Overview:
Forest Park holds a public budget hearing at 5 p.m. today (Monday 5/23/2022).
The Forest Park City Council is holding a special called meeting tonight, Monday, May 23, at 5 p.m. in City Council chambers. The public will be able to comment on the proposed FY 2023 budget, which is an estimated $34.8 million.
The council also is set to vote on whether to hire ADP to process city payroll.
A link to the budget supplied in the online agenda packet led to a 404 error page.
You can read the budget that was published at the bottom of the city’s Financial Reports page here. We reduced the file size from 24.9mb to 4mb so it doesn’t overwhelm your devices. You still see all the same information, just using less space on your computer:
You can watch the meeting via YouTube: https://bit.ly/3c28p0A

No one spoke for or against the budget.
By law, there will be a second public hearing. This will be citizens’ final chance to tell their elected officials what they think about the city’s spending plans.
I have had it with the train parking on the tracks blocking access to Main St. I called the governors office and was told it was a local issue. I asked the Mayor last week and she told us at the senior Center it was a federal issue. I feel like we are just getting the run around. We can barely afford gas now, and this causes us more having to go so far out of route just to get to the other side.
Hi, Connie—in January, we did a story about this problem: https://claytoncrescent.org/2022/01/28/train-stops-irk-forest-park/ . It goes into detail about why dealing with the railroad is complicated. The county also has had problems: https://claytoncrescent.org/2021/09/15/commuter-rail-negotiations-stall/ . We’ll take another look at this issue.