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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-09-19 City Council (5)City of Palo Alto Manager’s Report TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL ATTENTION: FINANCE COMMITTEE FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DATE:SEPTEMBER 19, 2000 CMR:369:00 SUBJECT:UPDATE ON THE BUDGET STREAMLINING PROCESS This is an informational report and no Council action is required. BACKGROUND During the hearings for the 2000-01 Budget, staff proposed to restructure and streamline the current budget process. This report provides information on the proposed changes to the 2001-03 budget document and introduces the schedule for the next budget cycle. DISCUSSION The Mission Driven Budget (MDB) process was implemented during the 1995-96 budget. MDB was implemented to emphasize the City’s goal of ensuring that resources are allocated based on agreed-upon missions. MDB focuses on planning and evaluation, accountability, resource allocation, and financial management. Over time, changes have been made to MDB to create efficiencies in the budget process, such as automating certain reports. Staff intends to make additional refinements, which will further streamline the process and condense the size of the budget document. Items included as part of this streamlining process are: 1.Establish the City’s 2001-03 priorities through discussions between staff and Council in the Fall 0f2000; 2.Present a preliminary 2001-03 General Fund Summary with projected amounts for reserves and budget allocations at the same time the Council priorities are established; 3.Automate the majority of internal budget processes to increase staff efficiency; 4.Condense the budget document from the current two volume document to one volume; CMR:369:00 Page 1 of 4 5. Reduce the number of Finance Committee budget hearings; 6. Produce an Executive Summary during the interim budget year in lieu of printing the entire volume; 7. Post the complete budget on the City’s Internet web page; 8. Reduce the number of budget documents printed for distribution and encourage staff to use the electronic version available on the Intemet; and 9. Reduce staff time allocated to the budget process and shitl the focus to special projects and analytical assignments. Each recommendation is discussed below. Priority Setting and Preliminary General Fund Summary One of staff’s recommended changes is to present a preliminary General Fund financial summary at the same time as the discussion of Council priorities. The City Manager is planning to meet with the Council in the Fall of 2000 to identify the top priorities for the 2001-03 budget cycle and use the preliminary fund summary as a guide toward setting these priorities. Staff anticipates having recommended figures and reserve funding for budget allocations included with the General Fund Summary. Automation of Budget Process One of the most time consuming steps for City departments is the submittal of budget requests. Staff currently must enter requests in two different programs and, in some cases, submit paper forms. ASD staff is working on having the majority of the budget process automated and centralized. The new process will also include the consolidation of the majority of data entry into one program that is more user friendly and accessible through the City’s Intranet. In addition, with the focus on setting top priorities and determining available funds for budget requests early in the process, the number of items requested will diminish because departments will focus their requests on the chosen priorities. Budget Document and Budget Hearings The 2000-01 proposed budget document was produced in a two volume set, which has been the case since MDB was implemented. The MDB format consists of funds or departments, then functional areas, which have major activities. Currently, impact measures are tracked at the major activity level. The two-set volume is necessary as a result of the number of major activities and associated impact measures staff presents in the documents. As part of the. budget streamlining process, major activities and impact measure will be rolled into the functional areas rather than presented as separate entries. This consolidation will require a review and subsequent reduction of the number of impact measures reported, to highlight the most meaningful ones. A benefit to this approach will CMR:369:00 Page 2 of 4 be the reduction in time dedicated to tracking numerous and sometimes not significant measures. In addition, this will greatly reduce the nu~:,~;,0er of pages presented in the document. Even though the document will not reflect major activities, departments will still budget at the major activity level in the financial system and receive budget to actual reports for information and planning purposes. As a result of this consolidation, staff will provide additional descriptions or comments related to funding in the document’s resource level changes area, to keep the Council and community informed of important issues. The consolidation of major activities into functional areas will allow the production of a single document. The revised document should be easier to read and follow for all users. The document will also include other modifications such as salary costing by fund or department, the separation of internal and external revenue for presentation purposes, details on one-time items, and other minor format changes. Staff anticipates making additional modifications to the format in the coming year, including e~caluating the benefits of color printing and the addition of photographs. Reduction in Number of Committee Budget Hearings The budget streamfining will facilitate the review and discussion of the proposed budget submitted to the Finance Committee and therefore, staff recommends having three hearings rather than the six to eight hearings previously held. In addition, the focus on budgeting for priorities and pre-identified funding will allow for more efficient discussions. Printing of Document and Posting on the Internet The City is continually exploring ways to reduce paperwork while still communicating information. By automating most of the budget production, staff will be able to post the entire budget document on the Internet for internal and external use. The City receives numerous requests for copies of the document and, with the increased use of the Internet, users will be able to obtain printable pages of any part of the document. A smaller quantity of documents will need to be printed for those users who do not have access to the Intemet. The Council packet will continue to include a printed version, which will also be available at the City libraries. Staff anticipates producing an Executive Summary for the second year of the two-year budget cycle much like the version that was produced for the 2000-01 Adopted Budget.The document will include the modifications mentioned in this report. Staff Time Reallocation Staff anticipates a significant affect due to the changes proposed. The focus will be shifted to providing services and support rather than spending time on the sometimes inefficient and always extensive process. The changes will allow Budget staff to focus more on long-term financial analysis and increase analytical support to departments. CMR:369:00 Page 3 of 4 Staff will monitor the difference in time spent developing and processing budget requests to quantify the changes, and will report back its findings to Council. RESOURCE IMPACT The proposed changes will result in consultant fees of approximately $20,000 to modify and create the necessary programs for budget entry. There are sufficient funds within the Administrative Services Department budget to cover the expenditures and no further ongoing funds will be needed. It is anticipated that the recommended changes to the budget process will allow staff to focus on new efforts of analytical work, which could result in recommendations for efficiency improvements in various areas. At this point in time, it is not possible to quantify these savings but staff will return to Council next year with an estimate of the savings realized. PREPARED BY: Lalo Perez, Budget Manager DEPARTMENT HEAD: YEATS Administrative Services CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: HARRISON Assistant City Manager CMR:369:00 Page 4 of 4