At a Glance
Many cities and counties report that while they aim to be more strategic, budgeting is still largely driven by department spend requests. Pompano Beach, FL is charting a course toward a fully-aligned budget where 75% of spend is tied to the Strategic Plan. Learn about Pompano Beach's strategic budgeting approach.
Problem Addressed
The City of Pompano Beach is located along Florida’s Atlantic coast in Broward County. The City has been making strides to become more progressive and modern with the long-term vision for growth and opportunities.
The devil, as always, is in the details. While there was agreement on the strategic priorities outlined in the City's Strategic Plan, there wasn't always alignment between the budget and the Strategic Plan. The challenge was to create a budget that ensured that departments invested in, measured, and achieved the goals outlined in the Plan.
To bridge the gap between the Plan and the budget, Pompano Beach uses its budget process to drive the strategic priorities. Through training, communications, and performance dashboards (using OpenGov's Budgeting & Planning Suite) the budget team supports departments in their efforts to invest in, track, and measure performance against Plan objectives. Now, the City is on track to meet its goal of 75% alignment between budget requests and the Strategic Plan.
Pompano Beach used/is using Budget and Planning software to address this/these challenge(s).
Solution(s) Used
Prior to finding a solution, city departments linked budget enhancements to Strategic Plan goals to ensure that resources were invested in areas with the greatest return on investment and closest alignment with City Commission and departmental priorities. This provided a balanced view of performance with respect to customer experience, department operations, personnel, and financial sustainability.
Once that framework was established, city staff were able to propose action items and funding levels, and then actively monitor performance using OpenGov. The city can now measure its strategic plan goals against department performance through dashboards with monitoring and reporting functionality. The budget team uses OpenGov to analyze year-over-year trends and “budget-to-actuals” for a given time period, as well as identify when minor course corrections are needed to avoid potentially derailing cuts in the future. When gaps are identified, the budget team is able to take necessary action.
Annually, the strategic performance manager works with key city departments to determine program goals and corresponding action items for the year, while aligning them with strategic plan objectives.
“The City Performance Program is currently in the process of identifying regular services, activities, and management processes that most effectively meet what Pompano Beach residents want from the City. OpenGov helps bring departments together and focus on what matters most,” said Ernesto Reyes, Strategic Performance Manager, City of Pompano Beach
To further keep on course in achieving the goals laid out in the strategic plan, the city has made itself more accountable to residents by sharing budget details and key metrics with the community on its Financial Transparency site. In this way, the city is upholding the Performance Program’s intention of improving public confidence in local government’s ability to be effective.
With ten departments currently collecting and reporting key data, the City of Pompano Beach is expanding adoption. Thirteen departments are in the process of creating balanced scorecards and completing their program goal worksheets. The budget team is working to link 75% of all budget requests to Strategic Plan Objectives and program goals, while also encouraging more departments to adopt best practices around budgeting and performance management.
Outcomes
- Ten city departments currently collect and report key data that informs budget strategy, with thirteen more departments in process.
- Nearly 75% of budget requests are linked to the key objectives identified in the strategic plan, aligning government action with results that benefit the public.
- Greater departmental accountability and fewer budget adjustments.
- Budget details and key metrics are shared easily and seamlessly with the community through the City's Financial Transparency site.
- Enhanced interdepartmental cooperation, as staff work together to propose action items, funding levels, and monitor performance.
Something Unique
The City's annual adopted operating budget document, which includes the five-year capital planning budget, has received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award since FY 2015.
Who Should Consider?
Cities needing a method to monitor department progress on meeting Strategic Plan goals, and a way to communicate department progress on meeting goals with residents.