City Council Minutes 2015 02 10 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes February 10, 2015 Page 2 of 7 City Manager Fleming noted the Council had expressed a desire to design the budget in a more program based way. Reflecting the importance of goal setting and Council's interest in a Program Budget, staff developed a Program Summary to (1) organize the City's numerous services into Programs, (2) suggest Council consideration for the broad policy goals that would drive staff's efforts, (3) identify key indicators used to measure how well the City is doing in achieving those goals, and (4) suggest some specific potential projects and actions to help achieve the goals that may require resources over and above the base level budget or changes in the way the base budget is allocated. He described the budget and goals staff requested Council's comments and direction on: 1. Programs. Does the list of programs help effectively communicate the services the City provides? What changes or clarification does Council want to see? 2. Goals. Do the proposed goals accurately reflect the Council's policy aspirations? What changes or clarifications does Council want to see? 3. Sub - Programs. The sub - programs are intended to help organize activities into more measureable categories to help facilitate performance measurement. Are these the categories that Council would like to measure? 4. Key Indicators. The key indicators are intended to identify specific things staff would measure to gage how well the City is accomplishing the identified goals. Are these the appropriate indicators? What refinements would Council like to see? What indicators would Council add? 5. Potential Contributing Projects. This is a preliminary list— subject to change — and is intended to show some of the potential projects and actions that could help achieve the goals and that may require resources over and above the base level budget or changes in the way the base budget is allocated. Does listing projects this way help Council better understand and evaluate what could be included in the Budget and provide sufficient opportunity to advocate for or against such projects? He addressed how the Program Summary would complement the Budget. Displaying the City's Budget in a different way— categorized into Programs —in an effort to make it easier to understand the services the City provides and to more effectively communicate the resources (people and funds) used to provide those services. On the other hand, many people (staff, Council Members and the public) are also used to and rely on the way the City's Budget is currently organized— around Funds, Departments, Cost Centers and activities. To address the interest in a Program format, without compromising the familiarity some have with the existing format, the intent is to add this Program Summary as a new section of the budget document. Each program and sub program would address the following: - Program Description - FTE's