This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
***COMPLETE THE SURVEY TO TELL THE CITY HOW YOU WOULD SPEND $100 ON CITY SERVICES
***COMPLETE LA ENCUESTA EN ESPAÑOL para decirle a la Ciudad cómo gastaría $100 en servicios de la Ciudad
For the past few years, the Longmont City Council has made a commitment to use priority-based budgeting to make future decisions regarding resource allocations. In 2013 council identified the results that we are in business to achieve, which were vetted and weighted by the community.
In 2016 the city council adopted Envision Longmont, a multimodal and comprehensive plan that provides strategic direction and guidance for Longmont over the next 10 to 20 years. Both the priority-based budgeting process and the Envision Longmont process included community input toward goals and priorities.
With the similarities and overlap between the priority-based budgeting results and the Envision Longmont plan, the council has approved using the Envision Longmont guiding principles as our new priority-based budgeting results.
The City of Longmont is providing public access to the online Priority Based Budgeting tool that helps staff make budget decisions. This sophisticated tool allows you to review City budgets based on multiple variables, including the type of program, department and quartile ranking, and to compare Longmont's budget to that of other organizations that use this tool.
IN ORDER TO USE THE ONLINE PRIORITY BASED BUDGETING TOOL, YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THE PRIORITIZATION PROCESS. Please review the information below. Once you're familiar with the Desired Results of Government and the scoring that was applied to them, click on "Priority Based Budgeting Online Tool" at left to get started.
BUDGET PRIORITIZATION PROCESS
STEP 1: IDENTIFY THE DESIRED RESULTS OF GOVERNMENT
The Results are:
1. Livable Centers, Corridors, and Neighborhoods
2. Housing, Services, Amenities, and Opportunities for All
3. Job Growth and Economic Vitality through Innovation and Collaboration
4. Responsible Stewardship of our Resources
5. A complete, Balanced, and Connected Transportation System
6. A Safe, Healthy, and Adaptable Community
7. Responsible Internal Operations and Governance
STEP 2: DEFINE THE RESULTS
The next step defines the outcomes for each result and the underlying assumptions and factors that influence the outcomes.
LIVABLE CENTERS, CORRIDORS, AND NEIGHBORHOODS
• Embrace a compact and efficient pattern of growth. Promote a sustainable mix of land uses.
• Maintain and enhance the character of established neighborhoods.
• Focus infill and redevelopment in centers, corridors, and other areas of change. Support the continued revitalization of Downtown as a community and regional destination.
• Provide, maintain, and enhance public infrastructure, facilities, and services to meet the changing needs of the community.
• Reinforce Longmont’s unique identity and sense of community.
• Create an integrated and quality parks, recreation, greenway, and open space system.
HOUSING, SERVICES, AMENITIES, AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL
• Ensure that there are affordable and accessible housing options that meet the needs of residents of all ages, abilities, and income levels.
• Provide residents in all parts of the city with access to a range of community amenities, including parks, open spaces, and recreational opportunities.
• Ensure that social, health, and human services are accessible to and contribute to the well-being of all residents.
• Ensure that all Longmont residents have access to arts, cultural, and learning opportunities they need to thrive and prosper.
• Protect civil liberties and ensure that all residents have equitable access to resources and opportunities to participate in the community and enjoy life.
• Recognize and celebrate the cultural diversity of Longmont’s residents.
JOB GROWTH AND ECONOMIC VITALITY THROUGH INNOVATION AND COLLABORATION
• Recruit, support, incentivize, and retain quality businesses to provide a comprehensive range of job opportunities and promote economic diversity.
• Promote and increase opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and entrepreneurism.
• Address building space, infrastructure needs, and other considerations of target industries and the workforce.
• Foster an educated and skilled workforce that meets the needs of local businesses and increases economic opportunities for residents.
• Ensure that Longmont is a desirable place to live, work, play, learn, and start a business.
• Maintain a safe and efficient airport to meet the city’s needs for commerce and recreational aviation.
RESPONSIBLE STEWARDSHIP OF OUR RESOURCES
• Protect and conserve Longmont’s natural resources and environment.
• Maintain a quality renewable water supply to meet the long-term needs of the community.
• Preserve Longmont’s historic and cultural resources.
• Preserve Longmont’s agricultural resources.
• Recognize and enhance the ecological functions of the City’s system of parks, open space, greenways, waterways, and urban forest.
• Strive to be as efficient and effective as possible as a City organization.
A COMPLETE, BALANCED, AND CONNECTED TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
• Integrate land use and transportation planning to enhance the overall quality of life in the City.
• Provide a transportation system that offers safe, healthy, and reliable mobility for people of all ages, income levels, and abilities.
• Enhance the transportation system in a manner that improves the economic vitality of the city, while being responsible stewards of limited resources.
A SAFE, HEALTHY, AND ADAPTABLE COMMUNITY
• Support healthy and active lifestyles among residents of all ages.
• Support increased access to affordable, healthy food.
• Ensure that residents have access to health and human services.
• Partner with our community to ensure that the best levels of proactive, reactive and coactive public safety services are available.
• Minimize risks to property, infrastructure, and lives due to natural disasters and other natural or manmade hazards.
RESPONSIVE INTERNAL OPERATIONS AND GOVERNANCE
• Deliver responsive, timely, efficient operations that support City services.
• Provide assurance of compliance with regulations, mandates, policies and best practices.
• Maintain clear, ethical, inclusive, accountable, transparent leadership and collaboration.
• Protect, invest in and value the City’s human, physical and technological resources.
• Implement sound fiscal policies and enable trust and transparency by ensuring accountability, efficiency, integrity, and best practices in all operations.
STEP 3: VALUE THE RESULTS
In this step, we ask the community to place a relative value on the results by giving relative weights based on the perceived importance of the result.
How would you allocate City resources?
Imagine having $100 to invest in achieving the City’s results. Where would you invest that money? Take our survey online at bit.ly/LongmontBudgetSurvey.
STEP 4: SCORE CITY PROGRAMS
Once the programs are identified, departments go through a process to score them based on how the program influences the outcomes of each result that was identified in step 2. The relative value of the results is used to weight the scoring scale so that a program that meets the result with the greatest value has the potential to achieve the highest score. Programs that accomplish more than one result also receive a higher score. Other basic program attributes, such as legal mandates, capacity for revenue generation and demand for the service, are taken into account, and the process includes a peer review.
STEP 5: PRIORITIZED LIST OF SERVICES
To access our prioritized list of services with desired results prior to 2018, visit the online tool at bit.ly/LongmontOpenPBB.
Please email [email protected] with any questions.
This is an announcement from the City of Longmont and is published here as a public service by the Longmont Observer.
