How to engage in the City of Asheville budget process: Survey now open, meetings to come

Asheville -- The City of Asheville Community News March 19, 2021: The City of Asheville wants to hear from you! 

City staff have approached the budget process differently this year by reviewing existing services with a focus on members of our community that experience inequity.
 

Through our internal department work, and from what heard through Reimagining Public Safety several opportunities for improvements emerged: Economic Opportunity, Access to Government, Increased Community Engagement, Increased Budget Transparency.

We want to know from you whether these potential changes are worth pursuing, and if you have other ideas about how we can improve.

Click Here to take the survey and let us know. 

In addition to the survey, we are holding virtual discussion sessions as another way to gather information from you.  The questions in the survey will be leading the  first round of discussions.  There will be new topics for Round Two in April.   To register to be a part of the discussions visit the Equity Focused Budget Engagement Page Round one budget sessions: here

March 24 – 6 to 7:30 p.m.

March 25 – 10 to 11:30 a.m.

Round two budget sessions:

April 20 – 6 to 7:30 p.m.

April 22 – 6 to 7:30 p.m.

April 23 – 10 to 11:30 a.m.

To follow along the budget process visit the Equity Focused Budget Engagement webpage. 

Here is the City Council budget schedule: 

March 23, 2:30 p.m.: Budget Work session #2
April 13: Budget work session #3
May 25: City Manager’s Proposed Budget goes to City Council
June 8: Budget public hearing at City Council meeting
June 22: City Council to vote on budget adoption
 

We encourage all residents to watch the budget work sessions and keep up with the budget process and participate in this engagement. For any questions, contact Beth Bechel 828-259-5598 or bbechel@ashevillenc.gov.

RELATED: City of Asheville takes equity-focused approach to budget