Twin Falls, Idaho (KMVT) - The Twin Falls City Council has officially begun examining the city budget proposed for the next fiscal year; it's a process that could run until the first week in September.

City Manager Travis Rothweiler says, “The council, the citizens, everyone involved have an understanding of the priorities of the organization, that everybody can come together and agree what are the best strategies to fund the initiatives that we have.”

Another tool the City of Twin Falls uses to plot its course into the future is a five year financial forecast.

Rothweiler says it comes in especially handy, in deciding which programs should stay or go.

He says, “To show how decisions in a single fiscal year could impact long term financial decisions. It helps determine sustainability of programs, it helps us take a look at policies and practices to ask if those are things that we can continue to truly do and offer.”

The city council is also considering a new ordinance that would create a citizen finance committee.

Rothweiler says if it's approved, the committee would allow private citizens to help the City of Twin Falls review its financial issues to improve the way it does business.

He says, “The way that we offer services and how we can best maybe find some new efficiency in that process. Probably the greatest advantage is it creates an element of transparency, by having people come in and work with us in the development of our processes.”