City of Humboldt staff aren’t going to have a budget ready quite as fast as they’d hoped - but they will have made changes that ensure transparency in the future, City Manager Joe Day says.

“From my past experience I’ve recognized that if a municipality is criticized at all, it’s usually that ‘oh, too many decisions are made behind closed doors and the public doesn't know what’s going on.’

“The budget process is an important role for a municipality to do right so we can illustrate that, no, we are doing everything we can to keep the public and everybody informed as to what our plans are.”

They’re clarifying how much the city spends on specific line items such as snow removal, street sweeping and road repairs, so that on a year by year basis they have a better idea of what each activity costs and can evaluate whether they want to change the level of service.

Work is also being done to make sure staff costs show up under the proper department.

The city is clarifying the link between revenues - such as the stormwater or roadways levies - to the activities intended for that revenue.

Since Day is new to the city manager role, he’s also taking time to ensure he properly understands the city’s five-year capital plan.

A budget should be presented to council by mid to late December for approval by the end of January, Day said.