PRESS RELEASE
City of Annapolis
Public Information Office
160 Duke of Gloucester Street
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Media Contact: Mitchelle Stephenson, 410-972-7724 or mwstephenson@annapolis.gov
City of Annapolis Returns to In-Person City Council Meetings
All Public Testimony Will Return to Live, In-Person as of April 11, 2022
ANNAPOLIS, MD (April 4, 2022) – With the end of the City of Annapolis State of Emergency on April 11, all City Council meetings will return to in-person. This includes the April 11, 2022 meeting when Mayor Gavin Buckley will introduce his budget and deliver the “State of the City” address. In addition to meetings of the full body, all standing committee meetings will return to in-person as of Monday.
In addition, all public testimony will return to in-person. The submission link for public testimony on the City website will remain live so that residents can easily correspond with elected representatives.
Although nearly all COVID-19 protocols have been suspended due to the low case rate in the community, the City Manager may elect to reenact masking and certain social distancing requirements (the spacing of seating, for example) in the Council Chambers should the case rate numbers tick back up. At this time, masking is not required, but is optional for those attending in-person meetings.
“The last two years have been challenging for City government as well as residents,” Mayor Buckley said. “I am proud that we have been good stewards of taxpayer dollars and did not end up using the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the extent we originally planned. That reserve gives us breathing room coming into 2023. If there is one thing we have learned over the past two years - it is to expect the unexpected.”
BUDGET PROCESS:
On Monday, April 11, Mayor Gavin Buckley will introduce the Mayor’s Budget as a City Ordinance.
Next, the Finance Committee, a standing committee of the City Council chaired by Alderwoman Eleanor Tierney (Democrat, Ward 1), with Alderwoman Sheila Finlayson (Ward 4) and Alderwoman Karma O’Neill (Ward 2), will review and amend the Operating and Capital portions of the budget. This review takes place over several weeks and multiple Finance Committee meetings. The schedule of Finance Committee meetings is below.
Two citizen commissions also conduct reviews and can recommend amendments or changes: the Planning Commission may review and make recommendations to the Capital budget; the Financial Advisory Commission may review and make recommendations to both the Operating and Capital budgets. Once the commissions’ recommendations are sent to the Finance Committee and amendments agreed to by the Committee, a recommended budget is sent to the City Council to be further amended and adopted.
Council members may adopt the Mayor’s budget ordinance as-is. The Council may adopt or reject the recommendations of the Finance Committee. The Council may elect to move money within departments or between departments. They may come up with new spending. However, the Council must pass a balanced budget.
FY 2023 Budget - City Council and Finance Committee Schedule:
2 p.m. Thursday, April 14 - Council Work Session (Overview of Operating Budget)
10 a.m. Monday, April 18 - Finance Committee (Topics: Fire, Management Information Technology)
10 a.m. Tuesday, April 19 - Finance Committee (Topics: Office of Emergency Management, Transportation)
10 a.m. Wednesday, April 20 - Finance Committee (Topics: Planning & Zoning, Office of Law)
10 a.m. Thursday, April 21 - Finance Committee (Topics: Recreation & Parks, Finance)
10 a.m. Monday, April 25 - Finance Committee (Topics: Police)
10 a.m. Tuesday, April 26 - Finance Committee (Topics: Mayor’s Office, City Manager’s Office, Human Resources)
10 a.m. Wednesday, April 27 - Finance Committee (Topics: Public Works, Enterprise Fund)
10 a.m. Thursday, April 28 - Council Work Session (Topics: Joint Meeting with FAC Debt Affordability Capital Budget and CIP Review )
10 a.m. Monday, May 2 - Finance Committee (Topics: Community Grants)
10 a.m. Tuesday, May 3 to Thursday May 5 - Finance Committee (Deliberations and Report Preparation)
7 p.m. Monday, May 9 - Finance Committee Report Delivered to City Council
The final date for passage of the final adopted City Budget is June 30. The Fiscal Year 2023 begins July 1, 2022.
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