Council continues FY2023 budget review April 6

posted on 4/4/2022; updated 4/6/2022

The Council will hold its next budget workshop Wednesday, April 6, immediately following a 7 p.m. special meeting to receive budget presentations from the Welfare, Library, Recreation and Community Services departments.

The City Council held its first budget workshop on March 30, where it reviewed proposed budgets from School, Executive, Finance, Planning and Information Technology departments.

All budget presentations and accompanying slides can be viewed on the FY2023 Budget Revealed webpage, where the complete Fiscal Year 2023 Proposed Budget is also available.

Below are brief highlights of the March 30 budget presentations.

School Department

The School Department represents several divisions, including student support services, instructional programs, administrative services, facilities and operations and transportation. Its proposed budget provides General Fund expenditures of $74,955,593, a $5,270,233 increase over the current budget year, or 7.6%.

As proposed, the Education budget is $4,284,435 over the school portion of the tax cap. With the city's portion $100,000 under the tax cap, the total tax cap overage is $4,184,435. It would require a two-thirds majority vote for the City Council to adopt the budget as proposed.

The School Board held budget workshops in January and February to craft the budget now in front of the City Council. These workshops and accompanying documents are available on the FY2023 Budget Revealed webpage.

Executive Department

The Executive Department budget includes the following divisions: the City Manager's office, Human Resources office, Media Services office, City Attorney's office and Business Development office (formerly Economic Development). The department's proposed budget is $2,169,947, and an increase of $324,090 over the current year, or 17.6%

Finance Department

The Finance Department's budget includes the following divisions: Finance and Accounting, Tax Assessment, City Clerk and Tax Collection Office, and the Election Division. Its proposed budget is $2,459,971, an increase of $202,257 over the current year, or 9%.

Planning and Community Development

The Planning and Community Development Department's responsibilities include maintaining and implementing the Master Plan, fostering context-sensitive development, maintaining and administering the planning approval process, and advising several land use boards, including the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment and the Open Lands Committee. Its proposed budget totals $966,396, an increase of $37,834, or 4.1%, above the current year's budget.

DoverNet/Office of Information Technology

The Office of Information Technology promotes the community's connection to its local government services through accessible and accurate information services. It also supports and assists municipal staff by providing access to responsive, easy-to-use, secure and reliable information technology systems and services. Its proposed budget t totals $1,748,481, an increase of $380,948, or 27.9 percent, over the current year's budget.

FY2023 City Council budget schedule

All meetings/workshops below occur on Wednesdays.

April 6 at 7 p.m. - Budget workshop - Presentations by Welfare, Library, Recreation and Community Services departments
April 13 at 7 p.m. - Regular meeting - School Department budget public hearing
April 20 at 7 p.m. - Special meeting - Citywide budget public hearing
April 20 - Immediately following special meeting Presentations by Fire and Police departments
May 4 at 6 p.m. - Budget workshop - General budget review
May 4 - Immediately following budget workshop - Special meeting - Budget adoption
May 11 at 7 p.m. - Regular meeting - Fallback budget adoption date