In May of 2019, the City of Flagstaff embarked on a journey to implement Priority Based Budgeting. Priority Based Budgeting (or PBB) is a leading best practice in municipal government and allows cities to re-envision how they utilize their budgets. Specifically, PBB enables cities to measure investment in results, create programmatic insight and identify opportunities for future action.
 
The PBB portion of the budget retreat will be led by Chris Fabien, co-founder of ResourceX and by Kathie Novak, Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Denver. Chris Fabien will review the PBB data that staff have created and conduct interactive exercises with Council to increase familiarization with the PBB online tools. Kathie Novak will share her experiences as an elected official implementing PBB and guide Council in creating a “roadmap” for the incorporation of PBB into future budget cycles.

Connection to Council Goals

• Council Goal 2017-2019: Community Outreach: Enhance public transparency and accessibility
• Strategic Plan for Team Flagstaff Strategic Priority 3.1: Enhance the organization’s fiscal stability and resourcefulness

Has There Been a Previous Council Decision on This Topic?

• At the January 16, 2019, Council Budget Retreat, staff presented the topic of High Performing Government.  This included consideration for changing budget processes to a priority-based system. 
• At the April 2019 Council Budget Retreat, staff presented a budget which included funding for Priority Based Budgeting.
• At the May 2019 Council Meeting, Council approved the Sole Source License and Host Agreement with Resource Exploration, LLC for Priority Based Budgeting.
• At the September 2019 Council Retreat, Council provided input on a PBB Results and Definitions Map.
• At the October 2019 Council Meeting, Council provided further input on the PBB Results and Definitions Map and agreed upon a final version.
• At the December 2019 Council Meeting, Council heard an update on the progress of implementing PBB, specifically focusing on the Program Inventory and Program Costing phases.
• At the January 2020 Council Meeting, Council heard an update on the progress of implementing PBB, specifically focusing on the Program Scoring phase.