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.