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Managers will prepare two-year budgets By Jessica Smith When Medford number crunchers sit down to the table in April to review the city�s budget, they�ll have more on their plates than usual. All city managers are preparing two-year budgets � covering fiscal years 2001-2003 � for their departments. "It�s going to be a lot more work this year, but I think it�s going to be worth it," said Cory Crebbin, public works director. Crebbin � whose department carries a $10 million operating budget and is expected to spend another $20 million this year on capital improvement projects � said a two-year budget will help public works when planning multi-year projects. Under the city�s current budget process, public works is forced to request funding for projects that likely can�t be built in one year, Crebbin said. Construction on the extension of East McAndrews Road, for example, was budgeted in the 1999-2000 fiscal year. But the city wasn�t able to finish the work in one year and had to carry the funds over to the 2000-2001 budget. "Over two-thirds of our budget is projects," Crebbin added. "If we�re not doing what we say we�re going to do, it creates a problem." Finance director Jef Faw said a biennial financial plan gives public works a better chance of meeting its budget and avoiding trips back to the Medford City Council for reauthorization requests. "It spins everyone�s wheels ... to keep coming back to a project that is already approved," he added. Aside from the benefits long-range planning gives the city, Faw said, a two-year financial plan would put Medford in sync with the state budget cycle, which also operates on a biennium. "It will be nice to have a comfort level that we know what the state is doing," Faw said, adding that Medford can now more closely monitor the state for clues in economic trends. Though the city can�t legally adopt a two-year budget, Faw said, Medford is allowed to approve a biennial plan. Formal adoption would be required at the start of the second fiscal year, he explained. Department heads are expected to complete draft budgets in late January and early February, before an overall city budget heads to an 18-member committee for review in April. The same committee approved the two-year budget concept earlier this year. Reach reporter Jessica Smith at 776-4481, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.