Hi Sam, thanks for the message, I appreciate hearing from a Board member at long last.
I agree that it might be a good idea to collect feedback during the year (is there actually any page that could be used for this purpose on Meta?) — but I think that it also needs to be mentioned that it's much easier and much more useful for the community to comment on a budget plan, especially before it is approved and put into motion.
Can you please let us know if the Board arrived at any decision about this? I had a look at the questions that were asked to you during the open meeting in Milan (https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/wmconf2013-meeting-with-the-board), but I was unable to find any related to the budget issue.
-- Tomasz