What is the best
approach to your local government budgeting process? Performance-based?
Outcome-based? Participatory? Priority-based? Of course, the answer depends on
what your organization desires to achieve, what your community expects, and
what your culture will support.
If we’re to be true
to the philosophies of each of these processes, the answer to this question
also depends on the evidence and objective evaluation of all options based on
measureable criteria. Master’s graduate and advisor to the City of Oakland,
California’s Budget Advisory Committee, Natasha Middleton,
has recently authored a paper that does just that. To access
both the Executive Summary, as well as the comprehensive analysis provided in
Middleton’s thesis
paper "Priority Based Budgeting: A Model for the City of Oakland's Long Term Fiscal Sustainability," click here.
For the City of
Oakland, California, "Four (4)
criteria were chosen to categorize and measure the given alternatives (See
Appendix E). They are: 1) Political Feasibility: Would it work for the citizens
of Oakland; 2) Equity: the overall structure of the budgeting plan and
participation (quid pro quo); 3) Efficiency: Maximization of net
benefits/public interest; and 4) Effectiveness: The strong potential for
achieving long term fiscal sustainability"
Budgeting for Outcomes, Performance Based Budgeting,
Participatory Budgeting and Priority Based Budgeting were the four processes
evaluated in this study.
The following key quotes were of particular interest to our
work at CPBB:
"Choosing
Priority Based Budgeting as alternative budgeting model would be the right
direction towards fiscal sustainability. Because the City of Oakland’s budget
process is also program based, it could invest money for the high civic
engagement model in order to focus on long-term fiscal savings. This model
increases trust and relationship building and further drives
transparency."
"Of
the five alternatives, one was rated “High” for the majority of the criteria to
merit as most likely to serve as an optimal budgeting model."
"Choosing Priority Based
Budgeting would be the right direction towards fiscal sustainability. Because
the City of Oakland’s budget process is also program based “it focuses on the
product of the budgeting effort farther than the line items that go into those programs,”
it could invest money for the high civic engagement model in order to focus on
long term fiscal savings. This model increases trust and relationship building
and further drives transparency (Santana, Fiscal Year 2011-2013 Adopted Policy
Budget for the City of Oakland, 2011)."
"The City might consider
investing in the high civic engagement option like the City of Cincinnati as an
inexpensive investment to long-term savings. The community involvement favors
Oakland similar to Cincinnati, Walnut Creek and San Jose where citizen and
stakeholder involvement was valued at a very high level. For the City of San
Jose, “residents favor reducing employee compensation and benefits rather than
reducing City services or raising additional revenue” and “budget balancing
strategies that result in minor or nor service reductions. The people of
Oakland want to be involved and Priority Based Budgeting allows them to do so."
"Because the model allows from
transparency from beginning to end with mapping, ranking tools, strategic
priority setting sessions, along with the involvement of stakeholders and
creating a task force, it meets the equity criterion."
"Since the process is program
based and the City of Oakland’s budget is currently the same, the transition to
Priority Based Budgeting should be seamless and because they already set
priorities, acknowledging them will not be an issue. However, a further deep
evaluation of those priorities: defining them extensively from community,
staff, stakeholders and leadership perspectives would enhance the priority
setting. Making sure that community input is provided at the beginning of
priority setting is essential."
"The benefit of implementing
the Priority Based Budgeting model is reduction in costs and over-exertion or
duplication of city resources. The more that the public is aligned with this
budgeting model, the higher the benefit of understanding the budget and the
government’s challenges and the greater incentive to work collaboratively will
lessen the burden on city staff, and collectively focus on what city services
and programs need to be both assessed and addressed for future financial
planning."
"Using this budgeting model
will help the City structure its program based budgeting process. If used by
the City, it does have the strong potential of helping Oakland achieve
long-term fiscal sustainability this could be achieved across the board and not
piecemeal."
While we at the Center for Priority Based Budgeting firmly
believe in the philosophy and effectiveness of our Priority Based Budgeting
program, and appreciate the conclusions made by the author of this paper, we
openly admit that multiple factors are at play when a local government chooses
what budget practice works best for their community. The CPBB encourages all
readers to thoroughly read the analysis provided in this paper to determine
what is the right approach for your community.
Our thanks to Natasha Middleton for sharing her work with
us and allowing us to share her work with others!
The report contains
the following disclaimer: “This
study has been prepared for the Budget Advisory Committee, City of Oakland, CA.
The author conducted this study in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Master of Public Policy at Mills College. The judgments and
conclusions are solely those of the author, and are not necessarily endorsed by
the Mills College Public Policy Program, the sponsoring organization, or any
other agency.”
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).
The 2013 "Summit of Leading Practices" is the ONLY conference where ICMA's Leading Practices for Local Government Management come together under one roof.
The 2013 CPBB "Summit of Leading Practices" Annual Conference is strongly supported by
Quartile 1 sponsor SAFEbuilt, Quartile 2 sponsor ClearPoint, Supporting Sponsor Beehive Industries and Exhibitors OpenGov and Revelstone Labs. Thank you sponsors!
No comments:
Post a Comment