By Ray King
As the Pine Bluff City Council continues to work on the 2022 city budget, members got together with the city’s financial consultants Tuesday afternoon for a discussion on a variety of topics.
George Stepps and William Moss were hired after the city sent out a request for proposals late last year asking for someone with expertise in finance and budgeting.
Beginning the meeting, Moss said elected officials like the City Clerk, City Attorney and City Treasurer should be submitting their own budgets to the council.
Currently, the budgets for those three offices are a part of the budget submitted by the Mayor, which is the only budget the council considers.
On another subject, revenue from the Saracen Casino was discussed.
Council member Ivan Whitfield asked Moss if what he was saying was that the anticipated revenue from the casino this year is needed to balance the proposed budget, rather than for new projects, Moss said “yes.”
