Tuesday, October 29, 2013

"How it All Started" - The CPBB Video Espresso Blast #1



At the Center for Priority Based Budgeting, we're all about creativity and innovation in all forms. Whether it be through expanding and improving our core concepts of Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting, migrating our Fiscal Health tool to a web-based Fiscal Health Diagnostic Tool, or finding transformative new ways to communicate how local government communities are implementing these revolutionary tools and concepts, we're never satisfied with the status quo in this Decade of Local Government.

With this in mind, we're rolling out the first of many breakthrough CPBB Video Espresso Blast(s). The Espresso Blast is designed to provide a fundamentally new platform for the CPBB to explore innovative new trends in local government and further exhibit how CPBB communities are successfully transforming the way they deliver services and conduct business. These videos are short, concise and chock full of entertaining and valuable content. We think you'll enjoy them!


Our first Espresso Blast, titled "How it All Started", explores the genesis of the Center for Priority Based Budgeting and the formulation of our core concepts. Check out our first video Espresso Blast and supporting articles below!

"How it All Started"

CPBB Espresso Blast #1


Related articles:

Budget Innovation in Local Government

Facing Challenges and Seizing Opportunities in this Decade of Local Government

"Data Visualization" through the Web-based Fiscal Health Diagnostic Tool

Keep an eye on the CPBB blog for further updates. Sign-up for our social media pages so you stay connected with TEAM CPBB!

 facebook  twitter  LinkedIn

If you're thinking of jumping into the world of Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting we would certainly like to be part of your efforts! Contact us to schedule a free webinar and identify the best CPBB service option(s) to meet your organization's particular needs.
 


"DATA VISUALIZATION" for Local Government



Sunday, October 27, 2013

The Transformative Power of Citizen Engagement and Priority Based Budgeting



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.

Citizens have been increasingly going online to engage with family, friends, colleagues, businesses and organizations. Accordingly, local governments are increasingly interested in how to go online for civic engagement with their constituents. However, online forums, blogs, and crowd-sourcing tools are frequently dominated by bullies, vitriol and misinformation.

One of the most significant proponents of citizen engagement is the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership. Per the Davenport website, "Since our founding as a multi-partisan and non-profit organization in 2005, The Davenport Institute (formerly Common Sense California) has worked to engage the citizens of this state (California) in the policy decisions that affect our everyday lives. It is our firm belief that, in today's world of easy access to information, and easy connectivity to others, California's municipal and education leaders are seeking ways to involve the residents of their communities in the important issues they confront. Done legitimately, this new kind of leadership produces better, more creative policy solutions and better, more engaged citizens committed to the hard work of self-governance."

To further promote citizen engagament, the Davenport Institute provides grants to communities to facilitate this practice.  Since 2008 (then conducted through Common Sense California), these grants have been used to support cities, counties, special districts and civic organizations as they have endeavored to engage their residents on a variety of issues.

From difficult budget decisions to tough land use problems, municipal and civic institutions have recognized that legitimately engaging their citizens - from discovering their informed opinions, to inviting their participation in actual solutions - should be a pragmatic priority. Still, the tight budgets that most require these public discussions can also preclude them when municipalities decide that engaging residents is just “too expensive.” The grant program is intended to alleviate the fiscal obstacle to civic engagement.

In what has been the most competitive year, the Davenport Institute announced their 2013 Public Engagement Grantees:  
  1. City of Placentia: This city of 50,000+ is looking to convene a series of budget workshops to engage residents around some tough decisions. 
  2. City of Brea: This Orange County City is involving its residents in some significant planning decisions. 
  3. City of Riverside: This city of 300,000+ is undertaking a city-wide community building program, looking to involve residents more directly in service delivery. 
  4. City of Salinas: This Central Coast city will be involving their residents in a public budgeting process, facilitated by the center for Priority Based Budgeting
While we wish to congratulate all 2013 grantees, we are particularly excited about the City of Salinas, California, award. The Center for Priority Based Budgeting is currently working with the City of Salinas in their implementation of Priority Based Budgeting. Incorporating citizen engagement in this process will only enhance this work.

As an example of the power of citizen engagement in Priority Based Budgeting, look to the incredible results achieved in Douglas County, Nevada. It was here that Peak Democracy and the CPBB, in partnership with the County, teamed up on an incredible project. And 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. Read the full Douglas County Case Study 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 took it to a whole new level. And we intend to replicate, if not exceed, this success in the City of Salinas.

Congratulations again to all the winners of the Davenport Institute 2013 Public Engagement Grantees from the Center for Priority Based Budgeting!

Keep an eye on the CPBB blog for further updates. Sign-up for our social media pages so you stay connected with TEAM CPBB!

 facebook  twitter  LinkedIn

If you're thinking of jumping into the world of Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting we would certainly like to be part of your efforts! Contact us to schedule a free webinar and identify the best CPBB service option(s) to meet your organization's particular needs.
 


"DATA VISUALIZATION" for Local Government

 


Monday, October 21, 2013

Reconsidering Best Practices in Local Government



In a recent article in Governing (Why Do Cities Struggle to Replicate Best Practices), an argument is made that "best practices" are "rarely replicable" and infrequently "transferable elsewhere." Author Mike Pagano writes, "Cities, urban regions, suburban communities and rural towns have only one thing in common and following a Pied Piper is not one of them. Besides being composed of human beings, cities are unique. As a collection of individuals and firms, they generate their own circadian rhythm. They develop a set of norms of conduct, behavior and expectations. They evolve and adapt to their changing environments. They create social organizations and establish rules, and they create governing institutions that respond to the needs and wants of school-age children, the elderly, commuters, and all other communities of people.

And city governments do all this within a resource constraint. Villages on steep hills are different from the villages on the flat plains. Snow and ice present opportunities to public works departments that sandstorms do not. In many ways, communities and cities often feel similar to other places, but they aren’t exactly the same.

Although there is a lot we can understand about undifferentiated cities by examining the actions of other cities (as the classic studies of Atlanta by Floyd Hunter in the 1950s and Clarence Stone in the 1990s, New Haven by Robert Dahl in the 1960s, and Middletown by the Linds in the 1930s demonstrate), not everything -- and it might be more accurate to say, very little -- can be replicated by another city or town
."

A Closer Look at Best Practices

Best practices are undeniably challenging to replicate. Whether the obstacles are due to state, city
and/or county mandates or simply due to the inevitable unique qualities that all local government communities possess, there are few best practice templates that are transferable in an "off-the-shelf" form.

But does the concept of best or leading practices have to be a zero-sum game? Can we accept the fact that these practices, while challenging to replicate, do exist in various forms and are actively being implemented by local governments across the United States and internationally?

To better understand the concept and challenges of best or leading practices, lets look outside the realm of local government. For example, lets look at the automobile industry. All auto owners know that in order to ensure the longevity and premium performance of a vehicles engine, owners should regularly have the oil changed.  Changing your car's oil is considered a best practice.

However, there are a myriad of different vehicle and engine types manufactured by dozens of independent companies. There are many different oil grades and depending on the vehicle specs and habits of the driver, many different recommendations on how frequently the oil should be changed. Regardless of the many unique factors that must be considered when determining the frequency an owner should change their vehicles oil, the oil must be changed. It is a best practice and if this practice is not followed vehicles will break down.

Clearly the management and administration of cities and counties is incredibly more complex than performing an oil change, but the conceptual similarities are irrefutable. The auto industry overcame the complexities and obstacles in declaring the oil change a best practice in the face of so many unique characteristics of different types of vehicles and individual driving habits, and so can local government communities.

Cities and counties, like vehicles, have many unique qualities, but more importantly share many more similarities. Instead of focusing on obstacles to best practices, and continuing to rely on the same tired excuses as to why they're not replicable, let's take a look at what all local governments (in general) are in business to achieve. Local governments are all in the business of providing a safe community, operating in an efficient manner, using fiscal resources as efficiently as possible, balancing their budgets, implementing varying levels of citizen engagement and providing efficient services. Not all communities are as successful as others, but they all strive to achieve substantially similar goals. And replicating best or leading practices across communities is not only possible, but is actively occurring. And occurring at a greater and more scalable pace than many believe.

The "Bell Labs" of Leading Practice Research

In 2012, the pre-eminent associations for professional management and innovation in local government formed a partnership to tackle this exact challenge. The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) created the "Center for Management Strategies" in partnership with the Alliance for Innovation (AFI) to expand development and dissemination of leading practices to local governments (read more about that here).

For it's role, the Alliance for Innovation, in collaboration with ICMA’s Center for Management Strategies and Arizona State University, performs research, education and technical assistance to disseminate new best, or "leading" practices to local governments. The Alliance and ASU perform the majority of the research while CMS helps local government managers identify and implement leading practices that can address organizational efficiency and effectiveness. The Center delivers the latest research and validated techniques through quality educational programming and expert technical assistance that help local governments deliver high-quality products and services that are valued by their stakeholders.

It is the goal of CMS to bring research, case studies, education and technical assistance to managers who would like to see evidence that these strategies actually work in a local government setting and proven concepts that can be transferred to other jurisdictions that may not have the time or resources to pursue such innovation on their own. In a sense, it is to be the "Bell Labs" of local government innovation.

ICMA's Director of the Center for Management Strategies, Cheryl Hilvert, describes the mission this way: "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 local governments in addressing issues in their communities and organizations.  Within this innovative framework, the Center for Management Strategies was born. 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 leading practices that have been proven to work through academic research and by "early innovators" in our profession." (Read the entire blog here).

In 2012, at the unveiling of the Center for Management Strategies at ICMA's Annual Conference in Phoenix, AZ, three basic criteria were identified to help differentiate "emerging practices" (those that are more "cutting edge and experimental" and being researched) from "leading practices" (those "new approaches that have been shown to produce substantial positive change " and "adopted in organizations that want to incorporate practices that have been tested in other places ").
1.) Scalability - the practice must demonstrate that it can work in local governments of all sizes, large and small.
2.) Methodology - the practice must have a process involved that can be followed and replicated to achieve success.
3.) Proven Results - there must be evidence that the practice leads to results.

Through this collaboration, CMS has so far identified five core "leading practices" that have proven to be effective, scalable, replicable and transferable across all sizes and shapes of local government. These five core leading practices include:
  • High-Performance Organizations
  • Priority-Based Budgeting
  • Civic Engagement
  • Data-Driven Communities
  • Collaborative Service Delivery
More and more communities are finding that these best or leading practices can be successfully implemented. And as more communities escape the paralyzing mindset that they are too unique to implement creative and successful ideas and concepts, more and more local government communities will benefit from the replicable "best or leading practices" that have been thoroughly researched and successfully implemented across the country.

Priority Based Budgeting as a Leading Practice

At the Center for Priority Based Budgeting, we are honored and proud that our Priority Based Budgeting concept has been identified as a leading practice by ICMA's Center for Management Strategies. We developed Priority-Based Budgeting in 2009 due to the very fact that nothing else existed within local government public finance that truly is scalable, transferable and effective. And our work in assisting nearly fifty city and county local government communities, of different geographies, demographics and economies, across the US and Canada, successfully implement this best and leading practice substantiates the demise of the myth that little can be replicated across local government communities.

Priority Based Budgeting Case Studies

Case Study — City of Cincinnati, Ohio: Guiding Elected Officials to Policy Questions Using the Resource Alignment Diagnostic Tool 

The City of Cincinnati’s use of Priority Based Budgeting (through their "Priority Driven Budgeting" initiative) establishes one of the greatest advancements in the use of the process to guide policy direction. The organization's response to Council’s policy direction provides one of the most comprehensive evaluations of city services across the entire organization.

Many organizations have approached us with a strong desire to bring their elected officials into a constructive and transparent discussion about the budget—Cincinnati has set the bar high in this respect. In the most direct way possible, the City used Priority Based Budgeting to guide policy-oriented discussions. One of the benefits of the process is that it creates specific roles for elected officials to participate and succeed. When elected officials can focus on key policy questions that impact resource allocation, when they’re provided input and transparency in the way their policy questions are answered, and when they can make decisions based on policy impacts, then they’ve played a successful role in budgeting. Click to read more about Cincinnati's Priority-Driven Budget Initiative with the CPBB.

See the full City of Cincinnati, OH "Summit of Leading Practices" slide presentation here.  

Case Study — Walnut Creek, California: Achieving Ongoing Sustainability through Priority Based Budgeting
  
Walnut Creek is one of the earliest implementers of Priority Based Budgeting, having incorporated the process into their culture first in FY 2009–10. Last year, the City spoke about the "sustainability" of the process through changes in leadership – turnover at both the Council and manager levels. This year, the City has reinvented their budget book for citizens, creating a one-of-a-kind, magazine-style Budget Story to reach their citizens in an entirely new way. Presenting the budget as a story is a game-changing leap in creating transparency in local government budgeting.  See the full City of Walnut Creek, CA "Summit of Leading Practices" slide presentation here. 
  


Case Study — Douglas County, Nevada: Online Citizen Engagement and Use of PBB in the Bond Rating Process

Douglas County, Nevada has implemented a game-changing approach to citizen engagement. In 2012, the County embarked on the Priority Based Budgeting process with one of the primary objectives being to bring their community into an ownership position with respect to decision making. What unfolded in their groundbreaking use of an online tool to engage citizens sets the bar at a whole new level in participatory budgeting. Not only that, but the County's bond rating was affirmed as a result of their work.

Citizen engagement in the budget process has been increasingly of interest in local government  budgeting. The logic follows that the more citizens can authentically contribute and influence the decisions being made by their government, the more ownership they might take in their community. Trust increases with transparency. Compassion comes with trust. The benefits are undeniable.

Still, organizations ask us, "but what about the risks inherent in citizen engagement? What is the right role for citizens?" We're asked, "to what degree is it appropriate, safe, meaningful, realistic and effective to have citizens participate in decision making?" In our work, we continue to strive for answers to these questions—they are the right questions. With the potential for such great outcomes, if we can answer those questions correctly, and involve citizens in more meaningful and influential ways, our communities can achieve everything they hope for!

Douglas County, Nevada has put citizens in the driver's seat of their Priority Based Budgeting process. Special thanks to Peak Democracy—our partners in the development of the "County Budget Challenge." Read full Douglas County, NV PBB and Citizen Engagement study here.
 
See the full Douglas County, NV "Summit of Leading Practices" slide presentation here.  


Case Study — City of Wheat Ridge, Colorado: Ideal Implementation of the Entire Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting Model
 
The City of Wheat Ridge, Colorado is the first community to implement the entire approach to Achieving Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting—incorporating the Fiscal Health approach to communicating their financial forecast with the PBB process for resource allocation. Hear from City leaders how the Fiscal Health model changed the conversation with their elected officials, and how Priority Based Budgeting is being used to address the budget.

"PBB is truly more than just a way to address your 'budget woes.' The great thing about Priority Based Budgeting is it can help support the type of culture an organization desires by not simply viewing this process as a budget tool when it is really so much more. PBB is helping us further our culture in areas where we know we have room for improvement. PBB is more than being about the state of your budget, it is about the state of your organization..." See the full City of Wheat Ridge, CO "Summit of Leading Practices" slide presentation here.

CPBB "Summit of Leading Practices" 2013 Conference

Building on the success of our work, and our partnership with ICMA's CMS in supporting other
leading practices, the Center for Priority Based Budgeting held our "Summit of Leading Practices" Annual Conference in July 2013 in Washington D.C. The theme of the conference was chosen for a very specific reason: "leading practices" have been established to set clear directions for local government management and for the sustainability of the communities they serve. We focused a spotlight on these leading practices in order to demonstrate how they work effectively both individually and collaboratively, how they can build upon Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting, how they can be a roadmap for any local government that desires to increase efficiency and effectiveness, and how these leading practices truly are scalable, replicable and transferable.

In response to this opportunity, over 150 local government leaders from across the US and Canada attended. Not only were they able to learn about the incredible opportunities available through leading practices from the experts themselves, but more importantly from their local government management peers and practitioners, whom we invited to present, in their own words, how they overcame obstacles in order to successfully implement leading practices in their communities.

Leading cities and counties such as Cincinnati, Ohio, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Douglas County, Nevada, Lakeland, Florida, Walnut Creek, California, Boone County, Illinois, Tualatin, Oregon and Cary, North Carolina, among others, of different geographies, demographics and economies, all powerfully described how they've successfully implemented one or more leading practices. This is real and true evidence that best or leading practices not only exist, but represent the norm for proactive and innovative communites across the nation.

Solutions and Opportunities through Leading Practices

There is no question that the unprecedented challenges confronting local governments today have required new tools, concepts, practices and solutions, new perspectives to understand our problems, and new ways of doing business. In such an ever-changing environment, where there is no apparent blue-print for economic recovery, the quest to uncover these innovative new practices, to understand why they’ve proven successful, to clarify their repeatable methodologies and disseminate their use has perhaps never been more important.

Therein lay the monumental significance of ICMA’s Center for Management Strategies. Their pursuit of discovering “leading practices” based on the scalability, methodology, and proven results of those practices is the way forward. And while key differences among our geographies, demographics, political environment and economies may complicate the rapid replication and adoption of best practices in local government, let us look to the promise of those leading practices already being implemented with success to witness what is truly possible.

The challenge for all of us, whether working directly for local government or directly working to support the success of our communities, is to once and for all thoroughly digest the fact that we will not simply return to the status quo that existed before the recession. We cannot continue to operate in the same way we have and expect different results. We must do more with less and remain confidently and honestly open to creative and innovative new practices in order to seize the tangible and truly exciting opportunities that exist for local governments.

Local governments now have an unprecedented opportunity to define their future! With the power inversion fundamentally realigning the base of authority back to local government's, the opportunity for communities to confidently define their own destiny has never been greater. And as we've seen through multiple examples captured in the Metropolitan Revolution and the CPBB's Decade of Local Government 2.0, examples abound of thriving communities operating in a results-driven environment of creativity, innovation, performance measurement and efficiency. And more importantly, more and more cities, counties, fire districts, school districts, airport authorities, and other various publicly run organizations are stepping to the plate and embracing the undeniable opportunities that the Power Inversion provides by implementing best and leading practices to independently define their own results-driven futures!


Keep an eye on the CPBB blog for further updates. Sign-up for our social media pages so you stay connected with TEAM CPBB!

 facebook  twitter  LinkedIn

If you're thinking of jumping into the world of Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting we would certainly like to be part of your efforts! Contact us to schedule a free webinar and identify the best CPBB service option(s) to meet your organization's particular needs.
 


"DATA VISUALIZATION" for Local Government



 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Budget Innovation in Local Government: How Douglas County, NV Continues to Push the Envelope!


At the Center for Priority Based Budgeting, we consider ourselves partners of local government communities. Our mission is to assist local government communities achieve sound long-term fiscal health and wellness by focusing community resources on results. So when a community we've partnered with is recognized for their success by their peers, we couldn't be more proud. The spotlight shines deservedly on this trailblazing County!

Douglas County, Nevada has been one of the most successful implementers, and now practitioners, of Priority Based Budgeting. In fact, they were the first county in the nation to implement Priority Based Budgeting. Douglas County has also implemented a game-changing approach to citizen engagement. In 2012, the County embarked on the Priority Based Budgeting process with one of the primary objectives being to bring their community into an ownership position with respect to decision making. What unfolded in their groundbreaking use of an online tool to engage citizens sets the bar at a whole new level in participatory budgeting (see story here). Not only that, but the County's bond rating was affirmed as a result of their work. 

Another example of the County's success is how they prioritized spending to fund long-awaited transportation infrastructure needs with their shift to Priority Based Budgeting. See Douglas County newsletter article "Priority Budgeting Leads to $1 Million for Roads." Based on their progressive series of successes, the County was asked to present a case study at CPBB's "Summit of Leading Practices" conference held in July 2013. See the full Douglas County, NV slide presentation here.  

Douglas County Manager Steve Mokrohisky has been integral to the success of the County he serves. Through his leadership, Douglas County continues to innovate and prioritize spending to the benefit of the citizens of the community. Steve is frequently called upon by his peers to outline how Douglas County has achieved Fiscal Health and, due to a recent appearance on a regional local government panel discussion, is once again in the news. 

In an interview with The Record-Courier, Steve states, "I spoke on a panel with the Las Vegas City Manager about budget innovations in local government. Douglas County is the first county in the nation to implement Priority Based Budgeting and has had some early success in stabilizing our revenues and expenses through five year financial forecasting, engaging taxpayers in how limited resources should be spent, and shifting our budget process to focus on investing in the areas of highest priority to the community. 

The board’s action this year to shift over $1 million in property tax funds to road maintenance, as well as ending some lower priority programs, are good examples of how we can and should be spending tax dollars in a responsible and accountable fashion. We are now seeing other cities and counties around the country follow our lead. Placer County, Calif., and others have asked us to present our story to their leadership teams." Read the full interview here.

Congratulations to Douglas County, Nevada, for using Priority Based Budgeting to achieve Fiscal Health and responsibly allocate scarce resources for the overall benefit of the community!


Keep an eye on the CPBB blog for further updates. Sign-up for our social media pages so you stay connected with TEAM CPBB!

 facebook  twitter  LinkedIn

If you're thinking of jumping into the world of Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting we would certainly like to be part of your efforts! Contact us to schedule a free webinar and identify the best CPBB service option(s) to meet your organization's particular needs.
 


"DATA VISUALIZATION" for Local Government

 

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Local Government Communities Don't Shut Down!


We certainly aren’t waiting for national governments to lead the way, because we would be waiting for a very long time. In cities, people are working across party lines to solve problems; in Washington, the partisanship has gotten so bad that the two parties can’t even agree on how to keep the lights on. We are pioneering new ideas; they are paralyzed by dysfunctional politics. The fact is, Washington is increasingly unresponsive to the needs of our country, and cities are filling the void in a very big way.” - NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg
 
We're now ten days into the federal government shutdown. At the Center for Priority Based Budgeting, we're as perplexed and offended by this unnecessary shutdown as the rest of our neighbors and local government peers. While the shutdown is an unnecessary stressor and presents significant challenges to cities and counties, local governments continue to push forward and implement creative and innovative policies in this Decade of Local Government.

Bruce Katz, with the Brookings Institute, recently stated (What Government Shutdown? Metros Open for Business), For months I’ve said, "the federal government, like Elvis, has left the building,” and people laughed. Now we are in a government shutdown, and it’s not funny. Indeed, we must acknowledge the real and immediate impacts the shutdown is having on local government and citizens.

Our peers at the National League of Cities have been vocal and active in responding to the federal government shutdown. As Marie Lopez Rogers, mayor, Avondale, Arizona and President of the National League of Cities, recently wrote (Federal Shutdown Has Dire Impact on Local Government), "Every year, city governments are required to pass a balanced budget. This means taking a close look at our projected revenue and spending, and determining the top priorities to be funded. Even if they don't always see eye to eye, local leaders make decisions with their community and their residents foremost in mind.

I am calling on Congress to act like mayors and their councilmembers, to put aside partisan differences and manufactured crisis,  and put an end to the federal government shutdown. The economic impacts of the shutdown are real, and the residents in our communities are bearing the brunt of it."

Clarence Anthony, Executive Director of the National League of Cities, also weighs in via the CitiesSpeak blog (Congress: Take a Page from Cities and Lead), "Regardless of the inexcusable behavior of Washington politicians, cities will continue to lead, balancing budgets, listening to the concerns of their residents, and coming up with solutions to make the places that we live and work better for all citizens, regardless of political stripe."


Indeed, local governments now have an unprecedented opportunity to define their future! With the power inversion fundamentally realigning the base of authority back to local government's, the opportunity for communities to confidently define their own destiny has never been greater. And as we've seen through multiple examples captured in the Metropolitan Revolution and the CPBB's Decade of Local Government 2.0, examples abound of thriving communities operating in a results-driven environment of creativity, innovation, performance measurement and efficiency. And more importantly, more and more cities, counties, fire districts, school districts, airport authorities, and other various publicly run organizations are stepping to the plate and embracing the undeniable opportunities that the Power Inversion provides by implementing the principles of Fiscal Health and Priority Based Budgeting to independently define their own results-driven futures!

In summary, we'll close this column by again quoting Bruce Katz, “The federal government has literally left the building, not just figuratively. Cities and metropolitan areas are stepping up and doing the hard work to grow jobs and make their economies more prosperous in resilient ways.” The CPBB couldn't agree more!

Keep an eye on the CPBB blog for further updates. Sign-up for our social media pages so you stay connected with TEAM CPBB!

 facebook  twitter  LinkedIn

If you're thinking of jumping into the world of Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting we would certainly like to be part of your efforts! Contact us to schedule a free webinar and identify the best CPBB service option(s) to meet your organization's particular needs.
 


"DATA VISUALIZATION" for Local Government



Tuesday, October 8, 2013

A New Era of Local Government Fiscal Health Case Study: New Smyrna Beach, Florida


ICMA Member Spotlight: City Manager Pam Brangaccio


ICMA member Pam Brangaccio serves the city of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where she has been city manager since 2009. An eclectic Atlantic Ocean community of 24,000 located in the northeastern region of the state, New Smyrna Beach (NSB) has been named as a best beach town, top surfing town, and top arts town. The city was, at one time, two separate towns, Coronado Beach and New Smyrna. The city celebrated its 125th Anniversary in 2012.

Like many local governments across Florida and the United States, NSB has seen its tax base shrink with the economic recession, decreasing 41% from 2009 to 2012 as real estate values fell. “My first budget year in NSB, we had to cut the operational budget by 25%. It was necessary to reduce the workforce by 20%, primarily through our early retirement incentives program and leaving vacant positions unfilled. This in turn caused service level reductions in maintenance operations, police, and fire services. All three of the local government unions in the city worked with my office and the city commission and agreed to ‘stay’ wage increases, roll back other employee benefits, and increase employee pension contributions for police and fire. The city got through the fiscal crisis by working with its employees, unions, and community using priority budgeting methods.”
 
In the 2013 and 2014 budget years, NSB has seen small increases in taxable values. The citywide emphases have been economic development, both in the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and airport industrial park, and a major annexation campaign; working with Volusia County through a Joint Planning Area Agreement, 100 properties have annexed over the last four months. The city currently has the second lowest taxable millage of 16 cities within the county.

Brangaccio enthusiastically describes the CRA, which was reenergized in 2010 with the adoption of an updated redevelopment plan. Early projects included parks, streetscape improvements, boat ramps, sidewalks, boardwalk, south Atlantic roundabouts, median improvements, city marina, and parking. Incentive projects now focus directly on eliminating blight by providing grants for property improvements ($1.9 million in the last three years), the impact of which has been multiplied 1.5 times through private property investments ($2.9 million). The largest fiscal success of the new program is the new Hampton Inn and Suites on Flagler Avenue. The CRA budgeted $656,607 in incentive dollars that has resulted in a total private investment for a $16 million hotel.

The current CRA area expires in 2015, so the city is working on a blight study for a new CRA to revitalize Highway US 1, and hopes to partner with Volusia County to implement the program.

Brangaccio stated, “NSB is working with the Center for Priority Based Budgeting to provide a long-range fiscal sustainability model for our city commission, as our commissioners want to do more than set unfunded goals for the community. We have strived to link the annual budget to the commission’s strategic planning sessions, as community expectations did not end with our 20 percent budget reduction. We find the December beginning of the year/end of the year annual planning session to be one of the best things we do, as the commission comes off the dais and sets its priorities.”

Read the rest of the ICMA Member Spotlight here.

Strategic planning and fiscal scenario planning has been at the core of our work in ICMA's Leading Practice of "Fiscal Health." That is, scenario planning local governments financial forecast(s) for worst-case (and best-case) scenarios.

In “Excelling in Times of Fiscal Distress,” an article Bob O'Neill wrote for Governing, in October 2008, he wrote “Most of us can articulate the early-warning signs that preceded the current economic downturn: Global forces that dramatically changed the local, state, and federal playing fields. Skyrocketing fuel costs. A failing housing market…property tax limitations. Yet, many of us failed to correctly interpret these early-warning signs in relation to their impact on our government organizations.”

Interpretation is the key. For example, interpreting the impact of a major employer closing down and what the true impact would be on your organization and community.

The major "tool" the Center for Priority Based Budgeting has been working on is a data-visualization tool that depicts real-time impacts of various scenarios with a financial impact. So if the major employer closes down, what impact would it have on your "ongoing" revenues and expenses, and what impacts would it have on your "one-time" sources and uses of funds. Furthermore, what actions or initiatives are being considered to deal with this situation that would also have an impact (for instance, if there are any incentives on the table that could serve as an economic development strategy; tax abatement; TIF, etc, or re-investing in development, urban renewal, or recruitment to address attracting new businesses).

For all of these related activities, you want to be able to model the situation, demonstrate the impacts, and appropriately weigh the impacts of various decisions. That's what Fiscal Health modeling is all about.

Fiscal Health modeling is a powerful scenario-planning tool, providing easy to understand visualization of data.
  • Elected officials have adopted Fiscal Health as their preferred means of communicating with staff regarding any decisions brought before them that potentially might have a fiscal impact – asking staff to “show us” those impacts using the principles of Fiscal Health as the primary communication device.
  • Organizations have entered into labor negotiations with their bargaining units using Fiscal Health as a way to quickly agree on the assumptions behind the City’s fiscal forecasts, therefore establishing a basis of trust in the discussion – then modeling the bargaining units’ requests to demonstrate impacts to the City’s fiscal position.
  • It has even been used to help a Water and Sewer District prioritize capital projects, understand the ongoing impacts of those projects, and effectively develop rate increases by better understanding their ongoing and one-time sources and uses of funding in their operation.
At CPBB we're motivated by the exact type of objectives the majority of communities often have in  strategic planning (and how to bring the financial picture into the discussion), and look forward to sharing experiences.

Contact us to schedule a free webinar and identify the best CPBB service option(s) to meet your organization's particular needs.

Keep an eye on the CPBB blog for further updates. Sign-up for our social media pages so you stay connected with TEAM CPBB!

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If you're thinking of jumping into the world of Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting we would certainly like to be part of your efforts! Contact us to schedule a free webinar and identify the best CPBB service option(s) to meet your organization's particular needs.
 


"DATA VISUALIZATION" for Local Government