In effort to have the town's 2008 budget prepared by the end of this year, Mono Deputy Mayor Dave Baldwin is looking to establish a budget procedure during the next council meeting on April 24.

He is hoping to have a plan established that will see the budget process begin with a draft version in early October and passed by December 31. This would allow the budget to be in place for a full 12 months, rather than nine months or less. The deputy mayor said the delay this year was due to the November municipal election.

He said having a budget in place for January 1 would allow capital projects to move ahead early and tenders would come in at a lower price.

Deputy Mayor Baldwin said council already agreed at a recent meeting to have the 2008 budget ready for approval in December. Now all they'd have to do is agree on a budget process. This would involve deciding on whether the Town wants to get citizens involved through a committee or have council hold budget-specific meetings, instead of having the discussions crammed into a regular meeting.

The deputy mayor prefers the latter, as he doesn't see the need for a citizens' commission. He said he's not knocking Orangeville's process but since it all comes back to council he would rather have council hold two or three budget-specific meetings where residents can be included on the agenda to voice their concerns or give suggestions. He has suggested Rosemont would be a good location to hold one of the three meetings, as residents would be likely to attend there. The others would be at the Monora Park Pavilion and the council chambers.

"I think that the elected representatives in Mono, along with all the relevant staff input, are the people to actually do the budget, but I also think that we need to solicit public opinion more actively than we have perhaps done in the past," he said.

He said some residents have criticized holding a budget discussion in a regular council meeting as they don't think it does much good and doesn't allow for a healthy debate.

The deputy mayor said having many residents share their input is invaluable to the process; otherwise you have a select few who claim to represent a large portion of the town. He said if they were to have a first draft ready for October these input sessions would need to occur before hand.

He noted council was also criticized during this year's budget discussions, as some residents wanted to undo a lot of initiatives that had taken years to create, such as building community parks and paving more roads, so as to obtain a tax reduction.

He said contrary to comments received during council meetings, he has received positive feedback from residents who are happy with this year's zero per cent increase and residents who expect a lot of amenities.

"While I always listen to criticism, I'm not always swayed," he said.

Deputy Mayor Baldwin said with more input from a broad prospective, council would have better information to work from through the budget process.

He described the upcoming discussion as the development of a blueprint for the 2008 budget. The meeting will take place at 9 a.m. next Tuesday, April 24.