Redmond Mayor John Marchione will present his proposed budget to the City Council at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14 in the City Hall Council Chambers, 15670 NE 85th Street.

This is the first city budget developed through the new Budgeting by Priorities process introduced by the mayor earlier this year.

This process has been a collaborative effort between the mayor, council, city staff and the community.

Despite the economic uncertainty of the times, the Mayor’s proposed budget was able to both preserve core services and advance several new initiatives that emerged through the budgeting process, according to a city press release.

While revenues will most likely continue to grow at a very modest rate, the financial foundation of the city is strong, according to Marchione. Standard & Poor’s recently upgraded the city’s credit rating from AA to AAA. This rating serves as a report card on the city’s financial stability and also saves the city and its taxpayers money through lower interest rates when selling bonds for capital needs.

The focus of the 2009-10 budget was to fund core city services, while advancing several new initiatives consistent with the citizen-identified priorities, according to Marchione.

The services and programs identified by the citizens in a spring workshop also provided guidance for the final product.

“At the first part of the year, Redmond residents developed priorities and suggested proposals they wanted to see reflected in the city’s next biannual budget,” Marchione said. “I have developed my budget to reflect those citizen priorities. Our goal has always been to develop this budget in an open and transparent environment.”

Hard choices had to be made in order to develop a structurally balanced budget that honors the citizen and staff efforts, reflects the council’s policy direction on key budget elements and continues to live within the city’s means.

Many of the suggested new and innovative programs could not be funded over critical core services; however, the 2009-10 budget does provide for a portion of the citizen-requested programs and services.

The proposed budget will be posted to the city’s Web site at www.redmond.gov/BP beginning Oct. 16 and residents are encouraged to come to the public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. to offer their comments and insights on the proposed budget.

This will be the best meeting for residents to express their opinions to Mayor Marchione and the City Council, as it is early in the council’s deliberations.

For more information, contact mgronlund@redmond.gov or (425) 556-2427.

BUDGETING BY PRIORITIES

Citizen Priorities

• Infrastructure

• Clean and Green Environment

• Community Building

• Safe City

• Business Vitality

• Responsible government