Harford County Executive David R. Craig will host a public hearing on the FY13 budget on Wednesday, Jan. 18. The 6 p.m. budget hearing in the school auditorium is open to the public and will be held at Havre de Grace High School.

"The purpose of the budget hearing is to allow the citizens of Harford County to make known the priorities that they would like to see funded in the budget for fiscal year 2013," Craig said in a press release.

Craig will be joined at the hearing by members of his cabinet and county budget officials.

"As always, we want to hear from the taxpaying citizens of Harford County prior to developing the budget," Craig said in the release. "However, the fiscal year 2013 budget will be another lean year for both the county and the state."

Those wishing to speak during the budget hearing should arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the session to sign in. To ensure that all who wish to speak at the session have an opportunity to, individuals will be given three minutes to address the county executive and his staff. Representatives of a specific group or organization will be allotted five minutes to speak.

The FY13 budget will be prepared between January and late March of this year. It will be presented to the Harford County Council by April 1.