Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Are YOU Running Government Like a Business?



The latest Atlantic Monthly poses an idea, not unfamiliar to local government leaders: "Government Should Be Run Like a Business (But Not the Way You Think)"

For many of us who have heard this argument before, and who have reasoned tirelessly either for it, or against it, we must still be able to ponder the implications – what are the best and most applicable concepts of the business world that might actually help us in local government management? Of most interest to us is the author’s concept of the “intended use” of resources, or what we would call “alignment of resources with results” in Priority Based Budgeting.


In April 2010, as we were implementing Priority Based Budgeting in the City of Boulder,
Colorado, something completely surprising and unexpected took place. An organization representing some of the City’s business interests, Boulder Tomorrow, took note of the process that the City was implementing and asked us to come speak at a breakfast event.

As breakfast events go, we were excited to be there with City staff, and at the same time curious as to the reasoning of this group’s interest. Were they, too, going to raise the issue of how to run a City like a business? Were these business owners and leaders going to push the conversation of privatization?

Well, the time came for us to be introduced for our presentation, and it was during these welcoming remarks that they likened Priority Based Budgeting to the closest approach possible to running a business. Knowing how this would endear us to the audience, you can imagine how pleased we were to have this kind of introduction. But we were also so curious – for what reasons did the speaker make this bold statement? He said, “Priority Based Budgeting is the closest version of the concept of Return on Investment (ROI) that a public sector entity can achieve.”  

As we wrote about in 2012 for PM Magazine, Priority Based Budgeting has unveiled a way for local governments to spend within their means by continuously focusing on the results most relevant to their communities and the programs that influence those results to the highest possible degree. The concept involves leveraging each tax dollar so programs with the greatest impact on results are distinguished from programs with a lesser influence.

In fact, communities that have embraced it have redefined the notion of return on investment—it’s a “return on results,” a societal return, where each dollar is evaluated in terms of its influence on the community. One dollar spent on a program achieving multiple results is a leveraged dollar – it’s as if it is being spent again and again to achieve the results that the community is in business to achieve.

(For more on the City of Boulder's Resource Re-allocation Breakthrough we offer this graphic depiction on ICMA’s Center for Management Strategies blog.)

Is this the answer to the question of how to run government more like a business? We don’t know, but we are especially intrigued with alignment of resources with results, and with return on investment.

The 2013 "Summit of Leading Practices" is the ONLY conference where ICMA's Leading Practices for Local Government Management (and more) come together under one roof. 

To learn more about Local Government Partnerships and Priority Based Budgeting from CPBB and the nation's leading local government practitioners, be sure to attend the upcoming... 

Center for Priority Based Budgeting 2013 Annual Conference

 

"A Summit of Leading Practices"

July 9 & 10, 2013  Arlington, Virginia   Hilton Crystal City Hotel

 

REGISTER NOW!

 

Brought to you by the Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), in partnership with the Alliance for Innovation (AFI).

 
The 2013 CPBB "Summit of Leading Practices" Annual Conference is strongly supported by 
Quartile 1 sponsor SAFEbuilt, Supporting Sponsor Beehive Industries and Exhibitors Delphi and Revelstone Labs. Thank you sponsors!


Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The Center for Priority Based Budgeting On.. The... Move....

Follow the CPBB as we spread the word about  
Fiscal Health & Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting   

May 29, 2013- Westminster, Colorado
And on May 29th, also from 1:00 to 4:30 pm, we'll be presenting Priority Based Budgeting on behalf of CGFOA at the City of Westminster. Is your "new" budget simply a revised version of your "old" budget? Are your strategies for allocating resources or for implementing cost-cutting measures in line with the priorities of the community and its elected officials? Find out more!

June 10 & 11, 2013- Springfield, Oregon The CPBB will be in beautiful Springfield, Oregon to kick-off Priority Based Budgeting on behalf of the City of Springfield.

June 12, 2013- Portland, Oregon
Join CPBB for a Lunch & Learn session featuring Fiscal Health & Wellness Through Priority Based Budgeting. Learn about the principles of Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting (with a municipal focus on core services) and how this approach can inspire citizen engagement in your community. Guest co-presenter Don Hudson (Finance Director/City of Tualatin). Location: City of Portland, 111 SW Columbia Avenue, PDX, 97201, 8th Floor Conference Room. This event is sponsored by Oregon Emerging Local Government Leaders (Oregon ELGL), Oregon Municipal Finance Officer Association (OMFOA) and the Alliance for Innovation (AFI). This is a FREE event! Find out more and RSVP here!

June 24, 2013- Tennessee Municipal League 2013 Annual Conference
The CPBB is proud to present Fiscal First Aid- Becoming the Picture of Fiscal Health on Monday, June 24th. Find out more and register for the  TML "for the Love of Cities" Conference in Memphis, TN.

July 9 & 10, 2013- CPBB 2013 "Summit of Leading Practices" Annual Conference
The 2013 "Summit of Leading Practices" is the only conference where ICMA's Leading Practices come together under one roof. Fiscal Health, Priority Based Budgeting, Civic Engagement and High Performance Organizations. To view the Full Program and Register click here!





The speakers:
-    Jon Johnson, co-founder, Center for Priority Based Budgeting
-    Chris Fabian, co-founder, Center for Priority Based Budgeting
-    Kathie Novak, former elected official, 2009 president of the National League of Cities and Senior Adviser, Center for Priority Based Budgeting

Please Contact Us if you'd like to join any of these exciting upcoming presentations or to schedule a free webinar and identify the best CPBB service option(s) to meet your organization's particular needs.

The 2013 "Summit of Leading Practices" is the ONLY conference where ICMA's Leading Practices for Local Government Management (and more) come together under one roof. 

To learn more about Local Government Partnerships and Priority Based Budgeting from CPBB and the nation's leading local government practitioners, be sure to attend the upcoming... 

Center for Priority Based Budgeting 2013 Annual Conference

 

"A Summit of Leading Practices"

July 9 & 10, 2013  Arlington, Virginia   Hilton Crystal City Hotel

 

REGISTER NOW!

 

Brought to you by the Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), in partnership with the Alliance for Innovation (AFI).

The 2013 CPBB "Summit of Leading Practices" Annual Conference is strongly supported by Quartile 1 sponsor SAFEbuilt and Supporting Sponsor Beehive Industries
Thank you sponsors!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Shared Services are a HUGE Opportunity Area – Where do you Look to Find Them?



Governing Magazine recently published the article "Shared Services: Where the Real Potential for Local Government Exists". There is so much truth to this. Whether it comes through partnerships between multiple public agencies (public-public partnerships), partnerships with the private sector (public-private), consolidation, or even (in the right situation) letting one partner take over a service entirely while ensuring that the right outcome is achieved (alternative service delivery, or in/out-sourcing), there are immense opportunities to tap. (We previously wrote on this blog about the incredible small business incubator project Rocky Mountain Innosphere in the City of Fort Collins, CO – very much a public-private partnership).

To Share, or Not to Share

But where do you look to find these partnership opportunities? What type of criteria would help you figure out where a partnership could exist?

Among the success stories you can read about from ICMA and Alliance for Innovation case studies, you’ll find out about SAFEbuilt and the way they’ve revolutionized the entire approach to a Building Department through shared services; or you can turn to CH2MHill and discover public-private partnerships at their best in terms of running city/county services. For some services, there are proven successes that can provide a ready made blue-print for how to implement them in your community.

In our work in Priority Based Budgeting, one of the greatest outcomes of the work is the ability to shed light on where to find opportunities for shared services. What if a program was of the highest priority for your citizens, and you found out you were one of several providers of this service in your community? Perhaps a partnership would be an incredible opportunity to produce efficiency in the provision of that program. On the other hand, what if you found a lower priority program for which there were other service providers? Maybe the best approach there would be to consolidate services or even allow the other service provider to take on the program entirely.

In the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, City Council identified finding opportunities for partnership using PBB as a policy priority. In Douglas County, Nevada, the Board of County Commissioners did the same. In our story from the City of Fort Collins, CO, about the Rocky Mountain Innosphere (RMI), the City’s share of funding to support RMI scored well in the PBB process – it was a high priority. However, using the filters of the PBB Model, it was clear that this was a program that others could offer and were offering in the form of business support (in other words, the City need not be the only player in providing this service), that the City wasn’t mandated to do, and was unlikely to pay for itself. Through the lens of PBB, this points precisely in the direction of a partnership. The role of government, even in a high-priority program, is not always to be the direct service provider; it can be a key partner!

Priority Based Budgeting and Shared Services

Central to PBB is the idea that all local government organizations can determine the role they're
suited to serve best within a community, and amongst all potential service providers within a region - identifying the overlap, the potential for partnerships, consolidated services, and spinning off of services between city, county, school district, non-profit and private sector organizations. The end goal is nothing short of the most efficient use of a community's resources as a whole, to achieve the results of a region – it’s "bang for the buck" for the provision of public services.

In Priority Based Budgeting we’re attempting to provide 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 and appointed officials to the policy questions they can answer with the information gained from the Priority Based Budgeting process, such as:
       What is the local government uniquely qualified to provide, offering the maximum benefit to citizens for the tax dollars they pay?
       What programs are most appropriate to fund by establishing or increasing user-fees?
       What programs are most appropriate for establishing partnerships with other community service providers?
       What services might the local government consider "getting out of the business" of providing?
       Where are there apparent overlaps and redundancies in a community because several entities are providing similar services?
       Where is the local government potentially competing against private businesses within its own community? 

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.

Untapped Potential

According to the State Department, approximately 1.5 million non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) operate in the United States. There are 87,453 units of local government as recognized by the US Census. Local government no longer needs to be everything to everybody. We heard Bill Clinton give a speech recently where he said the single thing he’d love to “do-over” from his Presidency would be to understand all of the NGO’s and non-profits out there, what they’re doing, and how government could partner better. It’s more efficient, there’s less duplication, and we must find the best providers of services who have the greatest chance of achieving great outcomes. We feel the same thing about local government. Some of the best things taking place in a community are coming about from partnerships, where local government is the leader, the facilitator and often times a key partner, but not always necessarily the only possible service provider.

The 2013 "Summit of Leading Practices" is the ONLY conference where ICMA's Leading Practices for Local Government Management (and more) come together under one roof. 

To learn more about Local Government Partnerships and Priority Based Budgeting from CPBB and the nation's leading local government practitioners, be sure to attend the upcoming... 

Center for Priority Based Budgeting 2013 Annual Conference

 

"A Summit of Leading Practices"

July 9 & 10, 2013  Arlington, Virginia   Hilton Crystal City Hotel

 

REGISTER NOW!

 

Brought to you by the Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), in partnership with the Alliance for Innovation (AFI).

The 2013 CPBB "Summit of Leading Practices" Annual Conference is strongly supported by Quartile 1 sponsor SAFEbuilt and Supporting Sponsor Beehive Industries
Thank you sponsors!

Friday, May 10, 2013

The X Factor, Citizen Engagement & CPBB


"Local governments are in the midst of a sea change when it comes to public participation and citizen engagement," writes Rob Gurwitt in his recent Governing article The X Factor. Here at the Center for Priority Based Budgeting we couldn't agree more.

The Center for Priority Based Budgeting, in partnership with groups such as the Davenport Institute of Public Policy and Peak Democracy, have been early pioneers of active citizen engagement in obtaining a more significant and meaningful citizen influence on the budget. In 2012, CPBB was part of the largest citizen outreach process ever implemented to facilitate Priority Based Budgeting, as the City of Cincinnati, Ohio conducted a massive initiative including both traditional (town-hall meetings, statistically valid citizen surveying) and cutting edge (online citizen engagement) approaches (our special thanks to the City and to the Novak Consulting Group for this incredible effort - see past blog post here).

“Priority-driven budgeting offers a common-sense, strategic alternative to conventional budgeting. It creates a fundamental change in the way resources are allocated by using a collaborative, evidence-based approach to measure services against community priorities. By bringing together community leaders and citizens to determine strategic priorities, the city can align resources with what the community values most, and create service efficiencies and innovation.”- Vice Mayor City of Cincinnati

Similarly, Douglas County, Nevada, has been on the cutting edge of active citizen engagement. There has been a lot of (deserving) hype lately revolving around the success of priority based budgeting, citizen engagement, and how these two powerful and empowering "leading practices" are transforming local government budget processes and local governments themselves at the base level. Thanks to Peak Democracy, we now have yet another comprehensive case study that further proves how fundamentally effective and transformative priority based budgeting and citizen engagement can be, both independently and employed together (see past blog post here). 

Peak Democracy and the Center for Priority Based Budgeting have trail-blazed an entirely contemporary way for today’s citizens to participate in and influence their government. Douglas County has taken it to a whole new level. Read the full Douglas County Case Study here.



To emphasize the value CPBB places on citizen engagement, we are excited to announce that Pete Peterson (Davenport Institute of Public Policy), Robert Vogel (Peak Democracy) and Tom Miller (National Research Center) will be  featured speakers at the 2013 CPBB "Summit of Leading Practices" Annual Conference. Pete Peterson will be presenting The Power of Legitimate Citizen Engagement:
 
Pete Peterson's work, and that of the Davenport Institute stands at the forefront of authentic citizen engagement. 
Pete was the first executive director of Common Sense California, an organization that promotes and supports citizen engagement as a way of producing more creative policy decisions and better citizens. He developed the organization's annual Citizen Engagement Grant Program, which has provided over $200,000.00 in grants over the last two years to municipalities and school districts across California. Peterson has also consulted on several of these "participatory planning" and "participatory budgeting" projects in cities ranging from Salinas to Palmdale. Peterson has co-created and currently co-facilitates the training seminar, "Leadership through Civic Engagement" - a program offered to California leaders from city planners to regional officials. To date over 350 city, county, school district, and nonprofit officials have attended these seminars. He has written extensively on public engagement for an array of print and online journals. Peterson earned his BA in history from George Washington University, and an MPP from Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy. He was also a public affairs fellow at The Hoover Institution in 2006.

Learn what legitimate citizen engagement is all about, and how it can support Priority Based Budgeting. Also hear how the Davenport Institute can work with your city government, school district, and civic organization in a variety of ways - from speaking to your community about the virtues and possibilities of civic engagement, to their Public Engagement Grant Program, which offers communities up to $25,000 to carry out legitimate engagement projects.

The Center for Priority Based Budgeting has benefited from the Davenport Institute's mission and dedication to civic engagement. Through the Institute's Public Engagement Grant Program, both the City of Walnut Creek, CA and the City of Fairfield, CA were recipients of grant support for their work in bringing citizens into the Priority Based Budgeting process.

Priority Based Budgeting has been an effective mechanism to create a successful role for citizens to influence their communities. We couldn't be more honored to have Pete Peterson, Executive Director of the Davenport Institute, on the program as he brings to life stories of success in "legitimate civic engagement."


The 2013 "Summit of Leading Practices" is the ONLY conference where ICMA's Leading Practices for Local Government Management (and more) come together under one roof. 


To learn more about Citizen Engagement and Priority Based Budgeting from CPBB and the nation's leading local government practitioners, be sure to attend the upcoming... 

Center for Priority Based Budgeting 2013 Annual Conference

 

"A Summit of Leading Practices"

July 9 & 10, 2013  Arlington, Virginia   Hilton Crystal City Hotel

 

REGISTER NOW!

 

Brought to you by the Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), in partnership with the Alliance for Innovation (AFI).

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Longmont, CO City Council PBB Documentary Video Released

 
In a recent post, the Center for Priority Based Budgeting highlighted the fantastic work the City of Longmont, Colorado has performed as they implement priority based budgeting in their community (Longmont, CO City Council Steps into Priority Based Budgeting). During this City Council session, Chris Fabian, Jon Johnson and Kathy Novak, along with City of Longmont Mayor and senior leadership, discussed the principles of priority based budgeting to kickstart Longmont's efforts.

As CPBB Senior Adviser Kathy Novak explained, "priority based budgeting is a process and a set of tools that can really help communities and elected officials change the way they talk about making financial decisions and how they achieve the results that the community is really looking for."

Sandra Seader, City of Longmont Assistant City Manager, added "today we are talking about priority based budgeting and what that really is is taking a look at our entire budget and start to prioritize what things are the most important to our residents, things we really need to make sure we are focusing on, and things we continue to do well as time continues to move forward."

See the full 3-minute video here Longmont City Council Reviewing Priority Based Budgeting

We at the CPBB couldn’t be more pleased than to be part of the City’s evolution of the process.

To learn more about Priority Based Budgeting from CPBB and the nation's leading local government practitioners, be sure to attend the upcoming... 

Center for Priority Based Budgeting 2013 Annual Conference

 

"A Summit of Leading Practices"

July 9 & 10, 2013  Arlington, Virginia   Hilton Crystal City Hotel

 

REGISTER NOW!

 

Brought to you by the Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), in partnership with the Alliance for Innovation (AFI).




Monday, May 6, 2013

CPBB & Civic Engagement: A Powerful Combo as Documented Through the Lens of the NLC and Knight Foundation



The National League of Cities, working with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, recently released results from their scan of community engagement bright spots, drawing specifically on efforts or movements underway in communities that demonstrate the potential of inclusive, intensive community engagement.

“Communities across our nation are experimenting with new ways to engage citizens in the decisions made by civic leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors, working sometimes together and sometimes at cross purposes. Ultimately, success at making democracy work and sustaining healthy communities requires engaged individuals, organizations, and institutions. Across our country, community engagement bright spots are emerging. These initiatives foster a sense of attachment, expand access to information and resources, and create opportunities for citizens to play more active roles in setting priorities, addressing issues, and planning the longer-term sustainability of their communities."

We realize that many are interested in this report because engaging citizens is essential to your work – particularly as it relates to participatory budgeting.

It is in this spirit that we too are seeking to advance the conversation, to share and disseminate stories of huge successes, and to collaboratively consider future possibilities for citizen engagement.

We’re attempting to do this by assembling some of the greatest contributors to this body of work, together at the "Summit of Leading Practices" - a conference co-sponsored by ICMA's Center for Management Strategies and the Alliance for Innovation, to be held in Washington D.C., this July 9th and 10th 2013.

We are excited to announce the following leaders, who will speak to the “Leading Practice” of civic engagement:

 --- Davenport Institute's Pete Peterson will contribute to the discussion on what “legitimate citizen engagement” is all about, and how it has been done across the Country. Pete’s experience has taken him to the participatory budgeting events in Vallejo, California, to the first public budgeting workshops in Bell, California, to the Redesigning Democracy Summit in North Carolina. He has inspired our Priority Based Budgeting work in Walnut Creek, California and Fairfield, California, and we couldn’t be more excited to have him at the conference this July.

 --- National Research Center's Tom Miller (who we’re pleased to announce just joined the Conference program this last week) has helped hundreds of jurisdictions use citizen surveys to set annual priorities. Learn more about measuring resident opinion from the man who literally wrote the book about why citizen surveys are important, and how to use them. As Tom wrote to us: “We see such a strong link between the work NRC does to give voice to resident opinion and the budgeting principles of CPBB that rest on community-set priorities. We can’t imagine a better opportunity to show that connection.”

 --- Peak Democracy's Robert Vogel will bring to life the cutting edge world of online citizen engagement, including the breakthrough story of Douglas County, Nevada published here in this Group. Peak Democracy has opened up entirely new possibilities for how we engage citizens using technology. Their work presents a revolution in how citizens are able to access and influence decision-making.

On top of this, some of the more profound and encouraging case studies in civic engagement in Priority Based Budgeting will come from your colleagues – some of the nation’s leaders including: Douglas County, Nevada, Cincinnati, Ohio, Fort Collins, Colorado, and Walnut Creek, California.

We hope you’ll consider being part of this event!

Center for Priority Based Budgeting 2013 Annual Conference

 

"A Summit of Leading Practices"

July 9 & 10, 2013  Arlington, Virginia   Hilton Crystal City Hotel


REGISTER NOW!


Brought to you by the Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), in partnership with the Alliance for Innovation (AFI).

Friday, May 3, 2013

CPBB Announces GFOA’s Shayne Kavanagh to Present at the “Summit of Leading Practices!”



Shayne Kavanagh is the Senior Manager of Research for GFOA. Shayne has been developing the practice and technique of long-term financial planning for local government since 2002 and has been working with local governments on financial planning ever since.

The Center for Priority Based Budgeting has had the privilege to collaborate with Shayne since 2008 when we spoke together about Priority Based Budgeting at GFOA's Annual Conference   in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 


We've each been on the front-lines of the "New Normal" throughout these last few years and it was Shayne's objective research about how local governments are not only surviving, but creating great transformations in their organizations and their communities that led us to partner on GFOA’s White Paper: Anatomy of a Priority Driven Budgeting Process.

 
He is the author of a number of publications on financial planning, including:

-       Financing the Future, the leading book about long-term financial planning in local government
-       Financial Policies, the essential guide to developing and implementing policies that define standards for financial management.
-       And a number of articles on long-term financial planning, financial policies, budget reform, using technology to improve efficiency, and other related topics for magazines including Government Finance Review, Public Management, School Business Affairs, and Public CIO.

He is also a regular speaker on the topic of financial planning, having spoken at a number of conferences on the topic, including: the national GFOA conference, the International City/County Managers Association, the National League of Cities, and the National Tax Association. He has also been a guest lecturer at Northern Illinois University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Chicago.

We are so pleased to have Shayne bring the lessons learned of Long-term Financial Planning to the "Summit of Leading Practices."

Center for Priority Based Budgeting 2013 Annual Conference

 

"A Summit of Leading Practices"

July 9 & 10, 2013  Arlington, Virginia   Hilton Crystal City Hotel


REGISTER NOW!