The Ironton City Council Finance Committee will meet at 5 p.m. Thursday to discuss the 2012 budget. The committee will meet with four department heads.

At the request of the city council, Mayor Rich Blankenship has asked four department heads to attend to explain their departments and their individual budgets.

“I’ve asked (Ironton Police) Chief (Jim) Carey, (Ironton Fire) Chief (Tom) Runyon, (Ironton Building Code Inspector) John Willis and (Benefits Specialist) Katrina Keith to go,” Blankenship said.

The point of the discussions is to give department heads and the finance committee a chance to talk openly about the tight budget and how key needs can be met with dwindling revenues.

“We’re asking them to educate us as to the inner workings of their department as it pertains to the city budget so we can make smart decisions as we go forward,” Council President Mike Lutz explained. “We want to be thorough in our decision making.”

The police and fire are arguably the largest departments in the city in terms of manpower, this owing to the fact both agencies must operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week regardless of holidays and weekends. Both the police and fire departments are represented by unions and have contract talks with the city scheduled this year.

Future finance committee sessions will include other department heads.

A 2012 budget must be in place by the end of March.