City of Boulder Engages in a New Conversation About the Relevance of Programs to the Results of the Community

By Heath Urie Camera Staff Writer

Posted: 07/26/2010 09:45:34 PM MDT

The city of Boulder is looking to change the way it manages its annual budget. Under the new model, the programs that best help the city achieve the community's goals of having a safe, economically sustainable and socially vibrant place to live will receive top priority for funding. Those programs that are duplicated, waste money or don't meet the community's goals could be cut.
 
City Manager Jane Brautigam has been working this year to move to a "priority-based" budget, in which the things most important to the community are first in line for funding. Following a series of public meetings and working with a pair of outside consultants, the city compiled a list of every public service it provides.
The new list divides the city's 443 programs into four categories, ranking them from highest to lowest priority, based on whether they help meet the community's general goals of cultivating a safe, economically sustainable and socially thriving community.

Grand Island City Administrator Holds Press Conference Announcing Balanced Budget on the Principles of Fiscal Health and Wellness (Prioritization)

Chesapeake, Virginia Begins Prioritization - "This is a More Disciplined and Analytical Approach"

Chesapeake, Virginia Begins Prioritization - "This is a More Disciplined and Analytical Approach"

With budgets getting tighter across the country, more cities are turning to Prioritzation.


"I just feel like we need to begin to put proactive steps in place so we can prepare the organization for what is ahead," said William Harrell, City Manager. "Sure, we can just start eliminating things. But then is that what the citizens are saying? Is that what council is saying to us? This is a more disciplined and analytical approach."

"It sounds intuitive but what we found was there was no real methodology to connect all of the things that government does" to what policymakers want to see for their cities.

Lakeland, Florida Reaches "New Heights" in Aligning Resources with Priorities

Budget Message - Prioritization

Alignment has been taken to new heights in FY 2010 as the City developed its new “Budget by Priorities” process to better define the varied and numerous Municipal Core Services (along with their respective costs and revenues) provided to our constituents and comparatively evaluate their respective influence on achieving Goals and Outcomes. This process is specifically designed to provide a higher degree of understanding among decision makers regarding the scope, costs and impact of the various Core Services and better articulate how we value our services, invest in our priorities and ultimately divest ourselves of lower priority services.