It should come as little surprise that only 12 people attended a public hearing, with only three speaking, on Monday during a public hearing on Jamestown’s 2017 budget proposal.

City officials haven’t given city residents much on which to give their opinion.

The budget process started in early October. Mayor Sam Teresi’s budget proposal came with a .96 percent tax levy increase — about $43,000 more than the state’s 2 percent tax cap — and a deficit of $878,736. Since then, City Council members have come up with a combined $53,000 in savings and increased revenues, lowering the deficit in the budget to around $825,000.

Asking city residents to comment on the budget, in its current state, isn’t really fair because city residents aren’t privy to the plan to fill that $825,000 gap. All we know is the city can’t close the gap with a huge tax increase because of the state’s constitutional tax limit. City residents might have more to say on the budget if they knew city officials were planning to balance the budget by borrowing money. They might have had something to say if there was any public discussion of cuts rather than the dry recitation of the city’s dire fiscal straits that we see every year during the budget process. We’re sure those talks are happening informally, but they need to be taking place in public where city residents who care about the budget — and their tax bill — can hear them.

Maybe then city residents would have something to talk about.