Building a better city budget, with the public’s ideas, gets scrutiny in Fresno | Opinion

Over the last year the Fresno City Council has come under criticism by The Bee and outside groups, like the ACLU of Northern California, for improperly conducting some of the public’s business behind closed doors.

Specifically, the finalizing of the city’s annual budget, which this year amounts to $1.87 billion. In sessions that were not open to the public, the council for years has had a budget subcommittee whose members would work with the mayor on the final details of Fresno’s plan.

Last fall, Fresnoland, the online news site, made an issue of the secret meetings while Bee columnist Marek Warszawski and The Bee Editorial Board called on the council to hold its subcommittee meetings in public.

The ACLU sued the city and was joined by the First Amendment Coalition. Their contention: Fresno was violating the Brown Act, California’s law for public disclosure. The suit was filed in Fresno Superior Court and is yet to be argued before Judge Bob Whalen.

Public input

Now city officials are reviewing policies for its committees for the first time since 2004. A proposal by Council President Annalisa Perea and Vice President Mike Karbassi will formalize how committees get formed, their purpose and how long they operate. Their proposal will be taken up at Thursday’s meeting.

City officials believe that subcommittees currently exempt from the Brown Act could continue. So could “working groups” formed by the mayor or a council member for advisory roles. City Attorney Andrew Janz defines a working group as up to three council members discussing city business. That is not a quorum of the seven-member council and thus does not violate the Brown Act.

Janz does not believe the council’s budget subcommittee violated the Brown Act because it would end its work every year with the budget’s adoption. The ACLU and First Amendment Coalition point out how the budget subcommittee would re-form the next year and thus was a “standing” group, subject to the act. Hence, the lawsuit awaiting legal consideration.

Janz said that revising the process for committees began early last year before the Fresnoland story was published and the suit was filed. That said, the council subcommittee still met last spring and did its work out of public view.

A new budget cycle will start soon, and this time around Perea plans to hold several town hall gatherings in her District 1 specifically to gather ideas from residents about how the city should spend taxpayer money. “This will give the community another stab at the apple and to provide input on what they want the budget to look like,” she said.

There will be no budget subcommittee of council members this year, she added. Rather, she plans to have time set aside in meetings for the public to offer comments on specific motions made by councilmembers.

The more public input, the better, and is needed to shine a light on a city budget of nearly $2 billion.

Just how well Perea and Karbassi’s proposal will work remains to be seen. This coming budget season will be revealing. Here is hoping there will be ample opportunity for public input, as promised by Perea.