By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
While 2015 is a little more than three months old, Whitewater’s municipal staffers are already beginning to turn their attention toward 2016 when it comes to budgeting.
City Administrator Cameron Clapper on March 3 discussed with the Common Council his projected timeline for crafting the city’s budget for next year.
The process begins this month with a cursory overview of the budgeting process. The true nuts and bolts of the process, however, will not begin until May. In two months, department heads will begin forecasting income and outlining what would be on their wish list of expenses.
In the following months, the process will pick up steam and will involve Common Council input, direction and action. As has been the case in the past, Clapper and the council will likely hold a series of workshops to look intensively into the municipal budgeting process.
The process will culminate in mid-November when the council holds its usual formal budget hearing and ultimately its vote on the document.
City opposes budget
In other business March 3, the Common Council adopted a resolution in opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed 2015-17 biennium budget concerning possible cuts to K-12 education.
“While not a direct cut to funding for municipalities, cuts for the Whitewater Unified School District, as proposed in the governor’s 2015-17 state budget would have a negative impact on the community as a whole,” Clapper said.
Concerns within Whitewater have arisen from Walker’s proposed elimination of a line item in the budget concerning categorical funding. If implemented, districts such as WUSD would receive $150 less in funding, per pupil, equating to an estimated loss of $290,000 for the 2015-16 school year.
The council adopted a similar resolution a month ago concerning proposed cuts to the statewide university system. The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater would be among the most affected public institutions if the cuts move forward.
