Twin Falls City Council looking for citizen input during city budget season

On Monday, City Manager Travis Rothweiler presented his recommended Twin Falls budget to City Council. Over the next seven meetings, the council will dive into the details of where $91 million will be spent.

• Budget discussions will take place during each City Council meeting, Mondays at 5 pm through August 19. Meetings are also live streamed , and videos can be watched anytime afterward.
• The recommended budget and other information can be viewed on the city's website .

( Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)

“Overall, I think the city does a good job with how my money is spent,” Tony Prater told Idaho News 6.

Prater pays property tax in Twin Falls, and likes to see the city look its best.

“I do go to council meetings, and I like to know what's going on in the budget,” Prater said. “I agree with most of the things that they do."

On Monday, City Manager Travis Rothweiler presented his recommended budget to the city council.

Over the next two months, they'll meet weekly to break down the budget details, and how they want to spend $91 million tax dollars.

“The budget starts out as a proposal for the council and the community to vet,” Rothweiler said. “We want the community to critique the budget. We want the council to critique the budget and the citizens helping provide input is critical to our process.”

Starting with the next meeting on July 15, each department will share status updates, projects, and justification for their budget requests. Everything from police and fire, to parks and rec, to streets, sewer, and economic development.

“Property taxes is the tax that no one likes to pay,” Rothweiler said. “What we want to do, is, we want to make sure that we're sharing exactly how we're applying those dollars.”

Last year the city adopted the lowest tax rate in its history.

City of Twin Falls

The proposed tax rate could see a little increase, but Rothweiler estimates it will stay under five dollars per $1000 assessed value.

Citizen input from people like Prater can help the city shape its final budget that gets approved in August.

"I kind of like the city government the way it sits with a city manager. I like the way that works,” Prater said. “Because, rather than people doing things for a political reason, they're doing it for a benefit to the whole city."