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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,January 23, 2017 Page 27 (e.g. property tax appeals). She opined that Council members also needed to be honest early on in the process and as additional information became available not- ing when some information may have changed the individual or collective per- spective. Specific to timing and in lieu of Councilmember Etten's comments, Mayor Roe noted that the City Council was pushing the process toward the second half of the year to receive information but it wasn't fair to expect the City Manager recom- mended budget in that same timeframe. Mayor Roe asked if there was a safety valve somewhere in the process to push out the City Manager recommended budget, especially since the preliminary levy wasn't due until the end of Septem- ber now, making him question if a shift was needed in receipt of that preliminary budget information. If information was available earlier in the year, Mayor Roe suggested that the information be provided then, but suggested the City Council commit to a July timeframe to provide feedback to staff on the cost and levy side, still allowing the City Manager time to develop his recommended budget. Mayor Roe stated that under that scenario, he didn't know how or when the Finance Commission got involved, but suggested joint information could be provided both bodies at the same time. Councilmember Willmus stated that he wouldn't disagree, but his only concern was keeping the Finance Commission involved throughout; and stated that he had no problem receiving the City Manager recommended budget later in the process. In reviewing the 2016 budget process, Councilmember Etten noted receipt of the City Manager recommended budget mid-July; a joint meeting by the City Council and Finance Commission, followed by setting the Preliminary Budget. Given that short timeframe, Councilmember Etten questioned how much flexibility was available to facilitate Finance Commission and public comment opportunities. Mayor Roe suggested directing staff to revise the schedule based on tonight's dis- cussion for review and approval by the City Council at a subsequent meeting. City Manager Trudgeon advised that this was good direction and had been talked about by staff internally. Mayor Roe stated the desire to be fair to the City Manager for providing his rec- ommendations specific to the budget, while allowing the public time to review and digest the budget, acknowledging that final decisions were not made in Sep- tember. Back to the original message, Councilmember Laliberte noted that the budget cards could easily be done early on in the process, since they weren't dependent on legislative actions or cost estimates. By frontloading that component, Coun-