276 Fourth Avenue, Chula Vista, California 91910
MEMORANDUM
CHULA VISTA CITY COUNCIL
DATE: July 20, 2023
TO: Maria Kachadoorian, City Manager
Kerry Bigelow, City Clerk
City Mayor and Councilmembers
FROM: Jose Preciado, Deputy Mayor District 2
Alonso Gonzalez, Councilmember District 3
RE: Council Sub- Committee Recommendations on Budget and Strategic Plan This Sub- Committee of the Chula Vista City Council was created on May 23, 2023 to inform the forthcoming City Budget process and City Strategic Plan formation.
PRIORITY BASED BUDGETING
Chula Vista City’s Management traditionally uses incremental budgeting and line item reports.
Priority Based Budgeting provides an additional level of insight int o the budget and is a strategic alternative that can be used along with the traditional budget process to augment transparency.
Priority Based Budgeting evaluates and relates individual programs and services rather than entire departments. Then rates how the program or service addresses priorities. This process adds an additional layer into the budget process and budget reporting. This additional insight allows the public and the City Council to evaluate how the line item budget translates into the programs and priorities the Strategic Plan outlines.
Priority Based Budgeting is an engaging tool the public and City Councils use to evaluate how well a program or service achieves the goals and objective that the community values most.
This is a fundamental reason why major cities throughout California and the country are incorporating this budget practice at an increasing rate.
Authentisign ID: A7B34AFD- 0FB4- 468A- BE13-3D909B124083AuthentisignID: A7B34AFD-0FB4- 468A- BE13-3D909B124083 276 Fourth Avenue, Chula Vista, California 91910
We believe the budget should be driven by the philosophy that resources should be allocated according to how effectively a program or service achieves the goals and objectives that are of greatest value to the community. This notion would be well served by incorporating both a Priority Based Budget presentation and an updated City Strategic Plan.
STRATEGIC PLAN
The Chula Vista Strategic Plan has not been updated in a decade but is a key component in the budget process to provide the framework that ensures priorities set by the City Council are clear and goals are laid out that respond to priorities, are informed by the public an d finally that objectives are achieved and tracked that meet the goals.
The completed Strategic Plan illustrates what our efficient city government strives for. The next Strategic Plan should create a regular process for creating greater insight into each City Council’ s priorities. Additionally, it should aggressively outline how technology can be leveraged to routinely gain increased public participation.
Good public participation practices can help government budgets be more accountable and responsive to their communities, and can also improve the public’ s perception of governmental performance and the value the public receives from their government. Transparency is a core value of governmental budgeting.” ( GFOA, www. gfoa. org/ materials/ public- engagement- in- the- budget- process)
Two Community Budget Presentation meetings were held to discuss the FY 2023 - 2024 Proposed Budget. Neither event was well attended and no budget changes in the current budget resulted from public participation. Our recommendations will gain greater public participation by making use of technology and regular updates in a new Strategic Planning process.
The Strategic Plan should not be disengaged from the annual Budgeting Process. In order to ensure maximum relevance the Strategic Plan should be developed that incorporates the lens of the Priority Based Budget presentation. So both processes should be undertaken simultaneously.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Bids for Professional Services generally require a formal solicitation and selection process, except when it is deemed extremely timely or there are limited providers of the services. In order to initiate this process during this forthcoming budget cycle our first recommendation is to source the Priority- Based consulting portion of the City Budget process to the sole Consultant recommended by the GFOA.
Authentisign ID: A7B34AFD- 0FB4- 468A- BE13-3D909B124083AuthentisignID: A7B34AFD-0FB4- 468A- BE13-3D909B124083 276 Fourth Avenue, Chula Vista, California 91910
Our second recommendation is to immediately issue the RFP for the Strategic Plan Consultant, specifying that we seek a consultant well versed in developing Strategic Plans that have been used in correlation with Priority Based Budgeting.
If, however, our City’s process will be better served by issuing RFP’s for both sets of consultant s we recommend that both RFP’s follow the same timeline including issuance and selection dates and deadlines. The selection and work of these consultants will necessarily be affected by each other.
The recommendations of our subcommittee are largely in line with initiatives of the Rethinking Budgeting initiative, a collaborative effort between the Government Finance Officers Association ( GFOA), International City/ County Management Association ( ICMA), and National League of Cities ( NLC). This initiative raises new and innovative ideas for how local government budget systems can be adapted to our City’s needs.
Authentisign ID: A7B34AFD- 0FB4- 468A- BE13-3D909B124083AuthentisignID: A7B34AFD-0FB4- 468A- BE13-3D909B124083