Mayor shows council new bottom-up budgeting system. (Stoughton Courier Hub, 5/17/2011)
Excerpt: The Common Council was treated last month to a radically different approach for preparing next year’s budget, called Budgeting for Outcomes.
Instead of looking back at where tax dollars have been spent, the new system would attempt to identify citizen wants and needs and then engage city departments in bidding programs to create measurable results.
Mayor Donna Olson introduced the idea after some alders wanted a full review of spending on staff, and it’s been in development for several months. It will soon be up to the council to decide whether to use it.
“This type of budgeting doesn’t have a base budget. It doesn’t start with last year,” finance director Laurie Sullivan told the council April 27. “We’re not talking about how much did we spend, but we’re talking about how much money do we have in 2012 to spend and what’s the best way to spend it.”
This bottom-up approach also adds citizen involvement upfront and transparency as the budget progresses, Sullivan said.
All the while, an eye is kept on the bottom line so quality services are delivered in a fiscally responsible manner and the city lives within its means, she said.
The process began with training for Sullivan and others in the outcome-based budgeting process, and then the city held a Citizen’s Summit in February to identify goals and priorities. Volunteer citizens and city employees were organized into results teams and assigned to major areas such as stable and self-sufficient economy, safe and healthy community, effective and well-managed local government and arts and culture.
Sounds as though Gary Locke put a new set of clothes on the zero-based budgeting mannequin.
Welcome to Mayor Donna Olson's book group.
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