DATE: September 7, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Manager Maria V. Kachadoorian
SUBJECT: Budget and Strategic Plan Ad-Hoc Subcommittee Recommendations
On July 20, 2023, the Ad-Hoc Subcommittee on Budget and Strategic Plan submitted its recommendations to the City Council and City Manager. This memorandum is being provided as a response to the recommendations and an update on City efforts in related matters.
Strategic Planning Efforts
In 2013, the City adopted a City Strategic Plan providing a comprehensive framework that ensures priorities set by the City Council are clear to all employees, goals are laid out that respond to priorities, objectives are achieved that meet the goals, and that city government is accountable to meeting community needs.
Since the creation of the Plan, the City has adopted many independent guiding documents such as the Smart City Strategic Action Plan, Digital Equity and Inclusion Plan, Parks and Recreation Master Plan and many others. In recognition that the current Plan is outdated and to reflect the changing needs of our growing community, in June 2020 after being promoted to City Manager, I incorporated the development of a new strategic plan into the City Manager’s Work Plan . Due to the priorities at that time, such as the Bayfront development and managing through the COVID -19 public health emergency, this was delayed until September 2022 when the City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) from qualified firms . The RFP was to seek consultant services for the creation of a five-year citywide strategic plan. Shortly thereafter, and at the recommendation of Tribesy Consulting, it was decided to delay the RFP until the City’s work on the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) initiative had concluded.
As you are aware, the City is currently engaged with Tribesy Consulting to provide a process of infusing Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion across all City functions to advance the City’s efforts in creating a more inclusive and equitable community, culture an d workplace. Although their work continues, and in response to a greater need to begin development of a strategic plan, on Friday, July 28, the City re-issued RFP P03-2024 for development of a five -year citywide strategic plan that incorporates the various plans within the City, community input, staff contributions and City Council input.
Interested parties are encouraged to submit a proposal via Planet Bids . The RFP will close on Friday, September 15, 2023 and it is anticipated the agreement would come before City Council in October.
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Budgeting Methods
Priority Based Budgeting (PBB) is a great approach to presenting a data rich City budget organized in a way that community members can understand and attempts to better align spending to community needs. This is a concept City staff has explored and due to competing priorities, has not fully vetted or considered. For PBB to be effective, it will need to be driven by a current Strategic Planning document that will establish the priorities within the organization and drive the budget development process.
It is important to note that in addition to PBB, there are other methods widely used by municipalities such as zero-based budgeting and others. Review and consideration of different methods to find what best suits the Chula Vista community and soliciting public input is the most efficient way to adopt any new concept.
City staff is supportive of transitioning the City’s current approach to budgeting as well as finding ways to make government more accessible to the entire community. Such a change will require internal and external education and is an undertaking that should be well thought out and executed over time.
While there are ways to incorporate different concepts into the forthcoming budget, a complete overhaul of the City’s current approach in such a short timeframe is not realistic. This is for several reasons , most importantly, Finance staff is currently involved in year -end closing and preparing the annual financial statements for the required annual audit. This work is a critical function of the Finance Department. It would put the City at risk of not being able to meet the mandatory requirements for our financial reporting to additionally introduce a new budgeting approach within a short time frame. Additionally, implementing PBB would require an overhaul of the City’s current financial system to incorporate the necessary accounting structure to capture and identify the City’s various programs.
A new approach to City budgeting will be researched and will follow the established procurement processes with the goal to begin incorporating it into the FY 202 6-27 Budget. The City’s procurement processes established in the Chula Vista Municipal Code Chapter 2.56, help promote transparency and fairness in the procurement of goods and services in addition to ensuring the best value for said services.
Thank you and I am available to discuss further during your regularly scheduled briefings.