The 2022 Operating Budget is balanced, as required by law, and builds on the City's goal to provide high-quality services while maintaining sound financial standing. The budget contains revenue and expenses for all City funds and includes a "pass-through" levy as mandated by the Library Ordinance. The budget was crafted at the beginning of recovery from the most fiscally uncertain period in recent history. The historic COVID-19 pandemic devastated the national economy, left 40 million people unemployed and created both immediate and future budget implications. While it was challenging to prepare the 2021 Operating Budget before there was an indication of how the economy would respond to the pandemic, completing the 2022 budget together amidst the recovery from the pandemic has provided a different set of challenges. Among these challenges are: competition for labor, wage inflation, inflated costs of materials and supplies, and delays and price fluctuations in the acquisition of equipment...
