The City of Asheville, North Carolina became the fifth Priority Based Budgeting community in the State last month. What is remarkable about Asheville's PBB process is that the City's elected officials had established a starting place for the City's "Results" by way of an extensive strategic planning effort they'd completed, focusing primarily on the role of local government in their community. This Strategic Operating Plan ("SOP") provides a solid foundation for the PBB process to build upon.
On November
18, 2014, the City of Asheville, NC kicked off their Priority Based Budgeting process with a day-long workshop led by Jon Johnson and Chris Fabian from the Center for Priority Based Budgeting in Colorado. Jon and Chris presented City staff
with an overview and history of PBB and led staff through a brainstorming
exercise to define the City of Asheville’s Community and Governance Results.
Jon and Chris ended the day with a session on defining programs and services
(Program Inventory), which is the next step in the PBB implementation process.
City staff are currently working through creating Program
Inventories for their departments. Departmental Program Inventories are due to
the Budget Office by Wednesday December 17, 2014. Work on PBB implementation
will continue into the spring of 2015, and Finance staff will work with Jon and
Chris to define a timeline for the next steps in the process. So stay tuned for
further updates!
Below are
links to materials presented at the November 18 Priority Based Budgeting
workshop:
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 Budgetingprocess 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.
Now Douglas County is continuing their pioneering work with priority based budgeting and citizen engagement. The following article was recently published by The Record-Courier.
From The Record-Courier-It’s rare that a county budgeting process
is referred to as pioneering, innovative or award-winning, but Douglas
County’s priority based budgeting has been called all those things.
Key to the process is online input from
county residents, who are being asked to visit a website
through Dec. 19
to share what their priorities are.
“Everyone’s voice matters,” said Christine
Vuletich, finance director and assistant county manager. “We want to
hear what is most important to our citizens in terms of the services we
provide as a county,”
On the website, participants divide $500
between six major areas, including safe community, economic vitality,
well maintained infrastructure, financial stability, preservation of
natural environment, resources and cultural heritage and managed growth
and development.
Residents may also text “subscribe” to
775-309-4358. The online registration will ask for your name, email
address and physical address. Your registration information is secure
and will not be shared with any outside party. The physical address will
allow responses from geographic areas within the county to be viewed,
but the county and public will not be able to see the names of
individual participants unless the participants chose to display their
names.
Any residents who do not have internet
access may come to the Minden Inn and complete online or obtain access
at the Douglas County Library. In addition, computers will be available
in the lobby at county commissioner meetings.
In 2012, Douglas County became the first
county in the nation to implement priority-based budgeting, which shifts
the annual budget process from across the board allocations to
investing in the community’s highest priorities. Priority-based
budgeting has since been adopted by the International City-County Management Association and the Alliance for Innovationas a leading
practice in local government.
Congratulations again to Douglas County, NV. We at the CPBB couldn't be more proud to partner with such an innovative group of local government professionals! Keep up the excellent work!
Keep an eye on the CPBB blog for further updates. Sign-up for our social media pages so you stay connected with TEAM CPBB!
The Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB) is proud to partner with Cobb County in their implementation of priority based budgeting (PBB). CPBB launched PBB with Cobb County in January 2014, with a 2-year process. In the first year, we established Results and defined the Results, completed the Program Inventory and Program Costs – this information was used in the development of Cobb County's 2-year biennial 2015-16 budget. Beginning this month, the County will be embarking on Program Scoring, which will be followed by Peer Review and the ultimate development of the final PBB Model for 2015.
“His county government track record is extensive with numerous contributions and achievements that include the implementation of priority-based budgeting system, operating a county budget with seven Triple A rankings, the completion of the East-West Connector, and most recently, the relocation of the Atlanta Braves stadium to Cobb County,” ACCG officials said in a statement.
Priority Based Budgeting as Centerpiece to Biennial Budget Book
The following excerpts from Cobb County's 2015-2016 biennial budget book reflect the impact PBB has had on the county thus far. Congratulations to Cobb County on their leadership in bringing priority based budgeting to their citizens and County government!
Keep an eye on the CPBB blog for further updates. Sign-up for our social media pages so you stay connected with TEAM CPBB!
"...the crisis facing local governments is not fiscal. It's the choices we make to address the fiscal challenges."
"States and cities have deep structural problems that will not go away
just because the country is coming out of the recession that started in
2008." - Volcker-Ravitch Report
18 of 30 cities saw government revenue fall between 2011 and 2012, double the number from 2010 to 2011. In 2012, eight cities
recorded their lowest level of revenue since the start of the recession.
Property Taxes and State and Federal Aid
4% average decline in property tax and government aid across the 30 cities between 2011, 2012
Revenue Rebounds
10 of 30 cities had recovered their prerecession revenue peak by 2012
Four of the nine cities that had surpassed their pre-downturn revenue peak in 2011 fell back below that level again in 2012.
Spending and Reserves
17 of 30 cities increased overall operational spending and 18 of 30 cities increased reserves in 2012
While there is some reason to be positive, and clearly some cities (and geographic areas) are thriving, the overall impression is one of continued fiscal challenges. In local government, unlike the federal government, we don't have the
luxury of operating in an environment of unbalanced budgets. Cities and
counties are mandated to present balanced budgets each and every fiscal
year. For as
challenging as it is for local governments to continue to present
balanced budgets in the face of years of revenue shortfalls and painful
service cuts, they simply must.
In January 2014, the New York Times recently reported on the release of the Volcker-Ravitch report in their article Task Force Urges Local Governmens to Stop Obscuring Fiscal Troubles. The State Budget Crisis Task Force released its final report,
calling for an end to the longstanding practice of using one-offs and
opaque accounting methods that make budgets appear balanced even when
fiscal problems are worsening. "Local governments must stop using budget gimmicks that obscure the true extent of their money problems." The task force was led by a former
chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Paul A. Volcker, and a former New
York lieutenant governor, Richard Ravitch, who have warned that states
and cities have deep structural problems that will not go away just
because the country is coming out of the recession that started in 2008.
Now, so many of us who "are in the business" of trying to balance
budgets, understand and appreciate the dangers and fallacies of applying
budget gimmicks. But then, why do these practices still prevail? Why do
many resort to these types of solutions knowing they deny transparency,
mask problems at worst, and at best, trick decision-makers into a false
sense of security? Perhaps at least part of the answer is that it's
difficult to conceive of any other way to solve the financial problems
of the day - perhaps, for lack of another solution, budget tricks are
the best solutions we have? For as fundamentally sound and true and
correct as the Volcker and Ravitch report is, it's most significant
achievement is pointing out where government is falling short. This begs
the next question: what can be done to fix these pressing problems?
A new paradigm is required - a "New Wave" in local government Fiscal Health.
The Crisis is Not Fiscal
In part due to the recession that started in 2008, and in part to
attempt a departure from the exact same types of practices outlined by
Volcker and Ravitch, CPBB co-founders Chris Fabian and Jon Johnson
published their first local government fiscal health and prioritization
report Getting Your Priorities Straight in ICMA's PM Magazine. This paper was published prior to the existence of the Center for Priority Based Budgeting.
During this time, Jon and Chris both worked for Jefferson County,
Colorado as Budget Director and Internal Business Consultant
respectively. It was at Jefferson County where Jon and Chris had first
started to conceive of the creative and innovative concepts of Fiscal
Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting.
As if predicting the New Wave, in Getting Your Priorities Straight
the authors emphasize the point that the recession isn't the only
driver causing local government fiscal challenges. They state, "why do local government professionals believe that this is the
crisis? What assumptions do we hold so firmly and that so calcify our
thinking to convince us that changing fiscal conditions represent our
crisis? Would higher revenues and lower expenses allow us to operate
crisis free? Or does the true crisis exist when, despite our fiscal
realities, we don’t focus on those priorities and objectives that ensure
the success of our communities?"
The authors went one step further,
and just like Volcker and Ravitch, made a critical leap: the crisis
facing local government is not fiscal. It's the choices we make to
address the fiscal challenges. Volcker and Ravitch make the same
argument when observing that the end of the recession alone will not
result in better financial management.
In Reengineering the Corporation, Michael Hammer writes that
organizations suffer from “inflexibility, unresponsiveness, the absence
of customer focus, an obsession with activity rather than result,
bureaucratic paralysis, lack of innovation, and high overhead.” Why?
“If costs were high, they could be passed on to customers. If customers were dissatisfied, they had
nowhere else to turn.” Should we in government only now be concerned with flexibility,
responsiveness, customer focus, and results because we can no longer
afford not to be?
Perhaps the biggest concern we face is not a fiscal crisis. Fiscal
trends and conditions are by and large out of our control and simply
represent a reality with which we need to cope. The real crisis on our
hands is whether our organizations have the capabilities to address
current fiscal realities and still meet the objectives of government and
the expectations of our constituents.
The Imperative of "New Tools" in Creating Financial Transparency - "Data
Visualization or How I Learned to Stop Worrying (and Obscuring
Financial Problems) and Love Financial Transparency"
The Volcker-Ravitch report places special emphasis on the harmful
impacts that budget gimmicks create when the intention is to mask or
obscure financial problems. But what would true financial transparency
look like?
CPBB co-founders faced the exact same dilemma when the principles of
Fiscal Health were created to address these very issues. The budget
book, the certified annual financial report (CAFR), and reports out of
the financial system are great tools for finance professionals, but they
prove insufficient to clearly and simply answer the question: is the
organization in "good shape" or is there trouble on the horizon?
Furthermore, in a world of rapidly changing economic variables, the
answer to that question today might not be the answer to that question
tomorrow. (A recent ICMA report on this very subject appeared on the CPBB blog recently.
First and foremost, local governments must be clear and transparent about what truly is their picture of fiscal health. Communicating that picture
simply and clearly without volumes of numbers, spreadsheets, tables, and
an endless series of charts is frankly a challenge that has plagued
financial managers for years. If local governments are going to be able
to demonstrate financial reality internally to elected officials and
staff, and externally to residents, they have to find better ways to
make fiscal situations understandable and transparent to everyone.
The key breakthrough in this area has been "data visualization" which
allows for the easiest way of creating a common view, a common
perspective that is simple and that everybody can agree on. Part of the
reason that financial problems can be obscured or hidden is because many
times decisions makers have no idea how to understand finances to begin
with.
Data Visualization allows us to create a common view of the financial
situation that is simple to understand and interpret, describes the
clearly defined variables that can impact the financial situation,
allows for "live" and "real-time" changes in these variables, and offers
the ability for "dynamic" modeling of "what-if" scenarios - this is how
transparency is created, and this is the essential first component of
the paradigm shift required.
CPBB Web-based Economic Modeling Tool Overview
Shifting the Paradigm Part 2: Resource Allocation through Priority Based Budgeting
The second component of the paradigm shift is changing the way that
resource allocation discussions take place. Financial problems are also
effectively hidden and obscured because the budget process allows for
it. Line item budgeting, incremental budgeting, zero-based budgeting
were each attempts to better understand "how" money is spent, but these
methods fail to address a more fundamental question: "why" money is
spent.
To the point of the Volcker-Ravitch report, the question of whether or
not public dollars are being used effectively is not answerable with the
tools currently available to elected officials, decision makers, staff
and citizens.
Priority Based Budgeting 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 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 is the community truly mandated to provide? What does it cost to fulfill those mandates?
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?
Incredibly, earlier this year, as if
to accelerate the ushering in of the "New Wave," the credit rating
agency Standard & Poor's upgraded the bond rating of Douglas County, Nevada
by two levels, from A+ to AA, citing evidence of the County's efforts
"to implement several fiscal health practices, including long-range
financial forecasting, revenue and expense stabilization, and priority
based budgeting."
The New Wave - Over 70 Communities
It is of utmost importance that all local government communities take to
heart the warning and recommendations outlined in the Volcker - Ravitch
report. Only the most innovative public entities have made strides in changing their structural approach to long-term fiscal health.
And with the economy showing some signs of improvement, many will
continue to operate as if to preserve the status quo and vainly wish for
increased revenue. This approach represents a philosophy of wishful
thinking that will only lead to failure.
The "New Wave" represents efficiency and innovation in this Era
of Local Government. The new wave represents a golden opportunity for
local government communities. Finding creative, clear, and transparent
ways to demonstrate what the next 5 to 10 years might look like is a
must if local government professionals are going to address fiscal
concerns. All too often, local governments are unable to make
sound, timely decisions regarding investing in new resources, starting
new programs, or initiating major capital projects because elected
officials, local government managers, and staff members are paralyzed by
the uncertainty of whether they actually have enough money to
appropriate for these purposes.
Local government communities must consider a completely different perspective.
In order to achieve success and accept the challenges that are ahead, we
must see more clearly how to manage, use, and optimize resources in a
much different way than has been done in the past. This new environment
demands a new (economic) vision of the future.
Local governments choosing to implement the concepts of Fiscal Health
as a treatment regiment are making substantial progress because they are doing
the analytical work required to more accurately diagnosis the reasons behind
their fiscal issues and then determining the best treatments that lead to a
viable cure. Once an organization is on the road to being fiscally healthy, it
can then become more financially sustainable by implementing a Fiscal
Wellness regimen centered around the principles of Priority Based
Budgeting.
The mission driven Center for Priority Based Budgeting
(CPBB)
believes that every local government community has the potential to
achieve fiscal health and wellness. We proudly offer our technical and
advisory services to help any local
government organization address its fiscal realities both in the short
term (Fiscal Health) and long term (Fiscal Wellness) through innovative
and creative leading practices that are actively being
implemented across the country.
How can our organization "spend within its means"?
How do we allocate scarce resources to top priority programs?
How can we link the budget with our strategic goals/objectives and with performance measures?
How does our organization head down a path of long-term financial sustainability?
The most innovative public entities managed to take advantage of the
economic downturn, almost as if it were an opportunity to seize instead
of a problem to overcome. These organizations leveraged a state of
crisis to obliterate the status quo, ushering in new ways of doing
business and achieving better results for their citizens, despite
a scarcity of resources. In short, they've revolutionized how
community's leverage resources to embrace a "new wave" in local
government.
Keep an eye on the CPBB blog for further updates. Sign-up for our social media pages so you stay connected with TEAM CPBB!
"I still have a lot to learn, but I can now see several advantages to
linking our revision of the Comprehensive Plan to the budgeting system.
As different as they are, both the Comp Plan and the budget framework
are toolkits for planning and managing our civic life; each ought to be
consistent with the other. Both are asset maps, describing what goes on
in our community, and both also describe goals and aspirations – “the
way it’s s’posed to be.”
The City is now focusing on early 2015 to begin the next iteration of the priority based budgeting process. The next iteration for Bainbridge Island includes a citizen engagement component in the form of multiple public forums. These forums will provide an opportunity for the City to transparently ensure that the update to the Comprehensive Plan (linked to the city's priority based budgeting framework) are consistent with what the citizens of the community expect from their local government.
And the citizens of Bainbridge Island appear receptive and supportive of the cities efforts. One example is a recent blog post on the Sustainable Bainbridge blog. We don't often see heavy citizen blog activity supporting local government decisions, much less support for the alignment of the City's Comprehensive Plan and priority based budgeting framework. It is typically a more wonkish subject than most citizens have time to dive into. But the individual in this case certainly did his homework and we applaud his feedback! See full post below.
thinking about the City’s biannual budget, adopted in
the Spring of this year, and it looks like an excellent set of tools
for planning and funding the City’s necessary and discretionary
operations. (For more information, go to the City website:
There’s a reason for my digression: I’ve mentioned COBI’s budgeting
system because its key elements will be used to organize the six public
forums. In a graphic display that you will find on the COBI website,
the City’s services are organized in six categories: Safe City; Healthy
and Attractive Community; Green, Well-Planned Community; Vibrant
Economy; Reliable Infrastructure & Connected Mobility; and Good
Governance.
Starting out clueless about this new budgeting system, I was somewhat
dubious about its relevance to the update process: I thought it would
add an extra layer of complexity to a project that is already awfully
complicated.
I still have a lot to learn, but I can now see several advantages to
linking our revision of the Comprehensive Plan to the budgeting system.
As different as they are, both the Comp Plan and the budget framework
are toolkits for planning and managing our civic life; each ought to be
consistent with the other. Both are asset maps, describing what goes on
in our community, and both also describe goals and aspirations – “the
way it’s s’posed to be.”
Using the budgeting system as a frame of reference for re-thinking
the Comprehensive Plan may help to bring our ideas and our language down
to earth, focused primarily upon the City’s core responsibilities.
(Pragmatism is, I hope, one of the community values that will be
exhibited throughout this project.) The update process could also test
the will and ability of our City Council and the COBI staff to deliver
on the commitments that the budgeting system lays out.
* * *
I’ve now said more than once that throughout the long update process,
the entire COBI apparatus (the City Manager and administrative staff,
the Council, and the Planning Commission) will be on trialin the
eyes of the general public. I say that not to be cranky, but in a good
way, as a true believer in good governance and long range planning.
As you’ll see if you visit the City’s website and its description of
Priority Based Budgeting, the page describing Good Governance explains
what that shiny concept means in an array of specific commitments. One
of them reads, “Supports decision-making with timely and accurate
short-term and long-range analysis that enhances vision and planning.”
Another says that the City “fosters trust and transparency by
ensuring accountability, efficiency, integrity, innovation and best
practices in all operations.”
These commitments pertain directly to what’s involved – and what’s at
stake – in the Comprehensive Plan update. These are promises to keep.
Keep an eye on the CPBB blog for further updates. Sign-up for our social media pages so you stay connected with TEAM CPBB!
cities and counties across North America fundamentally change their
approach to resource alignment through Priority Based Budgeting (PBB).
PBB contributes to a communities long-term financial sustainability and
allows communities to better serve their residents in the most
effective, efficient and fiscally responsible manner possible. The City
of Boulder, Colorado recently stated that "priority based budgeting is the "framework" in which all budget decisions are made."
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 over 70 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.
What excites us so much now is discovering how truly scalable,
transferable and effective priority based budgeting can be not only for
cities and counties, but beyond! Local government is not
specifically confined to cities and counties, but also represents school
districts, utility districts, fire districts, special districts and a
variety of public authorities, boards and commissions. There are over
50,000 of these "special districts" across the US which are using public
dollars to provide some level of public service. And now this sector of local government is also discovering the power of priority based budgeting!
Mountain View Fire Rescue (MVFR), a fire protection district based out of Longmont, Colorado, is the latest "special district" to successfully implement priority based budgeting.
MVFR is a full service fire department tasked with the "care and safety
of 50,000 permanent residents and a commuting population of more than
60,000 daily. The district has seven fire stations located strategically
throughout its 184-square-mile district."
MVFR has recently published an article on how they've successfully implemented priority based budgeting. MVFR states, "Over the past year MVFR has worked with the Center for Priority Based
Budgeting (CPPB) to offer a clearer, more transparent picture of our
Organization’s fiscal health. MVFR is the first independent Fire
District in North America that has taken the steps to examine our
financial health from a new angle to ensure we are providing the utmost
transparency to our citizens. The CPPB has provided us with the tools and techniques needed to
assess and monitor the District’s picture of fiscal health. They have
assisted MVFR in clearly defining 5 goals and objectives that lead to a
process that prioritizes spending to align with these goals.
MVFR has always placed a strong emphasis on superior financial
management and we are prudent with taxpayer’s dollars. Using Priority
Based Budgeting gives us another set of tools to bring more transparency
to our business and assist us with analyzing and improving on the
financial health for the MVFR District." To read the full articleand see a larger image of the above graphic click here.
We're also proud to announce that we've partnered with JEFFCO Public Schools in Colorado to launch priority based budgeting in our first school district! Jeffco has been providing education in Colorado for over 60 years. They serve nearly 85,000 students representing approximately 9 percent of all K-12 students in the State. And with a budget of nearly 1 billion dollars, this is a fantastic opportunity to ensure these resources are strategically invested in Colorado's students (through priority based budgeting).
Priority
Based Budgeting is a unique and innovative approach being used by local
governments across the Country to match available resources with community
priorities, provide information to elected officials that lead to better
informed decisions, meaningfully engage citizens in the budgeting process and,
finally, escape the traditional routine of basing "new" budgets on
revisions to the "old" budget. This holistic approach helps to
provide elected officials and other decision-makers with a "new lens"
through which to frame better-informed financial and budgeting decisions and
helps ensure that a community is able to identify and preserve those programs
and services that are most highly valued.
The underlying philosophy of priority based budgeting is
about how a government entity should invest resources to meet its stated
objectives. It helps us to better articulate why the services we offer exist,
what price we pay for them, and, consequently, what value they offer citizens.
The principles associated with this philosophy of priority based budgeting
are:
• Prioritize Services. Priority based
budgeting evaluates the relative importance of individual programs and services
rather than entire departments. It is distinguished by prioritizing the
services a government provides, one versus another.
• Do the Important Things Well.Cut Back
on the Rest. In a time of revenue decline, a traditional budget
process often attempts to continue funding all the same programs it funded last
year, albeit at a reduced level (e.g. across-the-board budget cuts).
Priority based budgeting identifies the services that offer the highest value
and continues to provide funding for them, while reducing service levels,
divesting, or potentially eliminating lower value services.
• Question Past Patterns of Spending. An
incremental budget process doesn’t seriously question the spending decisions
made in years past. Priority based budgeting puts all the money on the table
to encourage more creative conversations about services.
• Spend Within the Organization’s Means. Priority based
budgeting starts with the revenue available to the government, rather than last
year’s expenditures, as the basis for decision making.
• Know the True Cost of Doing Business. Focusing
on the full costs of programs ensures that funding decisions are based on the
true cost of providing a service.
• Provide Transparency of Community Priorities. When
budget decisions are based on a well-defined set of community priorities, the
government’s aims are not left open to interpretation.
• Provide Transparency of Service Impact. In
traditional budgets, it is often not entirely clear how funded services make a
real difference in the lives of citizens. Under priority based budgeting, the
focus is on the results the service produces for achieving community
priorities.
• Demand Accountability for Results. Traditional
budgets focus on accountability for staying within spending limits. Beyond
this, priority based budgeting demands accountability for results that were
the basis for a service’s budget allocation.
Priority Based Budgeting has now been successfully implemented in over 70 local government
communities coast-to-coast.
We take pride in our partnership with these CPBB communities in an
effort to improve a community's fiscal health for the benefit of the
entire community.
The core CPBB concepts of Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting
are truly inspiring a new wave of municipal fiscal stewardship. A
complete revolution in how local governments utilize their limited
resources to the benefit of the communities they serve.
This "New Wave," the fundamental paradigm shift in municipal financial stewardship,
must be accepted if local governments are to be financially viable and
able to create the types of communities their citizens are proud to call
home.
Local government communities must consider a completely different perspective.
In order to achieve success and accept the challenges that are ahead, we
must see more clearly how to manage, use, and optimize resources in a
much different way than has been done in the past.
This new environment
demands a new (economic) vision of the future. And that vision is created through 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!
Jon Johnson and Chris Fabian are pleased to share with you that the Center for Priority Based Budgeting officially opened its office on September 1, 2010, with its main objective being to “lead communities to Fiscal Health and Wellness.”
As most of you know, it was our desire from the very beginning of our partnership to create a not-for-profit environment that could support and sustain our work in not only providing advisory services to local governments across the country but also to find ways to continue our research efforts to better understand the fiscal conditions that are impacting local governments from coast to coast. Utilizing a business development technique found in the private sector, the Center was being “incubated” by another successful not-for-profit organization that also serves local governments. Graduating from the incubator in 2013, CPBB is now working with over 60 organizations who have implemented or are currently implementing the processes and tools of Fiscal Health and Priority Based Budgeting.
As before, we are striving to bring the principles of Fiscal Health and Wellness to all communities by teaching, coaching and guiding them in the development and implementation of our unique, creative and proven tools and techniques. We continue to improve upon our “Fiscal Health Diagnostic Tool”, which provides a quick assessment of any organization’s fiscal health status. We also continue to develop our “Resource Allocation Tool” which provides not only a mechanism to set target budgets based on our Priority Based Budgeting approach, but also serves as a way to depict how well any organization is aligning its resources with the programs and services that the community values. Our work has expanded to now include some interesting and successful citizen engagement opportunities with the communities we are partnering with in this work.
We have included our contact information below and hope that we can continue to reach out to those of you we have worked with in the past to further our research efforts as we continually strive to enhance the Priority Based Budgeting process as well as with the concepts of Fiscal Health and Wellness. We also hope to continue the conversation with those of you who have been following our work and share with you the stories of accomplishment and success from the organizations that have implemented Priority Based Budgeting. Please drop us a line anytime – we’re always glad to hear from you. In the meantime, please update your contact information and when you have the chance, check out our blog site to find out what we’ve been doing since our last conversation with you.
- September, 2007: Colorado 10-County Budget Consortium Annual Conference, Breckenridge, CO - "Rx for Fiscal Health - Alignment with Priorities"
- June, 2008: GFOA (Government Finance Officers Association) Annual Conference, Ft. Lauderdale, FL - "Planning for Financial Sustainability"
- July, 2008: National Association of Counties Annual Conference, Kansas City, MO -"Achieving Sustainable Fiscal Health & Wellness"
- August, 2008: ICMA Audio Conference, Golden, CO - "Achieving Fiscal Health: Strategies for Dealing with Fiscal Distress in Today's Economic Downturn"
- August, 2008: Alliance for Innovations Workshop, San Mateo County, CA - "Budgeting for Priorities - Achieving Fiscal Health & Wellness"
- September, 2008: GFOA Training Workshop, Sacramento, CA - "Fiscal First Aid: Achieving Financial Sustainability"
- September, 2008: Kansas GFOA Fall Conference, Overland Park, KS - "Planning for a Sustainable Financial Future"
- September, 2008: Colorado 10-County Budget Consortium Annual Conference, Beaver Creek, CO - "Budgeting for Priorities - Achieving Fiscal Health & Wellness" - October, 2008: GFOA Training Workshop, Providence RI - "Best Practices in Budgeting"
- October, 2008: Alliance for Innovations Workshop, Charlottesville, VA - "Achieving Fiscal Health & Wellness - Budgeting for Priorities"
- December, 2008: ICMA Audio Conference, Golden, CO -"Fiscal Distress: How to Diagnose the Cause and Identify the Right Solutions"
- January, 2009: GFOA Training Workshop, Newport Beach, CA - "Advanced Tools for Finance Officers: Long Term Financial Planning"
- April, 2009: ICMA Workshop, Belton, TX - "Rightsizing to Realities: Achieving Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization)"
- April, 2009: GFOA Training Workshop, Columbus, OH - "Best Practices in Budgeting"
- May, 2009: ICMA Workshop, Monterey, CA - "Rightsizing to Realities: Achieving Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization)"
- May, 2009: ICMA Audio Conference, Washington, DC - "The Promise of Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization)"
- June, 2009: North Carolina Association of CPA's Local Government Conference, Greensboro, NC - "The Promise of Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization)"
- June, 2009: North Carolina Assoc of CPA's Local Government Conference, New Bern, NC - "The Promise of Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization)"
- June, 2009: GFOA Pre-Conference Workshop, Seattle, WA - "Fiscal First Aid: Budgeting Tactics for Bad Economic Times"
- June, 2009: GFOA Annual Conference, Seattle, WA - "The What's, Why's and How's Of Your Government's Fiscal Condition"
- July, 2009: IL-ICMA/IL GFOA Workshop, Naperville, IL - "Rightsizing to Realities: Achieving Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization)"
- July, 2009: GFOA Training Workshop, Denver, CO -"Fiscal First Aid: Achieving Financial Sustainability"
- September, 2009: ICMA Annual Conference, Montreal, Quebec - "Managing Your Budget in Turbulent Times: An In-Dept Review of Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization)"
- February, 2010: ICMA Audio Conference – “Achieving Fiscal Health & Wellness in the NEW NORMAL”
- February, 2010: Virginia Local Government Association (VLGMA) / University of Virginia / Alliance for Innovation, VLGMA Conference, Charlottesville, VA – “The Principles of Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization)”
- April, 2010: Alliance for Innovation Audio Conference – “The Nuts and Bolts of Implementing Fiscal Health & Wellness”
- April, 2010: Presentation to Boulder Tomorrow – “Achieving R.O.I. in Government: How the City of Boulder is Using Priority Based Budgeting to Demonstrate Return on Taxpayer Dollars”
- May, 2010: ICMA Webinar – “Budgeting in the New Normal: Managing Your Budget in Turbulent Times”
- June, 2010: North Carolina Association of CPA's Local Government Conference, Greensboro, NC - "The Promise of Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization)"
- June, 2010: North Carolina Assoc of CPA's Local Government Conference, New Bern, NC - "The Promise of Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization)"
- August, 2010: Virginia Beach, Virginia Workshop – “Implementing Fiscal Health & Wellness”
- October, 2010: GFOA Audio Conference – “GFOA Best Budgeting Practices – Implementing Fiscal Health & Wellness to Achieve Financial Resiliency”
- November, 2010: ICMA Annual Conference, San Jose, CA – “Surviving and Thriving in the New Normal: How Organizations Implementing Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization) Are Surviving These Times”
- January, 2011: GFOA Training Workshop, San Diego, CA – “GFOA Best Budgeting Practices – Implementing Fiscal Health & Wellness to Achieve Long-Term Financial Health and Resiliency”
- January, 2011: GFOA Training Workshop, San Diego, CA – “Tools of Financial Resiliency: Working with Elected Officials; Analyzing Fiscal Health; Engaging Citizens in the Budgeting Process; Implementing Internal Service Funds”
(UPCOMING) March, 2011: ICMA Webinar – “Getting Ready for the Budgeting Process: How to Use Priority Based Budgeting”
(UPCOMING) April, 2011: IL-ICMA/WI-ICMA/Alliance for Innovations Workshop, - “Achieving Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization)"
(UPCOMING) April, 2011: ICMA Webinar – “Getting Ready for the Budgeting Process: Using the Fiscal Health Model to Diagnose and Treat the Causes of Fiscal Distress”
(UPCOMIONG) December, 2011: Colorado Government Finance Officer’s Association (CGFOA) Winter Conference – “Achieving Fiscal Health & Wellness (Prioritization)”
