BELLE — Questions about transparency and public participation in Belle’s budget process were raised during the June 29 special meeting of the Belle Board of Aldermen after a resident asked why a previously scheduled budget workshop had been canceled and whether the public had sufficient opportunity to observe the development of the city’s fiscal year 2026-27 budget.

During the public discussion, resident Delmar Branson referenced a budget workshop that had been scheduled before the June board meeting but was later canceled. He questioned how the proposed budget had been developed and whether budget deliberations should have occurred during a public meeting.

“Today, I assume that we’re sitting here getting ready to approve a budget for next year,” Branson said. “From what I’ve read with the Sunshine Laws, how did you develop this budget without having open meetings? It says it’s required when you work with budgets, and that it has to be an open meeting for the people.”

Alderman Jeanette Struemph responded that the June 29 special meeting served as the public meeting for consideration of the budget because no budget had yet been approved.

“Today is our open meeting,” Struemph said. “We haven’t approved it.”

Branson then asked whether the canceled budget workshop would have served the same purpose.

“That workshop…what was that meeting at 5:30 that got canceled?” he asked. “What would that have been?”

“It’d been the same thing as we’re having here,” Struemph said.

The discussion then shifted to public participation during meetings. Branson said he believed he had previously been told he could not ask questions because the topic was not listed on the agenda.

“There was no place on the agenda to ask questions about how the budget was put together,” he said. “It really wasn’t considered a public meeting, in my opinion.”

Officials explained the earlier workshop had been canceled because the city had not yet received final property and liability insurance figures needed to complete the proposed budget.

“We didn’t have our insurance rate yet. We didn’t know what was going on. That’s why we had to cancel that meeting,” Struemph said.

Following the discussion, the aldermen continued to review the proposed budget and later unanimously approved the city’s fiscal year 2026-27 spending plan. No action was taken regarding the concerns raised about the budget process.