WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) – Wausau's finance committee will get their first look at the proposed 2013 city budget at their meeting this afternoon.

Finance chair Bill Nagel says there's a number of proposals that will be coming up, but one in particular from Keene Winter will limit the city's spending on personnel. “He is proposing we budget with only 97.5 percent of the city's staff being filled.” Nagel says this could free up nearly 700-thousand dollars for other budgets.

In addition, the city is starting the budget process earlier this year in order to help extend the time people will have to see the proposed plans. Nagel says resident really should take that chance to get informed. “People talk about taxes as a big ticket item, but aldermen are remiss if we don't put it into specifics.”

City council members have brought in citizens from each of their districts in order to help get more information and run more ideas past taxpayer and look at what choices need to be made.

Council president Lisa Rasmussen admitted earlier this month that in the past the council and the city haven't had the best communication with constituents. “We do have a lot of internal communication that starts now, but when the budget rolls out to the public, it was always late in the year.” Rasmussen says those citizen committees will have a chance to better communicate to residents what the budget process is like.

The finance committee meets tonight starting at 4:45.