Agenda - Planning Commission - 12/04/2014

Home

Strategies to Improve Communities A Case Study in Strategic Budgeting Livermore, California Quickly, let me outline the budget process as we developed it in Livermore. I see the various parts of it as a "mosaic'; which when put altogether create an overall, coherent picture. "First, we conduct The NCS every other year to use as a basic "report card" to gauge how residents feel about city services." "Next staff prepares proposed work plans around services which take into consideration the results of The NCS. These two elements, the results of The NCS and the proposed work plans, are then sent to the City Council as background input for the annual City Council Goal Setting session as they develop priorities for the two-year budget. The Council then lists the proposed priorities (their own, ones from the proposed work plan which could be modified by the Council) on big newspaper sheets. Each Council member is given five colored dots to stick on their favorite items. The 5 items getting the most "votes" become the City Council priorities for the next two years. Obviously, this does not mean that other matters would not come up or be addressed during the two years, but does give clear FOCUS on what the staff and Council want to accomplish over the next two years. It is also helpful in avoiding leaping onto some big, new idea during the two years, because staff outline for the Council how assigning resources to the work on the "new idea" would delay or eliminate work on the Council's major Two Year Goals." "Next, The NCS results, the newly minted Council goals, and the subsequently revised work plan are then used by the CM and Department Heads, along with their own professional views, to prepare a Preliminary Budget. The City Manager and Assistant City Manager meet in a Department Head Team meeting to hammer out a budget - this is a true team meeting where every Department Head hears, presents, and considers their budget request to every other Department (this is quite different than the traditional approach where the CM and ACM would meet with each Department Head separately). The Team approach means that the Police Chief has to "defend" the PD requests to the likes of the Library Director and Human Services Director! Although the CM has ultimate veto power (which we have never once had to actually use), the Team works until it develops a plan that everyone can support (in fact the Budget Transmittal letter sent to the Council is always signed not only by the CM but every Department Head!)." "Next the Preliminary Budget is sent to the Council for presentation, review, public comment, and eventual Council adoption. So the "mosaic" is created from the following pieces: The NCS results, the staff proposed work plan, the Council Goal Setting Session, the Council approved revised work plan, the staff proposed Preliminary Budget, public hearings, and finally Council adoption." A Case Study in Strategic Budgeting Peoria, Arizona Another example of local government altering services based on resident preferences as stated in The National Citizen Survey is Peoria, Arizona. As the recession was biting into Peoria's dwindling budget, the idea to close city operations one day a week and to consolidate 4o hours into 4 days was tested among staff and council. Before moving forward on the idea, leaders wanted to assess the interest of residents in four io hour days instead of five 8 hour days. The 2009 citizen survey for Peoria had this question: To save money, the City of Peoria is considering closing City Hall on Fridays, but extending the hours of service counters (for utility payments, building permits, etc.) from 7a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Other city services, such as libraries, Rio Vista Recreation Center, fire and police would not be impacted by this change. To what extent would you support or oppose this change? Percent Strongly support Somewhat support Somewhat oppose Strongly oppose Total 54% 37% 3% 5% — 100% Support for the shift was extensive, so in 2010, the government shifted its hours of operation to help offset revenue shortfalls. © 2014, National Research Center, Inc. Page 19