Wednesday, August 3, 2011

City of Seaside Launches 2011-2012 PBB Process - Council Establishes Fiscal Health and Wellness Among Policy Goals


In recognition of the need to focus on the City's priority services and invest shrinking resources on those areas that will help advance economic development over the long-term, the City Council set forth Fiscal Wellness (Priority Based Budgeting) among their 2011-2014 goals.

Continuing to focus on these strategic goals will be important to ensure that the City can survive financially and position itself for the economic upturn. The Strategic Plan and the associated fiscal health process can be considered when making the difficult decisions associated with the immediate need to keep the budget balanced. In the long-term, the City's ability to accomplish its strategic goals will lead to the fiscal stability needed to restore and enhance services for the community.

In 2011-2012, the scoring of programs will be reviewed and the public will be invited to join the process in preparation for the 2012-2014 two year budget development.
In recognition of the need to focus on the City's priority services and invest shrinking resources on those areas that will help advance economic development over the long-term, the City Council set forth Fiscal Wellness (Priority Based Budgeting) among their 2011-2014 goals.



Continuing to focus on these strategic goals will be important to ensure that the City can survive financially and position itself for the economic upturn. The Strategic Plan and the associated fiscal health process can be considered when making the difficult decisions associated with the immediate need to keep the budget balanced. In the long-term, the City's ability to accomplish its strategic goals will lead to the fiscal stability needed to restore and enhance services for the community.



The goal of fiscal health was established in consideration of the need to adjust the budgeting process to more effectively align resources with the City's priorities.' Fiscal health and wellness provides a basis for the allocation of the City's resources based on priorities. In order to achieve fiscal health, an organization must:

• Spend within its means

• Establish and maintain reserves

• Understand variances (budget vs. actual)

• Know the true cost of doing business

• Include economic analysis and long-term planning in decision-making



In early 2010, the City Council engaged in a process, based on a proven fiscal health and wellness model, to identify all of the City's programs. The programs were then scored based on the desired results identified by the City Council consistent with the Vision Statement for the City. Programs were categorized as operational or governance to reflect that there is a structure needed to provide services to the community.



The process was then used to identify the range of services offered by the City and determine if resources are going to the highest priority projects. In Seaside, the process demonstrated that the City is generally spending it funds on those programs determined to be the highest priority and that even those with lower scores were considered worthwhile.



In 2011-2012, the scoring of programs will be reviewed and the public will be invited to join the process in preparation for the 2012-2014 two year budget development. The challenge will continue be the City's limited resources and that the City does not have the staff or the funding to continue to do what it has done in the past. In order to balance both the 2011-2012 budget and the 2012-2014 budget, it may be necessary to reduce or eliminate programs that while valuable, are not mandatory or required to meet the City's primary municipal responsibilities.

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