural meeting focused largely on introductory exercises. Participants were broken up into small groups and given three questions to discuss:

- What do you love about Lynchburg?

- What is the role citizens play in creating our community?

- What is the role government plays in creating our community?

Future workshops will deal more directly with budget-specific questions and concerns. Packets of information about the local budget were distributed to help partcipants prepare for those discussions.

Several in attendance Thursday said they were motivated to come to the workshop to speak up on behalf of a specific department or program, but many also said they came purely to learn more about the budget and take advantage of this opportunity to get involved with their government.

“I wanted to understand how the budget process works,” said resident Tom Smith, who has never taken part in a government forum prior to this. “I know it’s very complicated, especially now when there are all these cuts coming down from above and the city has to decide how to make up the lost aid. I’d like to understand how they make those decisions.”

City officials said they were pleased with the turnout and enthusiasm displayed by participants.

The second workshop will take place at 6:30 p.m. next Thursday at James River Conference Center, 400 Court St. Attendance is only open to Lynchburg residents and business owners.

Those unable to attend these meetings can obtain copies of all handouts and provide feedback by visiting the city’s Web site, http://www.lynchburgva.gov, or contacting the Communications and Marketing Department at 455-3800.