"There was a part of me that wanted to be more involved in the budget discussions," she said.

That agreement helped move the budget discussions further along than they have been at this date in most years.

He also repeated a refrain that has become common in his budget discussions, saying, "The truth of the matter is, there isn't any money."

Rep. Thompson agreed that this should be a focus in future budget discussions.

"It will probably count for a lot in the upcoming budget discussions."

Smith also said Valesky will be included in all budget discussions.

Others say that he is setting himself up for next year's budget discussion, when the city will presumably still have a large gap to fill.

We had an opportunity to go into this in depth during the 2000 budget discussions.

At the beginning of the budget discussions, there were still several open issues and gaps which had not been funded.

This will have to be taken up again in the budget discussions.