City of Dubuque's FY2025 Budget Process Begins

MARCH 5, 2024

The Dubuque City Council will hold a series of public meetings as part of the process to create the City of Dubuque’s budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2025, which runs from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. Residents and stakeholders are encouraged to participate in this process and provide input. 

The process begins with a special meeting on Thursday, March 7, to schedule a separate special meeting for Monday, March 25, which will include a public hearing on the FY2025 proposed property tax amount. The March 7 meeting agenda will include City Manager Mike Van Milligen’s recommendation for the property tax amount and levy. At the March 25 public hearing, the only options available to city council are to approve the amount of proposed property tax dollars established at the March 7 meeting, or decrease it. The March 25 public hearing allows any resident or taxpayer to present objections to or arguments in favor of the proposed tax amount. As always, residents and stakeholders can provide input to city council members at any time by contacting them directly. Contact information and a link to email all council members are available at www.cityofdubuque.org/councilcontacts 

The regular city council meeting on Monday, March 18, will include the FY2025 recommended budget document presentation to the city council. More details are available at?www.cityofdubuque.org/FY2025budget.? 

The process continues with public meetings to review City department/division budget proposals before concluding with a final public hearing on Thursday, April 11, to adopt the FY2025 Operating and Capital Budgets. 

Budget Public Meeting Schedule: 

Monday, March 18 

• Recommended budget presentation at regularly scheduled city council meeting 

Monday, March 25  

• Public Hearing to establish maximum FY2025 Property Tax Levy 

Tuesday, March 26  

• City Attorney's Office 
• City Clerk’s Office 
• Public Information Office 
• Human Resources 
• City Manager's Office 
• City Council 

Wednesday, March 27 

• Health Services 
• Carnegie-Stout Public Library 
• Dubuque Regional Airport 
• Office of Shared Prosperity and Neighborhood Support 
• Office of Equity and Human Rights 
• Finance/Budget 

Thursday, March 28 

• Housing and Community Development 
• Purchase of Services 
• Public Works 
• Economic Development 

Tuesday, April 2 

• Parks 
• Recreation 
• Office of Community Impact 
• Multicultural Family Center 

Thursday, April 4 

• Emergency Management 
• Emergency Communications 
• Police 
• Fire 

Monday, April 8 

• Information Services 
• Water 
• Water & Resource Recovery Center 
• Planning 

Tuesday, April 9 

• Five Flags Civic Center 
• Grand River Center 
• ImOn Ice Arena 
• Transportation Services 
• Engineering 

Thursday, April 11 

• Public Hearing to Adopt the FY2025 Budget 

The public is invited to attend the public hearings and meetings in which staff from each department and division will present FY2025 budget information to the city council and Mayor Brad Cavanagh will solicit input from the public. All meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the second floor of the Historic Federal Building at 350 W. Sixth St. and will be aired live on CityChannel Dubuque (Mediacom cable channels 8 and 117.2 and ImOn channel 5), streamed and archived on the City’s website at?www.cityofdubuque.org/media, and streamed on the City’s Facebook page at?www.facebook.com/cityofdubuque

The public can provide input in person or virtually through the GoToMeeting platform. Instructions can be found within the meeting agenda at www.cityofdubuque.org/agendas. Public input on the FY2025 budget may also be submitted online through the budget public comments form at?www.cityofdubuque.org/FY2025budget. Residents may also contact City Council members at?www.cityofdubuque.org/councilcontacts.? 

The recommended budget materials are expected to be available on the City of Dubuque website at?www.cityofdubuque.org/FY2025budget?and printed copies will be made available for checkout from the Carnegie-Stout Public Library Reference Desk on March 26. For more information, contact Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Larson at 563-589-4398 or?jlarson@cityofdubuque.org. 

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MEDIA CONTACT
Randy Gehl, Public Information Officer
RGehl@cityofdubuque.org, 563-589-4151