The Uniform Accounting and Budgeting Act requires cities to produce a balanced budget (where expenditures cannot exceed revenue) prior to the start of the fiscal year. In June of every year, the City adopts a budget with the best estimate of expenditures and revenue for the coming year. However, as the year progresses, unexpected expenses occur, planned expenses may not materialize, additional or less revenue may be produced, etc. In order to ensure the budget remains balanced, budget amendments are required by law. They are produced by the Treasurer and adopted by Council to correct the budget. This is a regular part of the budgeting process. Ms. Miller has routinely voted against budget amendments to ensure the budget remains balanced. Click the links to see examples:
As one can see from Ms. Miller’s June 29, 2022 Facebook post (Note that Ms. Miller routinely ignores the instructions by the City Attorney not to post about City matters on Facebook), she stated, “You don’t create it [a budget] to amend it.” Click here to view the FB post. However, that is exactly what a City does. The City creates the initial budget based upon the best information available at the time it is adopted and then amends it over the fiscal year as things change. It is quite ironic that Ms. Miller states in the post, “There’s no one that understands budgeting,” when in fact she is the one that does not understand the process. Her lack of understanding of budgeting was also on display during the fiscal year 23/24 budget process. Ms. Miller regularly attacked various budget line items, but provided no alternative suggestions, new ideas, or proposals. For example, when she urged that the City should have a recreation coordinator and was asked by Council how the City would pay for it, she scoffed at the suggestion that it was her job to figure out where the funds would come from. Click here to see this on video. Producing the City budget is the most important thing City Council does and it is shocking that Ms. Miller does not understand the process, refuses to constructively participate, and refuses to go to training to learn more about it.