Officials readying to craft city budget

The City of Cape Girardeau is a few weeks away from beginning its official budget cycle, finance director Lisa Mills said.

The upcoming FY2024 budget will be the first with Mills at the helm. She took over for outgoing director Dustin Ziebold in the fall. While there will assuredly be minor changes in the process because of personal preference, Mills said she doesn't anticipate making large changes to how the budget gets made, compared to her predecessors.

"The whole name of the game is to balance your revenues with your expenditures," Mills said.

Cape Girardeau City Hall at 44 N. Lorimier St. in downtown Cape Girardeau.Nathan Gladden ~ Southeast Missourian

Cape Girardeau City Hall at 44 N. Lorimier St. in downtown Cape Girardeau.Nathan Gladden ~ Southeast Missourian

The finance director described the budget as the "lifeblood" of fiscal operations in the city. One that takes a collaborative effort between department heads and city government to allow Cape Girardeau as a municipality to best serve its citizens. Mills said that collaboration is the most important part of the monthslong process.

"The length of the process is largely because while we are doing this (the budget) we're handling our day-to-day," Mills said.

The city staff is looking at rising costs to complete their annual operations due to inflation.

While Mills and others at the city have been working for months poring over historical data, keeping an eye on economic indicators and mapping out goals, the first official step begins in mid-January.

All department heads must input all their information for their individual budgets into the city's software system known as ERP. The software allows the city to keep track of data for the current budget and provides department heads with historical numbers on expenditures, allowing them to compare their budgets over time.

About a month after department heads input their information, an initial budget will be presented to the staff.

"It's a puzzle" that gets added individually, piece by piece, Mills said.

February is the first time staff gets to see the puzzle come together and suggest changes.

"We have some room that we might choose to do something differently, because the goals or the aspirations of the group have changed," she said.

In March, Mills and city manager Kenneth Haskin will meet with department heads individually to go over department budgets and goals before the budget presentation at the end of the month. Mills said she also expects to have solid projections for most numbers at that time.

The budget will go before the council in April, and Mills and others will take feedback to see what other changes can be made.

In May, the budget will be given back to the council and a public notice will be given. Citizens can provide comments either at council meetings or by contacting their ward representative.

The budget is then scheduled to be voted on by council members in June, so it can take effect when the fiscal year begins July 1.