Taxpayers will soon have a better idea of how much money they’ll owe city coffers for the coming year.

Officials plan to unveil proposed adjustments to the 2013-2014 operating budget Friday afternoon.

It’s been an arduous process for departments, many of which had made additional funding requests not covered in the initial three-year fiscal plan.

One of those demands is to hire more 911 operators for the Emergency Call Centre, given a funding shortfall facing the Public Safety Communications Division.

Last year when council was deliberating their business plan, they were warned they the department was short 27 full time employees or $3.7-million.

Given the higher call volume and the increase in costs, Mayor Naheed Nenshi says it’s a priority the city needs to address.

“I’m reasonably confident that we’ll be able to find that money within the existing budget envelope and not increase peoples’ taxes beyond what’s already been approved,” he tells 660News.

Other demands facing council include funding requests from both the parks department and transit.

Most on council believe it may be difficult to keep the approved take hike for 2013 at 5.7 per cent.

“I think that 5.7, which is what’s approved, is a little too high already,” the Mayor explains. “Inflation, plus growth is about 5.5 given current forecasts, so I wouldn’t like to spend any more money.”

But both the Mayor and Aldermen like Gord Lowe believe it may be difficult to get that figure any lower.

“I don’t see any appetite to go above 5.7 and I don’t see any opportunity to go below that without further reducing services to Calgarians,” Lowe explains.

“We’re tracking somewhere in a $2.8-billion budget somewhere around a $5-million surplus, so I think that’s about 0.004 per cent; we’re cutting it really close to the line on this one,” he adds.

Ward 3′s Jim Stevenson gets his first look at the document Friday, along with everyone else.

He’s hoping officials have sharpened their pencils before he gets his “weekend reading.”

Stevenson says he’s preparing himself for what lies ahead and adds he’s not confident of anything.

“It’s difficult for us to pin figures down and cut say four full-time positions from one department,” he explains. “It’s not an easy thing to do.”

City officials are encouraging Calgarians to provide their input before final deliberations at the end of the month.

A 5.7 per cent increase would raise the average property tax bill in the city by about $80.