Welcome to the City of Wheeler: We hope to provide users of this web-page with the opportunity to discover how the budget is developed and what opportunities exist for citizens to provide input into the process.
Budget Preparation: The budget process followed in the preparation of the City of Wheeler's budget complies with local budget law established by the State of Oregon. Oregon's Local Budget Law does two important things. It establishes standard procedures for preparing, presenting, and administering the budget. Additionally, it requires citizen involvement in the preparation of the budget and public disclosure of the budget before its formal adoption.
To give the public ample opportunity to participate in the budgeting process, Local Budget Law requires that a budget officer be appointed and a budget committee be formed.
The City Manager is appointed by the City Council as the Budget Officer for the City of Wheeler. Staff then prepare the budget, which ultimately results in a presentation of the Proposed Budget to the Budget Committee.
Current News and Notices: Budget Committee meetings are typically held in the Spring of each year. Meeting and public notices for any budget related activities, such as supplemental budgets, public hearings, budget committee meetings and citizen involvement opportunities can be found on the City’s website.
Budget Committee Approval of Proposed Budget: Notices are published in accordance with Local Budget Law. Before the Budget Committee meetings begin, the Finance Director distributes a copy of the proposed budget document to each member of the Budget Committee. It is at this time that the Proposed Budget is considered a public record and must be made available for public inspection. The Budget Message, which explains the Proposed Budget and significant changes in the City’s financial position, is delivered at the time the budget document is distributed. All Budget Committee meetings are open to the public, and community members are given an opportunity to ask questions about or comment on the Proposed Budget. The Budget Committee may make additions or changes to the Proposed Budget that has been presented by the Budget Officer, at which time the Committee will approve the document and forward it to the City Council for adoption. The Budget Committee also approves a rate of total ad valorem property taxes to be certified for collection.
Advertising and Holding Hearings: After the budget is approved by the Budget Committee, a Budget Summary and a “Notice of Budget Hearing” are published. A public hearing is then held by the City Council on the date specified in the public notice. The purpose of the hearing is to receive community members’ testimony on the budget as approved by the Budget Committee.
City Council Adoption of the Budget: After the City Council considers the testimony given at the public hearing, they then adopt the budget. Resolutions are prepared, approved by the City Council, and signed by the Mayor to (1) formally adopt the budget; (2) make appropriations; (3) levy tax; and (4) categorize tax. The Adopted Budget is then filed, and the property tax levies are certified. A notice of levy and certification of tax is submitted to the Tillamook County Assessor’s Office.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT LOCAL BUDGET LAW
State of Oregon Resources – for people who want to know EVERYTHING about budget law
Everything you could possibly want to know about Oregon Local Budget Law can be found by following this link to the State’s webpage.
The best overall resource on this web-page is the Local Budget Law Manual. If you read this (aprox) 100-page document, you will learn just about everything about Local Budget Law.
The State holds annual training sessions for those involved in the budget process. The training handouts for these classes are available on this web-page. Also, the classes are recorded and videos of the sessions are available to watch for free on this site.
City of Wheeler’s Process 101 – for beginners who are seeking only a MINIMAL overview of the budget process
The City budget covers a fiscal year which starts on July 1st and ends on June 30th of each year. Each Spring, the City begins the budget process. The Budget Calendar will be posted on the City’s website which shows all meeting dates, posting deadlines, and any other budget relevant dates. Wheeler operates with approximately a $3 million annual budget.
First, the budget is proposed to the Budget Committee which is comprised of Wheeler citizen volunteers. This draft of the budget is called the Proposed Budget. The Budget Committee may meet more than once if they need extra time to work on forming the budget. The committee may recommend changes to the proposed budget. The Budget Committee eventually votes to approve the budget, and it then becomes known as the Approved Budget.
Next, City Council reviews the approved budget. They have the opportunity to make more changes to the approved budget if they see a need to. Once City Council agrees that the budget is suitable, they vote to adopt the budget and sign what is known as a Budget Resolution. Once the budget resolution has passed, the budget becomes known as the Adopted Budget.
The budget process needs to be completed prior to July 1st each year for a City only has authority to spend money if they have an adopted budget in place. The budget must be balanced, meaning the requirements in the budget must match the resources in the budget. In other words, the City cannot plan to spend money without showing that they have that money to spend. The City’s budget consists of 11 different funds. See the Local Budget Law manual to learn more about fund accounting.
Contact the City’s Finance Director if you have any budget questions:
financedirector@ci.wheeler.or.us or 503.368.5767
