The Dallas Morning News reports on the the Budgeting For Outcomes (BFO) approach being used by the City Council to prioritize spending and purchase results citizens value.
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The article, entitled, Dallas' Budget List: City finally is starting at a good place, appeared on Tuesday January 24th, 2006, and is available free via the web, for registered users.
City Manager Suhm first considered after reading David Osborne and Peter Hutchinson's book The Price of Government.
The article explains that the new budgeting for outcomes approach will drastically depart from the historical process in which council members craft annual budgets from the bottom up, "formulat[ing] their annual budgets by allocating exactly what they spent the previous year and then either snipping or adding around the edges as revenue allows.”
According the article, " departments will have to supply evidence that its strategy is the most efficient way to turn taxpayer dollars into a city that feels safe. A cross-departmental team of city employees will rank the offers submitted under each of the nine desired results, with the best at the top and the worst at the bottom. Then they'll add up the costs and draw a line at the point where all the money is spent. The offers that fall below the line don't get funded. ”
"If the council follows through and adopts the recommendations, some things that were included in this year's budget won't be included in next year's. And other things that are a better use of money will get more of it."
To learn more about the BFO approach, click here.
Any questions regarding the Dallas BFO engagement should be directed to Steve Struthers.
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