Columbia city council to meet for special budget work session Saturday

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

All of Columbia's city council members will sit through a presentation Saturday morning on the significant changes in the proposed fiscal year 2023 budget.

Saturday's special work session will be the first time council members get a deeper look into the budget. No amendments or changes will be added, it will only be a read-through. The meeting is at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall following the swearing-in of new city council Third Ward representative Roy Lovelady, who beat incumbent Karl Skala in a runoff election earlier this month.

Nate Fain, the public information specialist with the city manager's office, said Saturday's meeting will be purely informational, but council members may start thinking about possible changes.

"They're at the pretty early stages in the process," Fain said. "And this will be really the first meeting where they're really looking at it closely. They're not going to be voting on anything necessarily or passing any amendments on it, but they will be looking at it closely and see what changes could be made."

There are four priority areas outlined in the budget: city employees, social services, public safety and transportation.

Fain said the city is welcoming input from Columbia residents on budget items.

"There are multiple opportunities for the public to comment on the budget, share suggestions and their thoughts on it," Fain said. "They can do that at one of the next three city council meetings, or they could go to beheard.como.gov. It's our new online platform for citizen engagement."

The next city council meeting and opportunity for in-person public comment on the budget will be Monday, Aug. 15 at 7 p.m. in City Hall.