Monterey's Priority Based Budgeting - "the motivation to make decisions, albeit difficult ones, that are in the best interests of the residents, businesses, and visitors that we serve"

http://www.monterey.org/prioritybasedbudget/docs/110517PropBudgetFinal.pdf

The City Council was informed last spring that due to the prolonged recession coupled with increased costs the City’s General Fund still faced a structural imbalance of about $5 million, even after the substantial budget reduction measures already taken in the previous year. However, unlike many cities and the State of California, who were forced by poor planning to rush a budget reduction plan into place, this City Council directed staff to take the time to gather input from the community in order to help prioritize the difficult budget choices ahead.


This was done last fall using a Priority-based Budgeting process.

It is a consensus-based strategy developed by all department heads built on the knowledge gleaned from the Priority-Based Budgeting process and the motivation to make decisions, albeit difficult ones, that are in the best interests of the residents, businesses, and visitors that we serve.

Building Economically Resilient Communities Conference

neha2011aec.org - Building Resilient Communities

The National Environmental Health Association has created a track devoted to Building Economically Resilent Communities, at this year's annual conference in Columbus, Ohio (June 18-20).

The concept is completely unique, portraying Economic Sustainability as the confluence of a government's fiscal health (what Jon and I are working on here at the Center), a community's overall economic well-being (what you'll hear Fort Collins CFO, Mike Freeman discuss), and the environmental health of a region (NEHA's expertise).

City / county managers will be exposed to evidence that sustainability initiatives (fiscal, economic, and environmental) are literally at the root of Resiliency, as witnessed and demonstrated in these sessions. As communities today struggle to balance their budgets while preserving long-term economic growth, these sessions will demonstrate that all are achievable. Building Resilient Communities begins with a new definition of Sustainability.

For more on the sessions, click below