Cincinnati Budget and Finance Committee Endorses Citizen's Results - PBB Process Advances

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/pages/-45389-/

What Is Priority-Driven Budgeting?

Priority-driven budgeting puts you at the center of the budget decision-making process.

Through priority-driven budgeting, you tell government about what kind of community you want. Then, government programs are scored against your priorities to better match spending with your wants and needs.

Your Strategic Priorities

Based on the information gleaned during the public engagement portion of this process, seven strategic priorities have been identified for the City of Cincinnati. These are the critical areas the community indicated they rely on City Government to provide.  

Inspiring Profile on Priority Based Budgeting in Monterey - Process Sustains through Second Year

http://strongcitiesstrongstate.com/success/monterey/priority-based-budgeting

Using a mathematical model developed by consultants with the Center for Priority-based budgeting, the priorities given to specific City programs were considered by executives and the City Council during budget deliberations in the context of this $500 exercise. The results helped inform operating decisions about service reductions as the budget took shape in the spring. The Monterey City Council adopted a balanced 2011-2012 budget and closed a $5 million gap between expenses and revenues with public support and a more informed citizenry.

The success of the program encouraged the City to continue its commitment to priority-based budgeting. During the current fiscal year, the program focuses internally as departments analyze their programs, staffing and costs. Next year, the City will once again reach out to its citizens for feedback through a comprehensive community survey. Ultimately, the City hopes its new approach to budgeting will monitor the performance of individual programs; help set fees more accurately, and assist in decision-making about where to invest and / or withdraw City resources.

Priority-Based Budgeting

The City of Monterey benefits from its tourism-based economy. Transient Occupancy Tax and Sales Tax provide 36% of the General Fund Budget. When tourism lagged during the recent economic downturn, the City took an innovative approach to developing its budget.

Demands for service expanded at a time when resources were declining. So the City decided to check in with its citizens and ask them to help develop priorities. This priority-based approach to budgeting incorporated input gathered from citizens at 16 public meetings and on city’s website. Hundreds of people participated in the process by allocating a hypothetical $500 towards a series of strategic goals previously established by the City Council. Using a mathematical model developed by consultants with the Center for Priority-based budgeting, the priorities given to specific City programs were considered by executives and the City Council during budget deliberations in the context of this $500 exercise. The results helped inform operating decisions about service reductions as the budget took shape in the spring. The Monterey City Council adopted a balanced 2011-2012 budget and closed a $5 million gap between expenses and revenues with public support and a more informed citizenry.

The success of the program encouraged the City to continue its commitment to priority-based budgeting. During the current fiscal year, the program focuses internally as departments analyze their programs, staffing and costs. Next year, the City will once again reach out to its citizens for feedback through a comprehensive community survey. Ultimately, the City hopes its new approach to budgeting will monitor the performance of individual programs; help set fees more accurately, and assist in decision-making about where to invest and / or withdraw City resources.

Citizens Decide Priorities in New City Budget Process

http://ijpc-cincinnati.org/events/citizens-decide-priorities-new-city-budget-process-2
Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center Encourages Citizen Participation in Cincinnati - IJPC educates and advocates for peace, challenges unjust local, national, and global systems, and promotes the creation of a non-violent society.


“After the past several years of wrangling over the City’s priorities, we are taking a different approach,” said City Manager Milton Dohoney, Jr. “City Council has asked us to go to the citizens in a systematic way to gather input on what is most important to them.  That’s what we will use to build the budget for the next two years. That is why public participation is critical.” 

City of Cincinnati Underway with Most Extensive Citizen Engagement Process Ever Associated with Priority Based Budgeting

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/pages/-45389-/

Our thanks to The Novak Consulting Group for partnering with us on this incredible project for the City of Cincinnati!

Priority-Driven Budgeting
Your City. Your Priorities. Your Voice.

What Is Priority-Driven Budgeting?

Priority-driven budgeting puts citizens at the center of the budget decision-making process.

Through priority-driven budgeting, you tell government about what kind of community you want. Then, government programs are scored against your priorities to better match spending with your wants and needs.

Priority-driven budgeting helps the City of Cincinnati government to answer these questions:

• What are we in "business" to do?
• What exactly do we do?
• How do we figure out what is "core" or what is of the highest importance?
• How do we know we are successful?
• How do we ask better questions that lead to better decisions about what we do and why we do it?

City of Wheat Ridge Continues Making Strides in Priority Based Budgeting Process

http://www.ci.wheatridge.co.us/archives/87/Study%20Session%20Agenda%20Packet%204-02-12.pdf

In 2011 , City staff learned about the Center for Priority Based Budgeting, located in Denver,
through an Alliance for Innovation workshop. The Center is made up of Chris Fabian and Jon
Johnson, both of whom have worked in municipal finance for a number of years and helped
develop the Priority Based Budgeting model while working together for Jefferson County. The
Center's mission is to "lead communities to fiscal health and wellness." In order to accomplish
this mission Chris and Jon work with communities to align their budgeting process with the
overall strategic goals of the organization.

Council approved funding in the 2012 budget to engage the Center for Priority Based Budgeting
to facilitate the City's transition to a priority-driven budgeting process. The City's current
approach to budgeting is the traditional incremental model - each annual budget is created based
on the expenditure pattern from the previous year. Priority Based Budgeting will help the City
of Wheat Ridge take the budget to the next level by allowing City Council and staff to allocate
the City's limited resources in a strategic manner to meet the goals and objectives of the
community.

City of Billings Council Approves Result Maps, Embarks on Program Scoring Process

http://cityofbillings.org/archives/36/March%2019,%202012.pdf

Result Maps are a set of Priorities expressed in terms of measurable results that are of value to citizens and widely agreed to be legitimate by elected officials, staff and the public.

Tremendous Week in Sacramento: Council Approves City's Result Maps, City Moves into Peer Review

http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?meta_id=381065&view=&showpdf=1


The City is currently working with Center for Priority Based Budgeting (consultants) to implement a model that will demonstrate the relationship between current allocations of City resources with respect to Council’s priorities.  To the extent that we are able to correlate resource
allocation with Council’s priorities, there may be an opportunity to consider the reallocation or reduction of allocated resources in future budgets.

In order to continue moving forward on this effort, staff is recommending approval of the attached
Result Maps (Attachment 1).  In consideration of Council’s comments at the January 24th
Workshop, the Result Maps reflect the revised priority results of:
 Economic Vitality;
 Healthy, Sustainable Environment;
 Leisure, Cultural, and Social Opportunities;
 Reliable Infrastructure and Effective Mobility;
 Safe Community; and
 Youth Opportunities and Education

In addition, each Result Map includes associated result/outcome definitions.  The result/outcome
definitions were developed through a collaborative process with the City’s Executive Team and
the consultants.  The result/outcome definitions provide the detailed expectations relative to
achieving each specific priority result.

Final Result Maps are essential to moving forward with this review as the Result Maps serve as
the basis for “scoring” each of the programs/services.  Programs/services were inventoried as part
of the Program Oriented Development (POD) process utilized in budget development for current
and prior years (the POD inventory was provided as part of the January 24
th Workshop materials).

91.7 WVXU Cincinnati Council moving ahead with priority-based budgeting

91.7 WVXU Cincinnati | WVXU News | Cincinnati Council moving ahead with priority-based budgeting
Cincinnati Council moving ahead with priority-based budgeting
By Jay Hanselman

Cincinnati Council is moving ahead with a plan to introduce priority-based budgeting in the city.

City administrators will use the information from community forums and focus groups when drafting the budget for Council to consider in December.

Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls asked the following question to Eriksen.

“Is it your professional opinion that this process will actually help you as the budget director, who ultimately is responsible for putting together the budget, actually put together a better budget for the city of Cincinnati that you can recommend to the Council” Qualls asked.

“Yes I do,” Eriksen said. “And I’m kind of excited about it.”

Priority Based Budgeting Takes Center Stage as Policy Objective in Jersey City - Councilman Lavarro Leads the Way

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2012/02/24/councilman-lavarro-calls-for-citizens-advisory-committee-to-the-budget/


Recently elected At-Large Councilman Rolando Lavarro, in an effort to make good on his campaign promise, has started the process of creating a citizens’ advisory committee to the municipal budget that he says will help the budget more closely reflect the concerns of citizens that often get lost in the “politicized” budget-making process.

“Priority-based budgeting,” explains Lavarro, who also calls it outcome-based budgeting, “is an approach to budgeting that is proactive about the types of services that we think of as our highest priority for the city. These are the goals we really want to achieve.”

“The purpose is to get a different perspective on what types of priorities we hope to establish,” he added. “Hopefully we’ll find that kind of input can achieve a budget that meets most people’s basic expectations of what they are looking to see.”

Congratulations to City of Chandler; Approach to PBB Recognized as Innovation in Arizona

http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/2012/02/15/20120215opinion-cities-schools-wisely-stay-frugal-economy-levels.html

Some budgets are so lean that there's virtually no fat to cut. But even as financial outlooks begin to stabilize, cities and school districts must remain smart about their budgets. Managers have implemented plans to use municipal funds as wisely as possible. For example, Chandler launched a new system this year in which directors and employees prioritized city services so funds go to the most important areas.

CCCMA Conference - Presentation Slides Available for Limited Time

Download our slides with the following link: https://www.yousendit.com/download/M3BtQ3R5eFVnYU1Pd3NUQw

We were so pleased to present with the City of Vallejo during CCCMA's conference, and we've been thrilled with the response and enthusiasm for our work in Fiscal Health and Wellness (through Priority Based Budgeting). Please find our presentation materials here, available for download, and keep the interest coming. As Bob Adams said about Vallejo, the most important lesson from the City is that it could happen anywhere. We hope you'll agree that Fiscal Health and Wellness (through PBB) is a viable and attainable way for organizations to succeed for the long-term.

City of Vallejo's Turnaround Manager to Join Center for Priority Based Budgeting for a Powerful Conference Session

We're so pleased to announce that we'll be speaking with the City of Vallejo, California's Bob Adams next week at the CCCMA Conference in Glenwood Springs. Bob's story of Vallejo's Fall and Rise will be dramatic and quite possibly terrifying. Most importantly, his story will paint a picture of a City whose problems aren't as unique as most organizations believe - Vallejo could be any City. Our presentation will focus on ways organizations can prevent such a catastrophe through the implementation of Priority Based Budgeting.

Here's the session description:
“Creating Sustainability from Fiscal Crisis– Lessons of Recovery and Prevention from the City of Vallejo, California and the Center for Priority Based Budgeting”

Learn the lessons of fiscal recovery from Bob Adams, who helped to turn the City of Vallejo, California around as interim City Manager. Vallejo’s story is remarkable in that it the story of the “Perfect Fiscal Storm” that challenged the City in every way. However, the most important lesson of this story is that Vallejo is not an anomaly – to a degree, the challenges faced there are happening in every community. Bob’s presentation will focus on the tools he implemented to survive these challenges.

Jon Johnson and Chris Fabian from Center for Priority Based Budgeting will share lessons learned from communities across the United States, including here in Colorado, as these communities have implemented Priority Based Budgeting as a preventative measure to avert crisis. Hear about the process that has helped now 30 communities focus their entire resource allocation strategy on results, from the City of Boulder, Colorado to Fairfield, California (a neighbor to Vallejo); Grand Island, Nebraska to Chesapeake, Virginia. 

Sacramento City Council Begins 2012-12 Budget Process with Priority Based Budgeting

City Council Begins 2012-12 Budget Process with Priority Based Budgeting

As Sacramento gears up to face a $16.5 million budget gap in the next fiscal year, consultants from Colorado met with City Council members to outline a new approach to budgeting that focuses less on dollar amounts and more on top city priorities.

Budget consultants Jon Johnson and Chris Fabian were brought in by the city’s Finance Department to introduce details of “priority-based budgeting” – a method that focuses on matching funding decisions to predetermined city priorities, instead of on prior years’ spending patterns.

City Manager John Shirey said Sacramento, like many local governments throughout the nation, typically rely on such “spending-based budgeting” – that is, making spending and cutting decisions based on how much was spent last year with last year’s revenue levels.

http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/62649/City_Council_begins_201213_budget_process_with_workshop

City of Sacramento Initiates Priority Based Budgeting Process

http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?meta_id=378592&view=&showpdf=1


The annual budget process includes a financial planning workshop with the City Council to consider, discuss and provide direction on the development of the proposed budget for next fiscal year.

One of the key components of this workshop is determining whether the City's budget reflects Council's priorities.

The City’s Finance Department has engaged the Center for Priority Based Budgeting to assist in aligning what the City currently has developed, as reflected in the Program Oriented Development (POD) exercise prepared by departments, with Council’s Focus Areas.  Completion of this exercise will enable the Council and constituents to understand the allocation of the City’s resources with
respect to Council’s priorities.

Walnut Creek Reflects on Experience in Priority Based Budgeting

http://icma.granicus.com/DocumentViewer.php?file=icma_1c503a321e2c47095b6ee1014e2be619.pdf&view=1&showpdf=1

Hear Walnut Creek's Lorie Tinfow in Cal-ICMA's presentation of "Budget Strategies Amidst California's Continuing Fiscal Crisis." Walnut Creek's work is truly inspiring, and they are headed into their 3rd year of Priority Based Budgeting.

With rapidly declining revenues starting in 2008, Lorie led the City’s efforts to keep the budget in balance.  Building on Walnut Creek’s history and culture of reaching out to the community and engaging city staff, she crafted an outreach approach that included a program prioritization process from the value-based Fiscal Health and Wellness Program promoted by ICMA, and created by the Center for Priority Based Budgeting.

To help set financial priorities, the approach included goal-setting by the City Council, defining and weighting the goals by the community, and then scoring City programs by City staff against the community-defined goals.  Together, the process produced a ranked set of City programs used in the development of the 2010-12 Budget.