About the Citizens' Budget Project

In November, 2003, the Performance Institute launched the "San Diego Citizens' Budget Project"-an initiative that would study the city's budget with the objective of identifying cost savings and performance improvement reforms during the FY 2005 budget cycle. This project builds on the highly successful "California Citizens’ Budget Project" completed by the Institute in 2003 that became the impetus behind Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's California Performance Review.

The San Diego Citizens’ Budget Project would provide the "local" government model for the application of performance, accountability, competition and transparency reforms. In addition to providing ideas on how the City could balance its budget in FY 2005 and beyond, the project seeks to focus the city, stakeholders, media and the general public on long-term reforms to the city's budget and management processes.

The project was divided into four phases, with the Institute organizing a nine-member expert budget research team comprised of its staff and independent contractors to perform the project's analysis at each phase.

• Define the Problem: The Institute would first review the financials of the City with the goal of calculating the real size of the City's operating deficit and other financial and citizen service challenges.

• PI Options Report: The Institute would catalogue a wide range of "options" for achieving cost savings and performance improvements in each of the City's General Fund departments. Options would come from an expert review of the City's budget data, interviews with City officials, reforms implemented by other City and county governments, and suggestions submitted by the San Diego City employees, the public and outside stakeholder groups.

• Stimulate Dialogue: The Institute would convene two public "Town Hall" dialogues to stimulate public dialogue on the City's budget, with one held on March 18 focusing on "Budget Problems" and one on May 18 focusing on "Budget Options." Pursuant to an agreement negotiated with the Mayor’s Office, the Institute delayed its first public dialogue on "Budget Problems" until after the March Mayoral Primary Election in return for access to City data. Additionally, the Institute invited the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the San Diego County Taxpayers Association to co-sponsor both pubic dialogues. Both public dialogues provided the project with invaluable feedback on issues to research and what options compiled during the research phase might be most feasible politically and operationally.

• Take Action: During this final phase, the Performance Institute would issue a report with final recommendations reflecting the best and most feasible government reforms that the City should immediately adopt. This "San Diego Citizens’ Budget Plan" provides those recommendations. In addition to providing a budget plan, the Institute will continue to work with elected leaders to implement these reforms. Absent action by elected leaders, the Institute anticipates bringing reforms directly to the people through the ballot initiative process.

Finally, the Institute has created a website at www.sandiegobudget.org where the general public can access a variety of information on the service performance and budget challenges faced by the City of San Diego. This resource will maintained throughout the year, leading up to the FY 2006 budget process.