Why ICMA Created the Center for Management Strategies

Powerful blog post from ICMA's Center for Management Strategies Director, Cheryl Hilvert (read it here)

From the post:

"Today's environment requires us to think differently, approach the work of our organizations in such a way as to engage everyone--including our citizens-- in the work we perform, and look at new and different ways to deliver services. 

In the midst of these challenges, ICMA has "stepped up to the plate" to find a way to work with recognized national organizations to bring forward leading practices that can assist you in addressing issues in your communities and organizations.   And, the Center for Management Strategies was launched.   The goal here is to not make you "reinvent the wheel" when issues confront you, but instead to make available education and technical assistance to you on practices that have been proven to work through academic research and by "early innovators" in our profession.

The Center is currently focused on two areas of leading practices--Higher Performing Organizations and Priority Based Budgeting."

PM Magazine This Month: Most In-depth Look into the "Unique Lens" of Priority Based Budgeting

Priority Based Budgeting has been declared a Leading Practice for Government Management by ICMA. Three years after it's invention, the process has been implemented in over 30 communities across the Country, from cities as large as Sacramento CA, and Cincinnati OH to communities as politically complex and diverse as Boulder CO and Monterey CA, to organizations as small as Post Falls ID, Chrisitansburg VA and Blue Ash OH. 

The "unique lens" of Priority Based Budgeting is leading organizations to surprising breakthroughs and insights, focusing on questions such as: What is the local government uniquely qualified to provide, for the maximum benefit to citizens for the tax dollars they pay? What is the community truly mandated to provide? What does it cost to fulfill those mandates? What are the appropriate programs to consider establishing or increasing user-fees? What are the appropriate programs to consider partnerships with other community service providers? What services might the local government reach consensus about “getting out of the business” of providing? Where are there apparent overlaps and redundancies in a community where several entities are providing similar services? Where is the local government potentially competing against businesses in its own community?

September 2012, Seeing Things Differently: Through the Lens of Priority-Based Budgeting, Communities Gain Powerful Insights into Their Programs, authored by Jon Johnson and Chris Fabian, published by International City / County Manager's Association's (ICMA) professional journal, Public Management "PM" Magazine

Always Looking at Things Differently: CPBB Gets a New Look

The Center for Priority Based Budgeting has a new look!

(Funny that Bill Gates just today announced the first new look for Microsoft since 1987. Taking a page out of the CPBB playbook - well done Mr. Gates!)

Thanks to everybody who took the time to help us "find what we were looking for." We are so appreciative of your support, encouragement and belief in the work that we have been pursuing since launching our organization.   As we continue to expand the number of communities that are embracing the principles of “Fiscal Health and Wellness”; as the tools we are able to provide begin to migrate to a web-based environment;  as we continue to form strategic partnerships with such outstanding organizations as ICMA; the Alliance for Innovation; Peak Democracy and Project A; and as the impact of our work continues to help local governments address their fiscal realities by seeing things through a “new and unique lens” that only CPBB can offer, we are excited and humbled by how much we have grown and how far we have come in advancing our concepts.

With your help, we have gained a level of recognition in the local government arena that allows us to share our mission with a larger audience.  It seems the appropriate time to create a true “identify” with the development of a logo for CPBB.

We have decided that the theme of the “new lens” is what we hope to convey and think the use of the “magnifying glass” communicates that concept.

Additionally, we have developed the tag line "Using a Unique Lens to Focus Community Resources on Results" as we think this captures exactly “what we do” - it expands our work beyond just a mere “budgeting process” but more of a management strategy.

Special thanks to Kristine Johnson with Cognition Studio in Seattle, WA, who designed this for us (Kristine and Cognition Studio were also behind that amazingly cool e-Brochure for the first-ever CPBB Conference in San Diego). Be sure to check out her site and great work: http://cognitionstudio.com/

As always, our thanks to the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) - the home for this incredible, and one-of-a-kind incubator! Thank you NEHA.

Most of all, we want to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has gone through the work with us, for all you have done to support the work we are doing.  We are honored to have you as partners and as friends!

How Can a Person be Against Priority Based Budgeting? Easy!

So many communities have told us that the best part about our blog is that we post every detail of our work, as it actually plays out in the communities where we've helped implement PBB - citizen blogs, local news, staff memos and reports. We post everything we can find so you can really witness how a community (the entirety of a community) responds to the process.

In maintaining with that objective, we offer you the following discussion from the Billings Gazette. Never thought we'd have to post about being against PBB!

http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/blogs/city-lights/city-lights-a-punch-line-that-s-worthy-of-the/article_78609c73-e9be-5256-9b12-c79408664057.html#ixzz24OzIxAjf


Opinion Section of the Billings Gazette:

Dear Ed: Why is it, at a time when party affiliation seems more important than ever, our City Council elections are still nonpartisan? Are these people afraid to align themselves with a political party? — Befuddled Voter, Democrat

Dear BVD: Fear has nothing to do with it. Our local officials just happen to be more advanced than politicians on other levels. They would rather the voters attach their own more telling labels to them: pro-chicken and anti-chicken, pro-priority-based budgeting and anti-priority-based budgeting.

Dear Ed: How can a person be against priority-based budgeting? — South Side Sue

Dear SSS: Easy. You know how politicians are always saying the government should have to budget, just like real families? Well, all the families I know don’t budget at all. They just spend all their money and put everything else on a credit card. Why can’t this work for city government?

ICMA White Paper Identifies Policy Questions that PBB is Designed to Answer

The key finding of ICMA's 2011 White Paper (available for download here) is that: "persisting economic hard times will eventually require managers and governing boards to adopt service delivery and budget balancing strategies that go well beyond the typical “business as usual” approaches used in past recessions. While more modest steps will likely be taken initially, as indicated by previous studies, ongoing economic challenges will call for progressively bolder actions. The impact of worsening fiscal conditions, and the extent of the remedial responses, will vary from state to state. While localities with major service responsibilities, large work forces, and inelastic tax bases will likely have experienced “New Normal” conditions before other cities and counties, over time the effects will be more widespread."


Priority Based Budgeting provides an entirely unique lens to address the policy questions raised in this paper. The Priority  Based Budgeting process provides a comprehensive review of the entire organization, identifying every program offered, identifying the costs of every program offered, evaluating the relevance of every program offered on the basis of the community's priorities, and ultimately guiding elected officials to the policy questions they can answer with the information gained from Priority Based Budgeting, such as:

•        What is the local government uniquely qualified to provide, for the maximum benefit to citizens for the tax dollars they pay?
•        What is the community truly mandated to provide? What does it cost to fulfill those mandates?
•        What are the appropriate programs to consider establishing or increasing user-fees?
•        What are the appropriate programs to consider partnerships with other community service providers?
•        What services might the local government reach consensus about “getting out of the business” of providing?
•        Where are there apparent overlaps and redundancies in a community where several entities are providing similar services?
•        Where is the local government potentially competing against businesses in its own community?

The new lens of priority-based budgeting makes it possible for elected officials, citizens, decision-makers and staff to agree and:
•        To see how to align scarce resources with the highest priorities of our communities.
•        To see the most appropriate service provider for the programs we offer.
•        To see what services residents are willing to pay for.
•        To see public and private-sector partnerships ripe for leveraging.                                                                      
•        To ultimately see a new way of determining which  services our local government is best suited to provide—services that have the greatest impact for the resources within the community’s means.

Center Develops New Tool for Identifying and Creating an Inventory of "Core Services" | icma.org

Identifying and Creating an Inventory of "Core Services" | icma.org

We are often asked about our approach to developing a Program Inventory, and associated Program Costs. Read our latest post to the ICMA and Alliance for Innovation's Knowledge Network, on our latest Tool to help organizations do just that!

Our post on the Knowledge Network:


Hi Leslie - just as you recognize, individual elements of the entire Priority Based Budgeting approach are actually valuable, in and of themselves. Developing a program inventory, along with program costs for that inventory is a completely worthwhile effort, regardless of whether or not your organization further pursues implementation of PBB. Getting to a program level understanding of "what you do," and a transparent and accurate understanding of "how much it costs" to provide those programs is a critical ingredient for understanding what options you have as an organization to change what you're currently doing. Furthermore, the only way to get to the answer of questions like "can we do this program more efficiently," or "are we the best source to provide this service," or "are we recovering the costs for providing this service, both direct and indirect costs" requires a complete understanding of what the program is, and how much it costs. All of this to say, that we appreciate your question so much because we too have recognized the importance of a program inventory on it's own.

As such, you won't be surprised to know that we've just recently developed an approach, and a "tool" to totally simplify and make more intuitive the process of developing a Program Inventory and developing Program Costs. It's a step-by-step approach that is shared between the department and the budget office - where each office fills in the relevant information that they're best suited to provide. And we're finding that the level of effort required in total is not too bad - it's an intuitive exercise, and the results have been excellent.

Best of all, by virtue of going through this exercise, and putting this particular Inventory / Costing Tool in use, you actually have completed one of the key steps in Priority Based Budgeting (if the organization ever chooses to further pursue the path to PBB).

On top of that you have:
- a tool that allows you to evaluate the fees, rates and charges that you have on a program-by-program basis,
- a tool that allows you to make ready comparisons to other public-sector, or private sector service providers, to the extent that you want to evaluate the efficiency or the appropriate sourcing of your programs,
- a tool that brings departments into the process of understanding and communicating better what they do, and how much it costs, on a program level,
- a tool that can allow you to see clearly how your workforce is associated with programs (do you have retirement eligible staff serving a particular program, and are you aware of how you'll address succession planning?, for example),
- and ultimately a tool that helps transition your approach (or the department's approach) from line-item budgeting to program budgeting - a key breakthrough!!

We're really pleased with it. We first beta-tested the tool early this year for a large airport that wanted a "zero-based budget" and saw that this approach to generating a program inventory and program costs would satisfy the same objectives they were striving for. We've used it in a few communities who are integrating it with their implementation of PBB. And we're in the middle of making some great enhancements to it, as one organization adds new "workforce data" to their inventory effort. We'd be happy to demo the tool with you so you can see how it works.

Contact us through Cheryl Hilvert at ICMA's Center for Management Strategies chilvert@icma.org as this is something we're coordinating through ICMA's new Center. Or always feel free to contact us directly at cfabian@pbbcenter.org or jjohnson@pbbcenter.org

Thanks Leslie!

PBB in Sacramento: "This type of consideration is essential in order to ensure that the Proposed Budget reflects the Council’s and community’s priorities"

From the City's Budget Book:

Priority Based Budgeting (PBB) – After four consecutive years of reductions, the City continues efforts to achieve budget stability and sustainability. Understanding the correlation between Council’s priorities and the allocation of resources will provide an additional tool to consider in the budget development process.

PBB recasts the budget into programs and their relationship to desired outcomes instead of line items in a budget. PBB results can be utilized to consider funding decisions relative to specific programs and services based on the extent to which that program/service meets priorities. It can also be used to reconsider funding for programs that may be well intended but do not significantly support community priority outcomes.

To the extent that the City is able to correlate resource allocation with Council’s priorities, there may

be an opportunity to consider the reallocation or reduction of allocated resources in future budgets.

This type of consideration is essential in order to ensure that the Proposed Budget reflects the

Council’s and community’s priorities.

MAJOR NEWS: ICMA has identified Priority Based Budgeting as a leading practice for local governments

@ICMA Twitter

http://icma.org/en/results/management_strategies/home

ICMA has identified Priority Based Budgeting as a leading practice for local governments.

It is proud to partner with The Center for Priority-Based Budgeting to bring education and technical assistance to you in implementing these effective and proven methods in your organization.


You can increase your budgeting effectiveness through The Center for Priority-Based Budgeting's creative solutions for local governments. Its mission is to share experience and technical knowledge of government financial operations and budget development with organizations that are seeking to achieve sustainable fiscal health and wellness.

PRESS RELEASE: ICMA Launches New Center; CPBB's Priority Based Budgeting Designated as Leading Practice for Local Governments

http://icma.org/en/icma/newsroom/highlights/Article/102368/ICMA_Launches_New_Center


PRESS RELEASE: ICMA is pleased to announce the launch of the Center for Management Strategies. The new Center will focus initially on High Performance Organization Theory and Priority Based Budgeting/Fiscal Health and Wellness—leading practices for local governments. ICMA has identified the Commonwealth Centers for High Performance Organizations and the Center for Priority Based Budgeting as preferred providers in these critical approaches to organizational management.

ICMA member Cheryl Hilvert will serve as the director for the Center for Management Strategies. A retired local government manager with over 31 years of service, Hilvert most recently was city manager of Montgomery, Ohio, where she served for over 14 years. Prior municipal experience included positions as city manager and assistant city manager for the city of Fairfield, Ohio; Economic Development Director for the City of Forest Park, OH.

The Center for Management Strategies joins the Center for Performance Measurement, the Center for Sustainable Communities, and the Center for Public Safety Management. Focused on improved efficiency and effectiveness in local government management, ICMA Program Centers identify and develop leading practices, offer education and training on these practices, and provide technical assistance to local governments as they implement leading practices.

More information on the Center for Management Strategies can be found at http://icma.org/managementstrategies or by contacting Cheryl Hilvert at chilvert@icma.org.

Power of Tool Brought to Light in Cincinnati

"The Tool is critical as we develop our 2013/2014 Budget and will help us analyze programs and services for cost savings, revenue enhancements and budget reductions. It will allow us to more strategically allocate resources, and provide citizens more transparency, as well as a clearer understanding of the budget decision as we move forward."

Download Cincinnati's awesome story from the Ohio City/County Manager's August 2012 newsletter here: http://www.ocmaohio.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=48&Itemid=70&limitstart=5


Cincinnati’s Priority-Driven Budgeting Initiative

As we adjust to the “new normal” of limited resources, Cincinnati, like cities across Ohio, has been faced with the dilemma of how to maximize the efficiency of its funding allocations. As part of the solution to that dilemma, the City of Cincinnati has undertaken a Priority-Driven Budgeting initiative with the assistance of the Center for Priority Based Budgeting.