Trulock works on the 2013 budget in his office.

There is no easing into the role of mayor.

Madison Mayor Troy Trulock took office Nov. 5 and has already begun lengthy days with long itinerates.

On Nov. 8, his workday began at 3:30 a.m. at the Huntsville International Airport for a Korean War Veterans Sendoff and lasted until 9:30 p.m. at a United Way of Madison County social event.

“The first priority really is to maintain a great relationship between Huntsville, Madison City and Madison County,” Trulock said. “The second big item this week has really been the budget.”

Trulock thinks a budget of $28.5 million for 2013 is right for Madison. “My goal is to provide a balanced budget to City Council, meaning whatever we project for revenues coming in, we don’t spend anymore than that,” Trulock said.

Departmental budgets will have cutbacks. “I’ve actually cut back already about eight and a half million dollars from what was requested from our city departments,” Trulock said.

Trulock is allowing department heads to make decisions on what to cut because he thinks they know what is best for their departments. “I’ve allowed them to figure out how they can become efficient, so I’ve reduced budgets, but I’m asking for their help.”

A lean government is key to Trulock. “We need to be more efficient in the government. Government is just like a private industry,” Trulock said. “We need to be efficient and lean in tough economic times, like the rest of the citizens (and) the rest of the businesses are.”

The third priority for Trulock is City Council. “We need to make sure that we work together and grow just like our last administration, that we have a great relationship internally, as well as externally,” Trulock said.