Community Budget Participation

Part one of a multi-part series

By Ed Rast

Did you know that San Jose’s budget process for FY 2010-2011 will begin later this month rather than in January 2010 — as it normally would — because of numerous challenges, including a $90M deficit and proposed city service and staff reductions?

The typical budget process looks something like this:

• In January, the City conducts a telephone survey that randomly calls residents to asks them to rank their budget priorities and rate city services.

• Following a City presentation, neighborhood leaders this year were asked to review the Budget Office's prepared list of reductions and list those they preferred or offer their own cost or staff reductions which the staff would review to achieve a cost reduction target. We expect this step to be repeated in the next budget cycle.

• Community budget presentations are made in each council district and questions answered.

• In late spring, the Mayor and City Manager present their budget messages.

• The City Council conducts study sessions with staff presentations on departmental budgets.

• Councilmembers can recommend additional spending or reductions provided they also recommend changes in other areas to balance the budget. (By law, the City cannot operate without a balanced budget.)

• The City Council votes on the City Administration’s budget recommendations in June.

• The budget goes into effect on July 1st.

Many of this and next year’s strategies for combating San Jose’s chronic budget deficit were originally discussed and proposed in the January 2008 document, City of San Jose: Development of Strategies to Address the City’s General Fund Structural Budget Deficit. This was a report by Management Partners, a national consulting firm specializing in local government with offices in San Jose and Cincinnati. (See Pdf pages 6-8 for cover letter and index. A Budget Process Review and Recommended Budget Principals are described on pdf pages 133-137.)

From the Management Partners report: “The development and adoption of the annual budget is the most important responsibility for the city administration and the most critical policy decision made each year by the Mayor and City Council. In San José the annual budget allocates $3.7 billion in resources to provide services to nearly one million residents. The budget process in San José has continued to evolve and be improved by the City staff, Mayor and City Council.”

As we have previously discussed, the disorganization of current city budget documents makes them very difficult to understand for the City Council, and taxpaying businesses and residents. It also prevents us from comparing our city services, taxes, fees, spending, and performance measurements to community conditions.

Beginning later this month, there will be many important public meetings on city policy and budgeting — mostly at City Hall. Most residents will not be aware of these meetings nor able to attend. Regardless, policy recommendations will be made that affect city service levels, budgets, department performance measurements and proposed staff and service reductions.

It is very important that you, your neighbors, and San Jose taxpaying businesses and residents do some homework in order to knowledgably participate in the community budget process. You can begin by reading and clearly understanding the Management Partners report that I linked to earlier in this article as this will be used as the primary basis for the City Administration’s proposed budget and staff reductions.

As a community, we can help prioritize spending in our City. We can tell our leaders what services should be fully funded, partially funded or not funded at all. We can help to develop or change city policies that affect future budget deficits. If we take the time to understand the complex budget process and communicate our concerns and recommendations to the City Council and City Administration, taxpaying business and residents can join together to make San Jose an even greater city with a high quality of life for everyone.

In upcoming articles, I’ll continue our discussion of community budget participation by referencing data to help you understand the budget and notifying you of important budget meetings.