Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward announced today that his office would hold two public input meetings next month to allow citizens an opportunity to give input while the fiscal year 2013 budget is being developed. City staff is currently developing the proposed budget, which is slated to be presented to the City Council in June.

"For years, the City developed its budget through staff recommendations, and then presented it to the City Council, and citizens didn’t have a chance to weigh in until the end of the process,” said Mayor Hayward. “This year, I want to try a more transparent approach that I hope will give citizens a chance to truly be a part of the process. These two public input meetings will provide my budget staff and I with the opportunity to consider citizen priorities and solutions as we prepare next year’s budget.”

The two meetings will be held at neighborhood resource centers at different times of the day, to allow citizens with varying schedules to attend. His budget staff will be on hand to answer questions and listen.

“I felt it was important to bring these meetings out into neighborhoods with different start times,” said Mayor Hayward. “Not everyone can make it to a meeting at City Hall in the middle of a workday.”

Meeting schedule:

Thursday, March 1, 5:30 PM – Sanders Beach-Corinne Jones Resource Center, 913 South I Street

Tuesday, March 6, 9:00 AM – Vickrey Resource Center, 2130 Summit Boulevard