City of Cincinnati Begins Putting Priority Based Budgeting to Use

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120625/EDIT/306250087/Budgeting-system-will-help-prioritize

The city’s budget deficits are expected to continue through 2016, with projected annual expenditure growth (2.8 percent) outpacing revenue growth (2.4 percent), leaving the budget structurally unbalanced.


Council anticipated this and established a new budgeting system: priority-driven budgeting. It is a fundamental change in the way resources are allocated. It uses a collaborative, evidence-based approach to measure services against community priorities. For the first time, it “breaks down” departmental budgets into functions and measures those functions against community priorities. It also identifies functions that duplicate services offered by other entities.

Priority-driven budgeting will not eliminate the pain associated with the operating budget cuts, but it will permit the administration and council to be more strategic – to use a scalpel instead of a hatchet when making the cuts.

Great Update on the City of Sacramento's Work in Priority Based Budgeting

http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=22&event_id=1953&meta_id=384908


After five consecutive years of reductions, the City continues efforts to
achieve budget stability and sustainability. It is clear that we can no longer continue to use short-term solutions for what is clearly a long-term problem. As such the development of the budget will continue
to necessitate difficult decisions. Completion of the PBB process will provide a tool for Council to consider allocation of dollars based on expected results/outcomes.

Consistent with the City Manager’s Performance Goals, Strategies
and Metrics as presented on January 10, 2012 the PBB effort has involved employees and the
community through outreach meetings as well as an on-line survey. The information received through
this process and from Council will assist in identifying opportunities for closing future year budget
gaps.

ANNOUNCING The First-Ever Priority Based Budgeting Conference - San Diego CA, June 28-29 2012

http://www.pbbconference.org

Nothing like this has ever been done - an entire conference devoted entirely to Priority Based Budgeting for Government.

The Key Questions of the Day:
- how do you convince elected officials to embrace this process? 
You'll hear from Past President of the National League of Cities, and former mayor Kathie Novak speak on that issue.

- is the process sustainable for the long-term? What happens when a new Council or new City/County Manager is in place - do they embrace the process?
You'll hear from the City of Walnut Creek, California (who first embarked on this process in 2009) who faced these exact issues, and sustained (and innovated) their process.

- we need to put citizens in the driver's seat of the budget; how can we integrate substantial citizen engagement into the Priority Based Budgeting process?
We're lucky to have Pete Peterson from the Davenport Institute of Public Policy, one of the nation's foremost experts on "legitimate citizen engagement," speaking on the topic, as well as Julia Novak, CEO of the Novak Consulting Group, describing how it's actually being implemented in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio.

- this isn't "just about the budget," our organization has other strategic initiatives underway; how does this process fit in with everything else we're trying to do?
Hear the City of Post Falls, Idaho, the first City in the Country to embark on Priority Based Budgeting, integrating it with their High Performing Government (HPO) initiative.


PLUS: The Fi rst-ever Priority Based Budgeting Conference for government just wouldn’t be
complete without a little excitement, innovation, and some requisite suspense. That’s why
we’ve chosen this venue to unveil two of our greatest breakthrough inventions together with
you at the conference with our partners at Peak Democracy and Project A: online citizen engagement in the style of Peak's Open Town Hall, and the much-anticipated web-based Fiscal Health Diagnostic Model.

More Insights from Vice Mayor Qualls - the Philosophy Behind Priority Based Budgeting

http://www.roxannequalls.com/home/the_budget/priority-based_budget.html


Priority Based Budget Philosophy

The Philosophy of Priority-Driven Budgeting

The underlying philosophy of priority-driven 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-driven budgeting are:

• Prioritize Services. Priority-driven 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-driven 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-driven budgeting puts all the money on the table to encourage more creative conversations about services.

• Spend Within the Organization’s Means. Priority-driven 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-driven 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-driven budgeting demands accountability for results that were the basis for a service’s budget allocation.

City of Cincinnati's Vice Mayor Qualls Provides Insight on Priority Based Budgeting

http://www.roxannequalls.com/home/the_budget.html

Priority Based Budget

A budget strategy for the new normal

Faced with large budget deficits in the last two years that could have triggered massive layoffs and service cuts, Cincinnati City Council has been forced to rely on one-time sources to balance the budget and protect pools, health clinics and the school nurse program. Employee health care costs and pension fund payments continue to consume huge portions of the general fund. For a closer look at city budget drivers.

Priority-driven budgeting offers a common-sense, strategic alternative to conventional budgeting. It creates a fundamental change in the way resources are allocated by using a collaborative, evidence-based approach to measure services against community priorities. By bringing together community leaders and citizens to determine strategic priorities, the city can align resources with what the community values most, and create service efficiencies and innovation.

Council approved the administration's recommendation to hire the Center for Priority Based Budgeting (Center for PBB) to help with the intensive citizen engagement that drives the new approach. Instead of using the traditional department-based approach, priority-based budgeting focuses on developing the budget around citizen-driven priorities.

City of Billings Brings Priority Based Budgeting into Budget Process

http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/city-council-gets-st-look-at-budget/article_57e9a430-2863-5659-abe5-63c2268e47d3.html

The City Council will hear a presentation on June 4 from the Center for Priority Based Budgeting on work that has been going on behind the scenes with city departments, Volek said.

“This is probably the most significant document that the City Council works on in a given year,” Volek said at the outset of her presentation. “It is an indication of your intent to provide services, an indication of your intent for staffing and an indication of an intent to the public of what the city of Billings will look like for the coming budget year.”

Each department has broken down its operation into a series of programs, attached the cost and staffing level for those programs and ranked them by priority, Volek said. All the work will be cross-checked by other departments that will review the rankings and check their accuracy.

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.”