Finizio Begins Budget Forums On Thursday

Mayor Daryl Finizio has scheduled the first of several planned public forums on the proposed 2013 fiscal year budget, which will be challenged at a referendum vote next month.

The will take place at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday at the . Zak Leavy, Finizio's executive assistant, said the office is confirming dates and hopes to have a full schedule of forums available by Thursday. The event listing on this site will be updated with this information.

On June 19, the City Council approved a for the 2013 fiscal year and increased the mill rate 7.5 percent from 25.31 to 27.22. A petition effort successfully challenged these decisions, and both will go to a . Leavy previously said that 13 forums will be scheduled prior to the referendum.

Finizio said in a July post on his office's Facebook page that each department head has been asked to reduce their budget by an additional five percent to determine the effect of further cuts. He said these findings will be presented at the forums and that he believes additional cuts will have a "massive negative effect on services."

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