Highly Recommended: Getting Ready for Budget Season

This article is a helpful guide for local officials preparing for the annual budget season. It presents a helpful roadmap of suggestions and best practices that foster communication and collaboration as cities and towns craft their fiscal year budgets.

Author: Financial Management Resource Bureau

Frequently, communities formalize the budget process town by-law or written policy. A budget calendar specifies dates for the completion, distribution or receipt of revenue projections, departmental appropriation guidelines and requests, a capital improvement plan, a working budget, a final budget and so forth. It allows for hearings, reviews and approvals at different levels, and accounts for the time needed to print and distribute the warrant. For a town, the process typically begins in the fall and ends on the date of the annual town meeting.
 
A municipal calendar includes important dates and datelines that extend beyond the budget process. It overlays dates for the completion of routine as well as important responsibilities of the treasurer, collector, accountant and assessors. It can also include any other tasks carried out by non-finance related managers, such as an annual inventory of computer equipment, or a schedule for employee performance reviews. A meeting of department heads can be the starting point for modifying the master calendar to meet the specific needs and circumstances of the community. A sample town budget calendar can be found below.
 
A municipal calendar, however, works hand-in-hand with regular department head and finance officer meetings. This, in turn, suggests that a central management structure exists, particularly in towns, to coordinate activities and guide meetings of finance officers. Leadership can come from a town manager, town administrator, executive secretary, finance director or other town officer assigned the task depending on the form of government. In any case, a set calendar allows workloads to be planned, progress to be monitored and, more importantly, problems to be anticipated and corrected in advance of critical deadlines.

The DLS Financial Management Resource Bureau (FMRB) provides tailored consultative services to municipalities across the state. Articles in this series highlight a particular financial management best practice that we frequently recommend.

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Editor: Dan Bertrand

Editorial Board: Marcia Bohinc, Linda Bradley, Sean Cronin, Emily Izzo and Tony Rassias

Date published:	January 18, 2024