Budget 101: General Overview of San Diego City Budget
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Based on documents provided by the City of San Diego's Office of Independent Budget Analyst (IBA), the Community Budget Alliance has created a series of presentations to help lay persons understands the basics of city budget and how they might advocate for their causes. Budget 101 is a broad overview of the San Diego city's budget process. For more information please visit: http://onlinecpi.org/campaigns/community-budget-alliance/
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Budget 101: General Overview of San Diego City Budget
- 1. BUDGET 101CONTRIBUTING YOURVISION TOTHE SPENDING THAT IMPACTS OURDAILY LIVES.
- 2. WHY DOES THE BUDGET MATTER? • Armed with the right information you can win projects for your community! • Uninformed your neighborhood risks losing valuable resources.
- 4. WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM?
- 7. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM • Asset owning department and divisions • City Council • Disability Services • CIPRAC (Sr. Level CIP Officials) • Community Residents • Mayor • City Council • Asset owning department and divisions • Financial Management Department (FM) • Development Services Department • Mayor • City Council • Financial Management Department • City Council • Asset owning department and divisions • Public Works- Engineering & Capital Projects (E&CP) Department • Development • Services Department • Comptroller’s Office #1 #2 #3 #4 Re q uire s o ng o ing m o nito ring .
- 8. KEY DATES FORTHE FY 2016 BUDGET • February – Council adopts Budget Priorities Resolution & transmits to the Mayor • Feb/March - COO/Mayor/CFO Develop annual budget working with City Departments • April – Mayor releases proposed annual budget • April /May - Council holds public hearings and Committee meetings to deliberate the budget • June – Mayor/Council final decisions, budget adoption, &veto periods if necessary • July – New Fiscal Year begins & budget takes effect!
- 9. HOWDO I MAKE MY PROJECT A PRIORITY? Identify Get on the Priority List Petition for Funding Continue to Advocate Nail Down Implementation (Timeline)
- 10. ADDYOURVOICE TOTHE BUDGET… ADVOCATE FORSERVICES & PROJECTS • Give input to the Community Planning Groups. • Contact your Councilmembers & the Mayor • Visit, email, call, Facebook/Tweet, etc. • Attend budget hearings. • Consider joining the Community Budget Alliance through your local non-profit.
- 11. WE ARE HERE TO SUPPORT YOU • Join our email list to get budget updates. • Visit OnlineCPI.org to read up on this important topic. • LIKE us on Facebook at /CommunityBudgetAlliance • Follow us on Twitter @OnlineCPI • Contact us to get involved or ask questions: • Samer Naji, (619) 584-5744 x 60, snaji@OnlineCPI.org
Editor's Notes
- (PRESENTER: THESE NOTES ARE TALKING POINTS/SCRIPT – YOU SHOULD REHEARSE AND DECIDE WHAT WORKS FOR YOU) [Intro] Hello everyone, my name is ______. I’m a member of (insert your organization). Our organization is a member of the Community Budget Alliance. The alliance consists of more than two dozen local organizations that joined forces early in 2012 to seek an understandable, open and fair budget for the City of San Diego. [Set the Scene] Today we’re here to talk about the San Diego city budget. The budget is a series of tough decisions. Priorities set by city staff, councilmembers and the mayor are crucial to what gets built in your neighborhood. It’s the reason why one neighborhood may seem nicer than another. There’s not enough revenue coming into the City to fund everything. So the squeaky wheels tend to get the grease. The more you are neighborhood advocates, the more likely it is that you can imrpove what your neighborhood is like.
- [Example] People often feel that the built environment (and services) are unchangeable. They don’t see what is around them as the outcome of multiple decisions over time. It’s most often a question of power and power can be seized. Yes, it’s hard but not impossible. When you understand the budget and learn how to advocate, you can win projects that are important to your community. For example (Pick one of the anecdotes below or use your own): MidCity CAN (Community Advocacy Network) youth have won a skate park for City Heights. SDOP advocated to fix or redesign sidewalks in specific neighborhoods to make them more walk-able. When Mayor Sanders planned to cut more than 240 fire fighting positions, San Diego city fire fighters fought to protect these life and home saving jobs. At present, they have lost these positions but will continue to advocate for a safe San Diego.
- These are actual budget pages (PRESENTER: point to the images on the left of the screen) The budget can seem a little intimidating but is just a larger version of your family’s budget. Whether your budget is in your head or you write it out, it is similar to the process where city officials create a plan as to how to spend our money on important projects and services. The goal is for all stakeholders (the mayor, council members, residents, civil servants, etc.) to make a decision on how to use our resources. The same way your family decides how much to spend on your daily living; the city must decide how much to spend on things such as fire safety, police protection, libraries and parks.
- Where does the money come from? The General Fund is the largest of six types of funds that the City of San Diego maintains. The General Fund is the City’s main operating fund. It pays for the core community services that use most of the City’s tax revenue, such as public safety, parks and recreation, fire fighters' salaries, library services, and trash collection as well as vital support functions. *The three major revenue sources for the General Fund are: Property Tax, Sales Tax and Transient Occupancy Tax. These revenue sources are dependent on the economic environment and vary from year to year. Additionally, Prop 13—which limits property tax to 1%--has put serious limits on our revenue streams. *Other General Fund revenue sources are impacted by the economic environment, but not to the same degree. These other sources include Franchise Fees; Licenses and Permits; Fines, Forfeitures, and Penalties; Revenue from Money and Property; Revenue from Other Agencies; Charges for Current Services; Other Financial Sources (Transfers from Other Funds); and Other Revenues.
- Now remember, the General Fund pays for the core community services that use most of the City’s tax revenue, such as public safety, parks and recreation, library services, and trash collection as well as vital support functions. In addition to the General Fund, the City of San Diego has five other fund types. The reason for having multiple fund types is that certain monies can only be utilized for a specific purpose. For example, monies generated by the Gas Tax are deposited in a Special Revenue Fund and can only be used for transportation. One other category expenses that we wanted to highlight is the Capital Improvement Funds… (Go to next slide…) == ***NOTE TO PRESENTERS: Only use the following if a question comes up.**** Below is a brief overview of each of the different fund types, as well as a diagram depicting the amount of the budget that is programmed in each fund type: Enterprise Funds Account for specific services that are funded directly through user fees. As the second largest fund type in the City, the Enterprise Funds are intended to be fully self-supporting and are not subsidized by the General Fund. Examples include Water, Metropolitan Wastewater, Development Services, Refuse Disposal and Recycling. Special Revenue Funds Account for revenues that are received for a specifically identified purpose. Examples include TransNet, Gas Tax, and Special Promotional Programs. Debt Service Funds Used for the payment of principal and interest on the General Obligation Public Safety Communication Bonds and for maintenance of zoological exhibits. Internal Service Funds Created to finance and account for services provided by one City department to another City department or division, such as fleet maintenance. Services provided by the Internal Service Fund departments are paid by fees or fund transfers.
- Capital Improvement Funds support construction projects such as the development of parkland, the construction of a sewer pump plant, the installation of a traffic signal and street lighting, or the construction or remodeling of a City facility. The funds are a part of the City of San Diego’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for installing new and replacing or rehabilitating existing infrastructure. Infrastructure includes the basic physical structures, systems, and facilities needed to provide services to residents and for the functioning of a community and its economy, such as sidewalks, streets, parks, fire stations, police facilities, and water and sewer systems. To be clear, building a new police facility would be funded by Capital Improvement Funds but paying for police officers would come from the General Fund. Similarly, paying for a new library would also come from the Capital Improvement Fund but paying for librarians, books and the operating budget would come from the General Fund.
- First, projects are identified – this process includes the departments listed on the slide. Capital Improvement Projects go through the following program: Identifying Needed Capital Improvement Projects Identifying Funding & Prioritizing Projects Budgeting for Capital Improvement Projects Implementation & Monitoring of Projects in the Approved CIP Budget Capital Improvement Projects frequently are large, expensive, and take multiple years to complete. Staff report on the status of the CIP to the City Council biannually and are available to present to committees or the full Council upon request. We will explore Capital Improvement Projects further in Budget 102. For now, you should know that residents can attend their Community Planning Groups to help identify project needs (Presenter point to Box #1). Additionally, residents can attend the May budget hearing to continue advocate for their projects. ***NOTE TO PRESENTERS: Only use the following if a question comes up and if you have time for detail.**** City departments that own, operate, manage, or maintain our resources—such as Public Utilities, Transportation & Storm Water, and Park & Recreation—are responsible for identifying needed capital projects. Each department has its own way of identifying needs depending on available resources. Department staff generally identifies needed CIP projects based on one or more of the following: Policy and direction from the Mayor and City Council. Legal requirements or mandates. Long- and mid-range plans. Unfunded needs lists. Condition assessments and asset management systems. Staff assessments based on repair and maintenance records, observations, and experience. City Council priorities and requests. Public input through Council (City staff are working with the Community Planners Committee (CPC) to obtain public input on community infrastructure needs for the FY 2016 CIP Budget.) Once projects are identified, they must be prioritized and budgeted for. The General Fund is not a primary source of funding for the CIP. Asset-owning department staff—working with the Mayor, City Council, and appropriate City Departments—identifies funding for proposed projects, but must do so within several constraints: Needs greatly exceed available resources so there are competing priorities for limited funds. Many of the funding sources for capital improvement projects have restrictions on how they can be spent, including on a specific project type, such as water system or transportation, and/or within a certain community When the asset owning department ranks priorities on the list, these are key factors that they weigh: Impact on health and safety (25%) Impact of deferring the project (15%) Community Investment (10%) To fund capital improvements projects there are multiple funding sources grant specific projects, fees, etc. During the CIP budget process, the Financial Management team works with the Council & the Mayor to find funds and budget appropriately so that we have an approved budget. ***Once the budget is approved Engineering & Capital Projects (E&CP) is primarily responsible for implementation and management of approved projects from the CIP Budget (as shown below). In a few cases, such as if a department has specialized needs, the asset-owning department will perform project management functions.
- (Presenter: This calendar is in the handout. Walk people through the budget timeline.) February – Council adopts Budget Priorities Resolution & transmits to the Mayor Feb/March - Chief Operating Officer, the Mayor and the Chief Financial Officer develop the annual budget working with City Departments April – The Mayor releases proposed annual budget April /May - Council holds public hearings and committee meetings to deliberate the budget June – The Mayor and Council final decisions, budget adoption, &veto periods if necessary. (Presenter: this means there may be some back and forth between the Mayor and the Council.) July – New Fiscal Year begins and the budget takes effect!
- (Presenter: This is in the handout. Walk people through the example.) 1) Identify your need - Bring Attention to Your Need 2) Get on the priority list 3) Petition for funding 4) Continue to Advocate (Visits, Calls, Press) 5) Make sure you know when it will be implemented! (Presenter: Choose 1 example or use your own) 1) And like the youth of Mid City CAN , you too can advocate for your project…. One youth, a skater, had been hit by a car. He and his friends decided that they need a safe place to skate. They succeeded in getting press and even spoke at the budget hearings to share their neighborhood’s need for a skate park. After much petitioning and work with the council, these youth have a promise from the Mayor that their skate park will be implemented! 2)And like the residents of the San Diego Organizing Project (SDOP), that advocated for walk-able sidewalks, you too can advocate for your project…
- No role is too great or too small. Both the community planning groups and the community plans have formal power recognized by the city. They are spaces where you can get active in advocating for for your projects. You may even consider joining your planning group’s board. There are opportunities to give input to the community planning groups, contact your council members and attending the budget hearings. Also, you can participate in the budget teach-in and our upcoming workshops to learn more about the budget and/or advocate for your project. Consider joining the Community Budget Alliance through your local non-profit. (Presenter: Pass out the sign in sheet AND evaluation forms with pens.)
- Remind folks of the resources available (read the slide above). Encourage them to get on our email list (they can do it from their smart phone), ask them to LIKE us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter. This will help promote a high level of engagement. Are there any questions or comments? Field questions. If you do not know answer, that is okay. Take down their info – check in with CPI’s team and follow up with the person who had the question as soon as possible. Thank them for their time.