How does this budget thing work, anyway?

• So the City Manager talks to the department heads. What do they need? He talks to the state and fed. What are we getting from them? He talks to the City Council. What are they pushing for and against?
• He presents his budget to the City Council.
• The City Council schedules a series of budget hearings. They meet as the finance subcommittee (the only city subcommittee that includes the entire Council), and they go through the budget, department by department.
• If you want to talk to them about parks, show up for that hearing. Schools, public works, the airport, the pools...They will hear (3 minutes at a time) anyone who wishes to address that part of the budget.
• After everyone who wishes to speak to that section has been heard, they will vote on that section. They can, as with anything they vote on, approve it as is. Or they can rearrange funding. Or they can ask the City Manager for changes. They may also make speeches regarding that section. Or they might (as they did on Tuesday) quietly pass a section without comment.
• HOWEVER, they have only approved that section, AND done so in finance committee.
• It isn't over until they have all the hearings, vote all the sections, and vote AS THE COUNCIL to approve the ENTIRE budget.