Title
Briefing on the Public Engagement Kick-off for the 2020 Budget
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Receive a briefing on the kickoff of the 2020 Budget - Your Priorities public engagement process. Briefing only; no action requested.
Report
Issue:
Whether to receive a briefing and discuss the July 9 launch of 2020 Budget - Your Priorities.
Staff Contact:
Debbie Sullivan, Director, Administrative Services, 360.753.8499
Stacey Ray, Senior Planner, Administrative Services, 360.753.8046
Presenter(s):
Debbie Sullivan, Director
Stacey Ray, Senior Planner
Background and Analysis:
2018 Community Conversation Informs the 2019 Budget
2018 was the first year the City of Olympia hosted a Community Conversation on Budget Priorities to inform the budget process. On Saturday, April 14, Mayor Cheryl Selby, and Councilmembers Jessica Bateman and Lisa Parshley, on behalf of the Finance Committee, hosted a conversation with 35 citizens who closely represented a demographic sample of our community, including citizens who typically do not participate in traditional City outreach and engagement processes.
The purpose was to listen to citizen’s perspectives on the top priorities for the City so that the City Council could use those perspectives to inform the 2019 budget process. Outcomes from the conversation met several important goals and purposes:
• Councilmembers received valuable input from community member perspectives not normally represented through traditional outreach means;
• Councilmembers were subsequently able to respond to the input received by allocating additional funds to top priority areas they heard from citizens; and
• Greater awareness and trust was fostered in City government.
Hosting the community conversation was piloted as part of the first full year of implementing the new annual Priorities, Performance, and Investment (PPI) Cycle. The PPI cycle includes gathering the community's priorities and evaluating our performance so we can adjust our investments as necessary to achieve the community's vision.
2019 Budget Engagement Approach to Inform the 2020 Budget
This year, staff will pilot another tool with the intent of reaching even more individuals using the City’s online engagement tool, Engage Olympia. This will be an interactive virtual conversation called 2020 Budget - Your Priorities. It is readily accessible to residents, and welcoming for people from a diversity of backgrounds, experiences and abilities.
The City will provide information on how we budget, including introducing OpenGov as a user-friendly portal for learning more about the City’s finances, and sharing the series of “We Budget Differently” videos to highlight how the PPI cycle helps guide City learning and decision-making. We will use the various Engage Olympia tools to encourage citizens to tell us their top priorities, and give citizens access to the 2019 Annual Report, Onward, through the tool’s document library. The City Council will be able to hear directly from citizens and use that information to inform the 2020 budget.
In addition, we will be tracking participants to help target as closely as possible a demographic sample of our community, and will intentionally use outreach methods, invitations, and follow-up communication that will continue to build on the meaningful relationships and trust that was fostered at last year’s Community Conversation.
The purpose of this agenda item is to officially kick-off the 2020 Budget -Your Priorities public engagement process. The Engage Olympia site will be live and ready for citizens to provide input on what priorities are most important to them as the City enters into the 2019 budget process.
Attachments:
Priorities, Performance, and Investments Cycle
2019 Virtual Budget Engagement Overview