GFOA Publishes White Paper on Priority Based Budgeting Methodologies

GFOA's White Paper, which Jon and I had the priviledge to co-author with Shayne Kavanagh, documenting some of the key ingredients of a Priority Based Budget initiative. While most governments today agree on the need to prioritize services and resource allocation, the key issue remains: how does an organization actually DO this? What is the process? This is a paper about our methodologies and process which are pioneering in the field of priority based budgeting, as well as some of our most successful stories from the work, namely: San Jose, Lakeland, Walnut Creek, Blue Ash, Grand Island, Chesapeake, Boulder and Fairfield.


To quote Chesapeake's City manager, William Harrell: "It sounds intuitive but what we found was there was no real methodology to connect all of the things that government does" to what policymakers want to see for their cities."- Virginia Pilot
http://www.gfoa.org/downloads/GFOA_AnatomyPriorityDrivenBudgetProcess.pdf

Christiansburg Gains Community Support for Priority Based Budgeting Approach

Christiansburg Tries New Approach on Town Budget


Christiansburg Tries New Approach on Town Budget
Posted: Mar 08, 2011 4:23 PM MST

Christiansburg, VA - As governments look for new and better ways to stretch your tax dollars, many municipalities around the country are turning to a relatively new approach. It's making your money go farther, while bringing residents into the decision-making process.

The town of Christiansburg is trying what's called Priority Based Budgeting. The idea is to establish priorities within town departments that will help the decision makers avoid often counterproductive across the board cuts.

Monterey Hosts Town Hall Meeting to Discuss Latest in Prioritization Initiative

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/City-of-Monterey-Events.html?soid=1102643129353&aid=EHX_5nLi8bc

The City of Monterey is changing the way its annual budget is developed, so programs are transparent and linked to results, and citizens help set priorities. The process is called Priority-based Budgeting and it recasts the budget into programs instead of line items. Citizens are asked to define broad goals, such as quality of life, and then prioritize how they want their tax dollars spent to achieve those goals.

Preliminary results will be presented to the City Council on March 1 in the Council Chamber. Interested citizens are encouraged to attend the meeting. The item is currently scheduled for the evening session of the Council meeting.

Upcoming ICMA Webinar: Getting Ready for the Budgeting Process: How to Use Priority-Based Budgeting

Getting Ready for the Budgeting Process: How to Use Priority-Based ...

We're pleased to be connecting with ICMA for this 1.5 hour webinar. What's different about this webinar from past versions is that:
a.) we'll be completely focusing in on Priority Based Budgeting (whereas another webinar we'll offer in April will be focused entirely on a "How To" for diagnosing Fiscal Health),
b.) we'll be emphasizing in much greater detail the Resource Allocation Model, which is the final tool organizations are using to base resource allocation decisions on the work they've completed in the prioritization process - discover a way to look at all the programs and services your organization offers through the “unique window” that this priority-based budgeting process has created and have better conversations than ever about mandates, fee structures, citizens’ reliance and community partnerships

Citizen Blogger Perspective: Christiansburg asks citizens for input on how tax money should be spent?

Christiansburg asks citizens for input on how tax money should be spent?Depot Dazed Depot Dazed

Christiansburg asks citizens for input on how tax money should be spent? Posted on February 15, 2011 by Carol Lindstrom

My first response to this? “What? Who? How?”. Then it went to “this is a joke, isn’t it?”, no government does that. They must mean it will be something that happens during the scheduled budget meetings that few citizens ever attend. That’s gotta be it. They couldn’t be asking citizens for information in an open format encouraging all citizens to participate.

NOPE WRONG! It is coming in your next water bill if you are a resident of Christiansburg. If you miss that it will be coming to the meetings of various civic groups like the Lions Club, the Kiwanis Club, the NAACP! Mayor Ballengee even offered to have PR Chief Becky Wilburn go to other meetings if those groups will but contact Town Hall and ask.

Town Councilmember Stipes Reflects on Priority Based Budgeting from an Elected Officials Perspective

- AdvanceChristiansburg - Fiscal Year 2011 -2012

"It's safe to say that we all realize that it's impossible for Town Government to be all things to all people, so by this exercise we're taking a step back from budgeting 'business as usual' to break down town operations as they are today and analyzing/prioritizing next year's budget (and future budgets) with the expectations of the community as a whole; a grass-roots approach to actually building a budget as opposed to just projecting the status quo into the next year."

Institute for Local Government Lauds Monterey's Priority Based Budgeting Efforts to Engage Residents in the Process

Monterey Residents Help City Set Budget Priorities Institute for Local Government

In 2010, the City of Monterey engaged staff and residents in a priority-based budgeting process to determine how to best address reduced revenues and a five million dollar budget gap. Rather than make across the board cuts, the city brought in The Center for Priority Based Budgeting to help them engage staff and residents in transparently crafting a budget linked to results and values most important to the community. The city hired consultants who have developed and refined a process for aligning city resources and services with community values that has also been adapted for use in Walnut Creek, Fairfield, and 14 other communities. Residents were asked to further define broad goals set by the City Council, and then to prioritize how they wanted their tax dollars spent to achieve those goals. After extensive public education and outreach, an internal staff dialog and four facilitated public meetings, the consultants will report what they have learned about the priorities of the more than 600 Monterey residents who engaged in the process to the City Council in February of 2011.

City of Boulder Cites Priority Based Budgeting as Key to their Financial Stability According to State of the City Address

City of Boulder is Stable According to State of the City Address

The State of the City address, given by Boulder mayor Susan Osborne and City Manager Jane Brautigam, indicates that Boulder is relatively stable, though the economy is clearly everyone’s number one concern.

The city has taken steps to be more fiscally conscious, including using a new priority-based budget system. "Our Priority Based Budgeting system will help identify the most essential services as we continue to engage the community in articulating our shared values."

Christiansburg Virginia's Priority Based Budgeting Initiative Focus of 2011 Keating Report on Government Budgets and Spending

2011 Keating Report on Government Budgets and Spending Forecast - GovPro article

Local governments are contracting with not-for-profit groups like the Denver-based Center for Priority Based Budgeting to help with the budget process. Christianburg, Va., (2009 population, 19,638) recently approved an agreement to use the center's services starting with fiscal year 2011-12.

"We have to find a new way to do our budget. The way we've been doing it is not going to work," said Christianburg's finance director, Val Tweedie when the deal was announced. Contracting with the company would allow for a "healthier" budget process, Tweedie said.

The Center for Priority Based Budgeting consults with governing bodies to assess departments, goals and needs in relation to spending, while helping establish a budget process that works best for the municipality. The firm uses a detailed scoring system for each department and prioritizes activities based on performance and need when considering the budget.

City of Walnut Creek Showcased for Citizen Engagement in Priority Based Budgeting at Institute for Local Government Conference (MMANC 2010)

Best Practices in Participatory Budgeting


This session at the Municipal Management Association of Northern California (MMANC) Annual Conference in October 2010 featured innovative city efforts to engage the public in local budgeting. Moderated by Terry Amsler, Institute for Local Government, Walnut Creek Assistant City Manager Lorie Tinfow was a featured speaker on Priority Based Budgeting and the City's extraordinary efforts in citizen engagement.



Best Practices in Budgeting Session at 2010 MMANC Annual Conference from Institute for Local Government on Vimeo.

Monterey Provides Community with Outstanding Overview of Priority Based Budget Initiative

Christiansburg Mayor Interviewed as Priority Based Budgeting Initiative Gets Underway

CHRISTIANSBURG, VA -- Christiansburg town leaders vote to bring in budgeting help. The town will be paying an estimated $22,000 to the Center for Prioritized Budgeting.

"They will help us better prioritize our budget, deciding what our money should be spent on," said Barry Helms, interim Town Manager.

Christiansburg, VA Embarks on Priority Based Budgeting: "This gives some rhyme and reason to trying to avoid the situation we've had in past years"

Christiansburg Town Council votes to buy budget help - Roanoke.com
By Lerone Graham
The Roanoke Times

CHRISTIANSBURG -- Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to contract with a not-for-profit organization to help with the budget process.

"We have to find a new way to do our budget. The way we've been doing it is not going to work," said Finance Director Val Tweedie.

The Center for Priority Based Budgeting consults with governing bodies to assess departments, goals and needs in reference to spending, while helping establish a budget process that works best for the municipality.

Davenport Institute - Leading Citizen Engagement Organization - Highlights Monterey and Fairfield Initiatives

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:21184.8816554396/rid:203d8cd02cf66abe9b5c74cee09edce4
Since it's founding as a multi-partisan and non-profit organization in 2005, The Davenport Institute (formerly Common Sense California) has worked to engage the citizens of California in the policy decisions that affect the everyday lives of Californians. It is their firm belief that, in today's world of easy access to information, and easy connectivity to others, California's municipal and education leaders are seeking ways to involve the residents of their communities in the important issues they confront. Done legitimately, this new kind of leadership produces better, more creative policy solutions and better, more engaged citizens committed to the hard work of self-governance.

In their latest newsletter, the Priority Based Budgeting efforts in the City of Fairfield and the City of Monterey are highlighted to the extent that they are helping to accomplish what the Davenport Institute is also aiming to achieve. Tremendous recognition for Fairfield and Monterey.

City Manager Reflects on City of Fairfield's Priority Based Budgeting Initiative

City of Fairfield, CA - News Details
City Manager discusses the results of Priority Based Budgeting

At the beginning of the year, the City Council established one goal -- fix the budget. The purpose of this article is to convey the results of the City's Priority Based Budgeting process, which is a crucial milestone in achieving this goal. The results provide a valuable tool to assist the City in developing solutions to address its Fiscal Year 2011/12 General Fund deficit.

The purposes of this process were to obtain a thorough evaluation of the organization's programs and services, to engage the public in a meaningful discussion of our budget challenges, and to understand the community's priorities. On all accounts, the process was successful.

View the City's Summary Memo on their project website:
http://www.fairfield.ca.gov/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=6366