Priority Based Budgeting - Innovation & Implementation Beyond Cities and Counties

At the Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB), we're proud of our work assisting dozens of

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 article and 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!

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.

 

Web-Based Fiscal Health Diagnostic Tool

 

Priority Based Budgeting - Innovation and Implementation Beyond Cities and Counties

At the Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB), we're proud of our work assisting dozens of

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 60 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 article and see a larger image of the above graphic click here. 
 

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 60 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.

Congratulations to Mountain View Fire District for joining the "new wave" through their successful implementation of 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!

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.

 

CPBB Teams with Toledo Regional Chamber to Bring Priority Based Budgeting to the City of Toledo, Ohio

"The Toledo Chamber’s jointly funded venture with the City is the first of its kind public-private partnership in the world to bring Priority Based Budgeting into a community."

At the Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB), we're constantly impressed and amazed at just

how innovative local government communities can be. Through our concepts of Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting, we've partnered with communities to define exactly what the community is in business to achieve and then prioritize scarce resources (tax dollars) to meet those community results. This work has allowed over 120 cities, counties, school districts and special districts across North America to completely redefine their community.

We’re proud of our work assisting dozens of cities and counties across North America fundamentally change their approach to resource alignment through Priority Based Budgeting (PBB). PBB contributes to a community’s 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."

The CPBB is now working with the City of Toledo to bring priority based budgeting to the city. What is extremely unique about this venture is that this project was made possible with partnership and financial assistance from the Toledo Regional Chamber. This represents the very first P3 (public-private partnership) priority based budgeting project in North America!

The City of Toledo is now the 3rd municipality in Ohio to implement priority based budgeting, joining the City of Cincinnati and the City of Blue Ash in this innovative approach to ensuring a city’s long-term financial sustainability and will ultimately allow the City of Toledo to also serve its residents in the most effective, efficient and fiscally responsible manner possible. 

This is first part of a three-part blog series documenting the Priority Based Budgeting process that the City is undertaking, culminating in the launch of online tools that will enable a “new lens” on how the City can use it’s resources for good.

In this first article, the focus is on: “What is Priority Based Budgeting, Why do Communities implement this practice, and where is the City in the midst of its implementation.”

At its core, Priority Based Budgeting is a process to ensure that your community is getting the best bang for the taxpayer dollar. At the end of it’s work, the City of Toledo will have the data, powered by a sophisticated software model, to marshal and re-direct all of a community’s resources (our taxes, our people, our public and private institutions) to dramatically improve how we achieve safer communities, healthier people, sound infrastructure, efficient service delivery, thriving local economies and the Results that serve the betterment of society.

Priority-Based Budgeting was declared a Best Practice by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), urging every local government in the world to approach resource allocation decisions in the context of what matters most to it’s community. In 2009, the Center for Priority Based Budgeting was created as a mechanism to help local governments implement PBB, as nothing else existed within local government public finance that truly is scalable, transferable and effective. And our work in assisting over 120 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.

At the beginning of 2015, over 80 communities across North America have implemented Priority Based Budgeting (PBB), impacting over 11 million citizens across the US and Canada. Now in 2016, over 120 cities, counties, school districts and special districts will be practicing PBB, using the process and tools to reshape the way all of a community’s resources are leveraged to achieve Results, and inviting citizens further into an authentic role of influence and participation.

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.

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.  

The City of Toledo has just launched its implementation of Priority Based Budgeting, with the development of its Program and Services Inventory. In essence, the City is hard at work defining “what are the vast array of services that our government provides, and how much do each of them cost?” Not surprisingly, for most cities they will identify hundreds of services, and some identify over one thousand! Government is complex, and its service offerings are vast!

This is a crucial first step in the process, and creates the base layer of information upon which the remainder of the process will build. From here, the City will establish and define the very “Results” that define why the City government is in business – why it is relevant, in the eye’s of it’s taxpayers, as a service-providing entity collecting and making use of the citizen’s resources. Each city service will go through a rigorous evaluation process, quantifying the degree to which these services contribute to your community’s objectives – in essence, are they being spent efficiently on programs that make the City safer, it’s citizen’s healthier, it’s economy stronger, and it’s infrastructure more effective. In the next blog, we will continue to document the City’s progress towards these ends.

A final word…

The Toledo Chamber’s jointly funded venture with the City is the first of its kind public-private partnership in the world to bring Priority Based Budgeting into a community. Certainly across the United States, as cities become more adept at gathering and measuring data, at putting data to use to create safer and healthier cities with thriving economies, indeed as cities are becoming “smart cities” it is this kind of multi-sector collaboration that is driving an optimistic future.

There was an era when local government took on the responsibility of upholding our basic societal contracts, and our core civic duties, as it was the only institution capable of doing so. With the proliferation of non-profit organizations, and mission-driven organizations in the private sector, it has become clear that there are many, many stakeholders in our cities whose aim is also to enhance our safety, our health and well-being. It is through public-private partnerships like the City’s with its Chamber in this case that will profoundly reshape the way your City optimizes the use of its citizen’s resources towards a better Toledo. We couldn’t be more proud than to be part of this team.

The Antithesis of Across-the-Board Budget Cuts

"Targeted cuts require a serious discussion of community values, relative benefits of different services, and long-term implications." - Moody's

"Making targeted cuts can demonstrate a more strategic approach to managing a fiscal crisis." - Moody's

"Across the board cuts spreads the pain evenly and also evenly spreads the mediocrity." - Budget Director for the State of Louisiana

In a recent article Across-the-Board Budget Cuts Punish the Efficient, Harvard Kennedy School Executive-Education Chair and Lecturer Robert D. Behn argues the fairness and efficiency of "across-the-board budget cuts." Behn states, "the problem with across-the-board budget cuts is not that they are unfair. For every possible budget cut, there exists an argument for it being, somehow, unfair to someone. The problem with across-the-board budget cuts is that they penalize the efficient."

Behn adds, "Even worse, across-the-board budget cuts reward the inefficient--both those that are incompetently inefficient and those who are cunningly so. Yet, legislators seem incapable of rewarding efficiency."

While we at the Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB) agree that across-the-board budget cuts are, for some mystifying reason, still the scalpel of choice for many communities, examples abound of innovative and proactive communities who are implementing much more strategic and proactive budgeting methods.

We recently reported on how the City of Boulder, Colorado, has successfully implemented priority based budgeting (PBB) into their budget process (City of Boulder, CO Budget Built Upon Priority Based Budgeting). CPBB has successfully partnered with the City of Boulder in implementing PBB into their annual budget process for the last four years. The city adopted PBB in 2010. During this time, the city has become a "leading practitioner" of PBB and utilizes this process in all of their short and long-term financial decisions. Per Boulder's Annual Budget Policy Document, "Now integrated into its fourth consecutive year of budget development, Priority Based Budgeting is the framework for which all budget decisions are made."

Not only is priority based budgeting a far more strategic method of budgeting, but CRA's are now incorporating municipal fiscal stewardship into their assessments and, ultimately, a community's municipal bond rating! Take Douglas County, Nevada. Douglas County 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 PBB.

In 2012, the County embarked on a priority based budgeting process. Through a multi-year effort, the County's bond rating was just recently adjusted to AA. Per the press release, "the rating upgrade is a significant event for the County and reflects recent efforts to implement several fiscal health practices, including long-range financial forecasting, revenue and expense stabilization and priority based budgeting." Read the full article Strong Municipal Bond Ratings Propelled by Priority Based Budgeting).

Local governments continue to face previously unknown financial and political pressures as they struggle to develop meaningful and fiscally prudent budgets.  Revenues are at best stable (or even declining), while demand for services continues to increase.  Citizens believe that government budgets are "fat" and that there is ample waste to "cut".  Civic leaders more often than not focus on "across the board" cuts that spreads the pain equally - but also encourages mediocrity rather than excellence. 

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 60 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!

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

Analyze This! Priority Based Budgeting w/ ELGL, CPBB + South Jordan City, UT!

"Priority-driven-budgeting is a common sense, strategic alternative to budgeting."   - South Jordan City Mayor David Alvord

ELGL and CPBB are proud to partner in an innovative webinar training series, "I Want to be Your Analyst." This series, consisting of a monthly blog and training webinar, is intended to provide case studies, introductions to unique analytic tools, and expertise into the hands of all local government (emerging) leaders.

 
This ten part series will pair proven CPBB concepts and tools with one of our partner local government communities who are actively implementing (or have implemented) our innovative trends. This will provide key insights into how communities actually utilize these tools.

The January Training Webinar

With I Want to be Your Analyst, local government professionals will gain an introduction and key
insights into the CPBB war chest of cutting-edge online tools. On January 13th at noon PST, join ELGL, CPBB and South Jordan City Executive Leadership, including City Manager Gary Whatcott, CFO Sunil Naidu and Budget Director Don Tingey as we explore and discuss Priority Based Budgeting (PBB). In this training webinar, we'll specifically discuss:

• What is Priority Based Budgeting
• How to implement PBB
• Advanced implementation (Online Priority Based Budgeting)
• Successes and challenges in how South Jordan City implemented PBB

Register here!

Message from South Jordan City Mayor David Alvord

Some of you may know that in preparing for the 2015-2016 fiscal year budget the City Council, City Manager, senior staff and I engaged in a new priorities based budgeting format. Priority-driven-budgeting is a common sense, strategic alternative to budgeting. The philosophy of priority driven budgeting is that resources should be allocated according to how effectively a program or service achieves the goals and objectives that are of greatest value to the community. As those needs are identified and prioritized through discussion, a very clear picture of where to allocate resources emerges. As a result the City will once again have a balanced budget in 2015-2016.

One of the budget priorities for me since I became interested in local government has been seeing  that taxes reflect our actual needs. I am pleased to announce that after working with our City Council and city staff, that the 2015-2016 budget will include further reductions in tax revenue, meaning that the City will be taking less taxes. This accomplishment could not have happened without the cooperation of our excellent staff and employees.  

Priority-based budgeting also requires elected officials to make fiscal decisions which benefit the long term financial health of the City. To that end, the City will be paying off $4,000,000 in debt from the bond used to purchase the Mulligan’s property. Reducing our debts improves our already well regarded credit ratings and improves the overall fiscal health of South Jordan.

Purpose of Priority Based Budgeting

South Jordan’s residents and elected officials disagree about a wide variety of political positions. That’s part of the political freedoms we share in the United States. Our shared commitment to efficient governance, however, will focus all of us on working together to find solutions that benefit our common good. Thank you for the privilege of serving as your Mayor. It’s great to live in South Jordan!

Webinar Training Prep

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 100 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.

 

Register here!  January 13th at noon PST, join ELGL, CPBB and South Jordan City Executive Leadership as we explore and discuss priority based budgeting, the power of the online priority based budgeting tools and a case study of PBB implementation from South Jordan City, Utah!

City of Boulder, CO Budget Built Upon Priority Based Budgeting

--> Dear Members of City Council and Residents of Boulder,

I am pleased to present to you the City Manager’s 2014 Recommended Budget for review and consideration. This budget was developed in accordance with the City Charter, city financial management policies and guidelines, and City Council's adopted goals. This budget continues to recognize the national economic conditions that demand conservative approaches to managing expenses, while providing a balance between maintaining existing high-quality programs, services and infrastructure, and funding enhancements and new initiatives, to best meet the priorities of the Boulder community.

The budget is a financial document that defines the fiscal parameters of the coming year. It is a guide to allocation of resources in support of community goals, and it is a tool for strategic alignment of short-and long-term financial objectives. As a part of the process for building the 2014 Recommended Budget, city staff took a multi-year strategic approach, as well as applying the principles of Priority Based Budgeting. The result of this approach was a focus on strengthening core city services and operations, such as public safety and facility maintenance, as well as providing funding for key council initiatives and investing in the future. 

City Manager, Boulder Colorado 2014 Annual Budget Message 

"Now integrated into its fourth consecutive year of budget development, Priority Based Budgeting (PBB) is the framework within which all budget decisions are made." City of Boulder 2014 Annual Budget Policy Document

The Center for Priority Based Budgeting has proudly partnered with the City of Boulder in implementing priority based budgeting (PBB) into their annual budget process for the last four years. The City adopted priority based budgeting in 2010. During this time, the City has become a "leading practitioner" of priority based budgeting  and utilizes this process in all of their short and long-term financial decisions. Read more about Boulder's success implementing PBB and their Resource Reallocation Breakthrough here.

The City of Boulder, Colorado recently published their 2014 Annual Budget. This comprehensive policy document contains a detailed description of how the city plans to invest available resources in city operations in 2014. One of the eight main sections of the budget document is Strategy and Priorities. This section provides an in-depth look in how the city utilizes priority based budgeting for short-term and long-term budgeting and strategic economic planning. The following is an excerpt from this section.

Priority Based Budgeting

Purpose of Priority Based Budgeting

Priority Based Budgeting (PBB) builds on the city’s prior Business Plan, which separates goals and actions into near term versus long term time frames. PBB harnesses the policies and values of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan and department strategic and master plans. As the cornerstone of the city’s budget process, PBB gives the city three central benefits:

• Identifies key Council and community goals (see the next section on PBB Results and Attributes)
• Evaluates the impact on these goals of city programs and services
• Provides a tool for strategic decision-making in funding, adding and/or eliminating programs and services, making more effective use of the city’s limited resources. 

PBB contributes to the city’s long-term financial sustainability and allows the city of Boulder to serve its residents in the most effective, efficient and fiscally responsible manner possible. 

 

2014 Priority Based Budgeting Outcomes

Now integrated into its fourth consecutive year of budget development, PBB is the framework within which all budget decisions are made. In the 2014 budget process, the city was asked to use PBB in every step of the budget process and program ranking by quartile was included in all budget discussions throughout the year. To maintain value and consistency in program scoring, a Peer Review Group, a citywide team who comes together to score PBB programs and services annually, reviewed all changes between 2013 and 2014.

The city has a favorable distribution of resources between the highest priority (Quartile 1) and lowest priority (Quartile 4) programs. Fewer resources are invested in programs yielding lower impact on community values. A listing of all 2014 programs by quartile is included in the following section. Community programs are those providing direct service to residents and businesses, while governance programs are those providing support services within the city to other departments.

Due to a number of factors, including only modest revenue increase projections, with ongoing cost increases, there was limited opportunity to add resources to city programs in the 2014 budget. The 2014 budget process included identification of resources for reallocation and PBB was a tool used to help shift resources from lower to higher priority programs.

To better understand how the City of Boulder utilizes priority based budgeting as the "framework in which all budget decisions are made," click here!

Congratulations again to the City of Boulder, Colorado! You remain a true priority based budgeting all-star and a leading PBB practitioner in local government fiscal stewardship!

For more innovative priority based budgeting resources see links below:

Priority Based Budgeting: Through the Lens of a Master's Thesis

Strong Municipal Bond Ratings Propelled by Priority Based Budgeting

A Dazzling Portrait of the Power of 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!

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