SOUTH BEND — There is a good chance you are now paying less in property taxes on your home after Indiana leaders instituted property tax caps. That's the good news. The bad news is that also means a major loss in revenue for local government.

South Bend is facing up to $20 million in budget cuts for its 2010 operating budget. This week WSBT, along with the city of South Bend and the South Bend Tribune, are giving you a chance to put in your two cents on how your taxpayer dollars should be spent.

The first of two town hall meetings this week is Tuesday at Washington High School from 5-7 p.m.

South Bend Animal Control is just one of the city services looking to avoid big budgets cuts for next year.

"There are services that can be cut, but that's going to impact the care of the animals," says South Bend Animal Control's Garry Libbey. "Any personnel cuts would affect the service that we provide out in the city — picking up animals, helping stray or injured animals, helping people solve wildlife problems, picking up abandoned animals, and prosecuting abuse and neglect cases."

South Bend Animal Control falls under the Department of Code Enforcement, which means it shares a budget along with other tasks for city maintenance. The department deals with things like vacant and abandoned properties, piles of trash, and abandoned vehicles.

"What we provide is the impression that people get when they come into the city," Libbey says. "They want to see clean neighborhoods; they don't want to see stray animals wandering around. They don't want to see houses that are boarded up, they don't want to see piles of trash, overgrown grass, things like that. The image that the city provides is really what the Department of Code Enforcement is charged with controlling."

The city's total budget is just over $66 million, with the Department of Code Enforcement making up about $1.3 million of that. The purpose of the meeting on Tuesday is to provide information to the community on how the current budget is developed and structured, and to also ask the community's opinions on which programs and services are most important to city residents.

The meeting at Washington High School starts Tuesday at 5 p.m., with the mayor beginning his budget presentation at around 5:30 p.m. Thursday's meeting will be held from 5-7 p.m. in Indiana University of South Bend’s Northside Hall.