Budgeting for Outcomes

What is it?

• A budget process designed to create a government that works better and costs less.
• It's based on the premise that the percentage of personal income the public is willing to pay for their government through taxes, fees, and charges is fixed.
• While the "price of government" is fixed, the cost of providing services is increasing.
• Budgeting for Outcomes focuses on results and priorities, not on cost.  The budget process shifts from paying for costs to buying results.
• It puts citizens and their priorities, not status quo, first.
• It emphasizes accountability, innovation and partnerships.

Why are we doing it?

• The Fort Collins economy is changing -  the times of rapid, double-digit revenue growth are over.
• The old system didn't work - the short term approach of spending down reserves, freezing employee wages, and not filling vacant positions is not sustainable; that approach only leads to mediocrity.
• Budgeting for Outcomes better aligns the services delivered by City of Fort Collins with the things that are most important to our community.

How does it work?

• The budget consists of a collection of purchasing decisions.  Teams play a critical role in guiding the process, ranking and recommending purchasing proposals.
• City Council, on behalf of the citizens, will set the price that community members are willing to pay for local government services.
• Council, using citizen input, determines the desired community outcomes.
• A staff Leadership Team determines the priorities for meeting those outcomes and allocates dollars.
• Staff Results Teams develop purchasing plans and requests for results (RFR's) for each priority.  This involves creating a map of the factors that lead to or impact the result. 
• Service providers, or sellers, (which could be a cross section of departments, work teams, partnerships, etc. . .) make offers.
• Results Teams rank offers; buying process starts at top of ranked proposals and moves down the list, buying according to priority until available funds are spent.  A line is drawn at this point, with all proposals above the line in, and the rest out.
• Proposals that rank within available resources are used to prepare budget.
• Final output is a budget that reflects citizen priorities and delivers service efficiently.