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Resolution Confirming Next Steps in Community Participation and Engagement in Developing the City Budget and Spending Priorities
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Whereas, An essential element of an effective local government is alignment of revenue and spending plans with the priorities of the citizens it serves;
Whereas, Soliciting citizen input on budget and spending priorities in advance of the December Council budget kickoff will provide City Staff and Council information and data that’s required to ensure a FY20 Budget and FY21 Financial Plan that reflects the community’s priorities;
Whereas, On May 21, 2018, City Council unanimously adopted a FY19 budget amendment directing City staff to: (1) evaluate potential tools (surveys, workshops, other) the City could utilize to obtain meaningful, objective citizen input and data on budget and spending priorities to better inform staff and council’s deliberations on the FY20 Budget and FY21 Financial Plan, and (2) Present to City Council no later than September 1st staff’s recommendations on the preferred tool / mechanism including projected cost and a process outline and timetable that obtains input prior to December 1st;
Whereas, $50,000.00 in one-time funding was added to the FY19 General Fund budget for this purpose;
Whereas, City Staff’s August 23rd response to the FY 19 Budget Amendment recommends Priority Based Budgeting (PBB) as the preferred method of obtaining citizen input on the prioritization of resources;
Whereas, PBB has been identified as a best practice by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA);
Whereas, City Staff recommend engaging the Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB) to assist the City in this process;
Whereas, City Staff recommend utilizing the survey portion of the PBB process now in order to have information available for Council’s December offsite and to conduct proactive outreach to ensure broad based input and staff recommend making the decision to proceed with the balance of the PBB process following the survey;
Whereas, City Staff have indicated the cost to conduct the survey is $10,000 and the cost of the full PBB process is $70,000 plus $30,000 a year for three years (for the software license); and
Whereas, The sample PBB survey included in the August 23, 2018 staff response (Attachment 3) can be used as a basis for the Ann Arbor survey, but needs to be expanded to better accomplish the primary purpose of obtaining meaningful, objective citizen input and data on budget and spending priorities;
RESOLVED, That City Council endorses the City Staff recommendations (1) to adopt the Priority Based Budgeting (PBB) approach (2) to engage the professional services of The Center for Priority Based Budgeting (CPBB) (3) to conduct a Results, Outcomes and Indicators (ROI) survey and to conduct proactive outreach with neighborhood associations and others to ensure broad based input, and (4) to decide on full adoption of the PBB approach after completion of the survey;
RESOLVED, That City Council direct City Staff to work with CPBB to expand the sample survey provided by CPBB in order to obtain input on specific services and programs including (1) educating residents on service and program costs and (2) soliciting feedback on resident’s preferences regarding spending more/less on those services and programs; and
RESOLVED, That staff expand the survey at a total cost not to exceed $14,000.00 and make best efforts to have a final report of results completed by Dec. 1st in time or Council consideration in its budget development process; and
RESOLVED, Consistent with resolution 18-1174, City Council directs staff to adopt an equity-focused approach to this process by proactively seeking input from underrepresented constituencies and disaggregating results by race and other factors to the extent possible.
Sponsored by Councilmember Lumm
As Amended and Approved by Ann Arbor City Council on September 4, 2018