On December 7, the Norfolk Division of the Chamber held its second meeting of the “Civic Lunch and Learn” series.  The topic, Local and State Budgeting Process, was presented by Wynter Benda, Bryan Pennington and City Manager Marcus Jones. 

Mr. Benda is an attorney and assistant to the City Manager and gave a presentation discussing the principles, priorities and process of the annual cycle to develop each year’s city budget.  Contemporary issues of importance, such as the current national economy and fiscal integrity, were also a part of Mr. Benda’s discussion.

Mr. Pennington is Norfolk’s Director of Intergovernmental Relations and he addressed the relationship between State budgets and the localities, as well as revenue sources available to the city. Discussing revenue sources allowed those in attendance to bring up the topic of the Business Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) tax.

A question and answer time with all three speakers concluded the event. The opportunity to learn more about the city’s budgetary process and streams of revenue was informative to the attendees and the Norfolk Division looks for ways to engage with the city concerning spending priorities and promoting the business community.

The next “Civic Lunch and Learn” session will be held at 12pm on January 20, at the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce. For more information, contact Candace Reid at 757-664-2572 or creid@hrccva.com.