Councilors Nearing Approval of Casper’s $144 Million FY14 Budget

After a weekend recess, Casper City Council completed its third night of budget discussion at its regular work session Tuesday night.

Councilors say they’re a step closer toward making final decisions regarding the city of Casper’s proposed $144 million budget for fiscal year 2014.

Casper mayor Kenyne Schlager says she expects no sweeping budget change suggestions from council during its final discussion period on Wednesday night.

“This week and last week were really council’s opportunity to say that we don’t agree with this, or that we don’t see the purpose behind this,” Schlager said. “I truly expect tomorrow to be very smooth, and that we’ll accept the budget as written.”

Councilors listened to public services and leisure services officials on Tuesday. Council is scheduled to discuss Optional One-Cent No. 13, Optional One-Cent No. 14, capital equipment and capital project funds on Wednesday.

Outside agency funding requests will also be considered during Wednesday’s meeting. Both the Mercer Family Resource Center and Joshua’s Storehouse requested optional one-cent funds on May 14.

Council is also scheduled to review the city's five-year capital plan and its own budget before it makes its final funding decisions.

The final work session is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Casper City Hall.