With about $225 million dollars to account for and allocate, the budgeting process for the City of Carlsbad City Council and staff is a lesson in strategic planning, goal setting and patience. At first glance, the budget process may seem daunting to an onlooker, but rest assured, there's a method to the budgeting madness.
Senior Management Analyst Joe Garuba calls it the “ready-aim-fire” approach.
“Carlsbad has a sizable budget to manage and we don't build it in a vacuum,” Garuba said. “We craft our budget to ensure it's consistent with the priorities and goals outlined by the city council.”
The resource allocation process starts with a two-day city council workshop in January where the council reflects on their long-term strategic goals. These goals were left relatively unchanged from 2006. Then the council looks at specific projects that they would like to see implemented to achieve their vision.
The result is a list that helps provide clarity and direction to staff as to where to focus their resources.
This year, the city council identified 12 priorities:
Citizen Connection: a forum to engage residents and discuss citywide planning issues.
Village Standards: city staff and residents working together to revise Village building standards.
Joint First Responders/Public Works Facility: designate a location for a police and fire training facility and public works yard.
Communication with Residents: use the city's website to launch a Web blog and to implement live streaming of city council meetings, and continue to reach out to residents with existing resources.
Beach Preservation: work with other agencies on sand replenishment and other efforts to maintain and support our coastline.
CityGate: continue the development review process audit with Citygate Associates, LLC., which includes the program areas of planning, building, housing and redevelopment, development services engineering, and fire prevention.
Poinsettia Lane Road Widening: work with developers on the final link of Poinsettia Lane, which lies west of El Camino Real, to ease traffic congestion and provide residents with another east to west travel option.
Open Space and Habitat Management: continue working on the Habitat Management Plan, which includes 6,478 acres of habitat conservation in Carlsbad, of which the city owns 600 acres.
South Carlsbad Beachfront plan: complete a planning vision that will ensure consistent, cohesive development in the city's southern coastal region known as Ponto.
Traffic Management: address several congestion issues and the Melrose Drive truck traffic controversy.
Alga Norte Community Park and Swim Complex: proceed with building this community park that will feature a state-of-the-art swim complex.
Quite Zone: pursue the establishment of a “quite zone” to reduce railroad train horn noise.
The next step in the resource allocation process is for city staff to develop work programs that help create the quality of life set forth by the city council's strategic goals.
Then, staff creates operational goals to complete these work programs. These goals are assigned to different staff members. Finally, in tandem with goal setting, departments set their budgets, which, again, reflect council's top priorities.
An example of the process in action is the Joint First Responders/Public Works Facility project. This project is one of the council's top 12 priorities, and it also helps to achieve their quality of life as outlined in Council's strategic goals. Funding is then put into the Capital Improvement Projects budget and city staff has an operational goal to implement this project. A team of city planners, engineers and administrative management staff is then put together to complete the goal.
“Essentially, the Joint First Responders/Public Works Facility example illustrates how the budget process works. It's identified as a priority, staff puts together a work program and goals to complete it, it's accounted for in the budget, the work is done,” Garuba said.
All in the Numbers
The city's overall budget is expected to be around $225 million. The budget is divided into the General Fund Operating Budget, which is expected to be around $110 million, and the Capital Improvement Projects Budget (CIP), which will be well over $100 million and will include more than 60 projects at various stages of completion.
The 2007-08 operational budget will be updated to reflect a 10-year financial forecast. Changes in state and federal regulations will be taken into account, and will provide for a balanced budget projection for the next 10 years. The CIP budget will be adjusted to reflect the Council's 12 priorities and their accompanying work programs.
Residents are invited to participate in the Citizen's Budget Workshop, June 13 at 5 p.m., in room 173 B at the city's Faraday Center at 1635 Faraday Avenue, Carlsbad, 92008. The workshop will include highlights from the Operating and CIP budgets and allow time for a question and answer period. For specific budget requests, residents are encouraged to contact the appropriate city department.
City council is expected to adopt the budget at their regularly scheduled city council meeting on June 19, just in time to start the process again for next year.
Senior Management Analyst Joe Garuba calls it the “ready-aim-fire” approach.
“Carlsbad has a sizable budget to manage and we don't build it in a vacuum,” Garuba said. “We craft our budget to ensure it's consistent with the priorities and goals outlined by the city council.”
The resource allocation process starts with a two-day city council workshop in January where the council reflects on their long-term strategic goals. These goals were left relatively unchanged from 2006. Then the council looks at specific projects that they would like to see implemented to achieve their vision.
The result is a list that helps provide clarity and direction to staff as to where to focus their resources.
This year, the city council identified 12 priorities:
Citizen Connection: a forum to engage residents and discuss citywide planning issues.
Village Standards: city staff and residents working together to revise Village building standards.
Joint First Responders/Public Works Facility: designate a location for a police and fire training facility and public works yard.
Communication with Residents: use the city's website to launch a Web blog and to implement live streaming of city council meetings, and continue to reach out to residents with existing resources.
Beach Preservation: work with other agencies on sand replenishment and other efforts to maintain and support our coastline.
CityGate: continue the development review process audit with Citygate Associates, LLC., which includes the program areas of planning, building, housing and redevelopment, development services engineering, and fire prevention.
Poinsettia Lane Road Widening: work with developers on the final link of Poinsettia Lane, which lies west of El Camino Real, to ease traffic congestion and provide residents with another east to west travel option.
Open Space and Habitat Management: continue working on the Habitat Management Plan, which includes 6,478 acres of habitat conservation in Carlsbad, of which the city owns 600 acres.
South Carlsbad Beachfront plan: complete a planning vision that will ensure consistent, cohesive development in the city's southern coastal region known as Ponto.
Traffic Management: address several congestion issues and the Melrose Drive truck traffic controversy.
Alga Norte Community Park and Swim Complex: proceed with building this community park that will feature a state-of-the-art swim complex.
Quite Zone: pursue the establishment of a “quite zone” to reduce railroad train horn noise.
The next step in the resource allocation process is for city staff to develop work programs that help create the quality of life set forth by the city council's strategic goals.
Then, staff creates operational goals to complete these work programs. These goals are assigned to different staff members. Finally, in tandem with goal setting, departments set their budgets, which, again, reflect council's top priorities.
An example of the process in action is the Joint First Responders/Public Works Facility project. This project is one of the council's top 12 priorities, and it also helps to achieve their quality of life as outlined in Council's strategic goals. Funding is then put into the Capital Improvement Projects budget and city staff has an operational goal to implement this project. A team of city planners, engineers and administrative management staff is then put together to complete the goal.
“Essentially, the Joint First Responders/Public Works Facility example illustrates how the budget process works. It's identified as a priority, staff puts together a work program and goals to complete it, it's accounted for in the budget, the work is done,” Garuba said.
All in the Numbers
The city's overall budget is expected to be around $225 million. The budget is divided into the General Fund Operating Budget, which is expected to be around $110 million, and the Capital Improvement Projects Budget (CIP), which will be well over $100 million and will include more than 60 projects at various stages of completion.
The 2007-08 operational budget will be updated to reflect a 10-year financial forecast. Changes in state and federal regulations will be taken into account, and will provide for a balanced budget projection for the next 10 years. The CIP budget will be adjusted to reflect the Council's 12 priorities and their accompanying work programs.
Residents are invited to participate in the Citizen's Budget Workshop, June 13 at 5 p.m., in room 173 B at the city's Faraday Center at 1635 Faraday Avenue, Carlsbad, 92008. The workshop will include highlights from the Operating and CIP budgets and allow time for a question and answer period. For specific budget requests, residents are encouraged to contact the appropriate city department.
City council is expected to adopt the budget at their regularly scheduled city council meeting on June 19, just in time to start the process again for next year.