Redmond seeks volunteers for Budgeting by Priorities process

In 2008, the Redmond City Council and Mayor John Marchione instituted a new way of budgeting for the City of Redmond. This innovative budgeting process, called Budgeting by Priorities (BP), developed the city’s 2009/2010 budget, set performance measures and moved the focus of the budget toward services and programs valued most by residents.

February 4, 2010 3:13 pm

In 2008, the Redmond City Council and Mayor John Marchione instituted a new way of budgeting for the City of Redmond. This innovative budgeting process, called Budgeting by Priorities (BP), developed the city’s 2009/2010 budget, set performance measures and moved the focus of the budget toward services and programs valued most by residents.

The city will soon begin the process again for the 2011/2012 biennial budget and needs members of the community to volunteer for a very important part of the effort, which is to become a member of one of the six Results Teams.

One Result Team is formed for each budget priority. The priorities, developed in 2008 with citizen involvement, are Business Vitality, Clean and Green Environment, Community Building, Infrastructure and Growth, Responsible Government and Safety.

The tasks of the Results Team members are to create the framework of what will most likely achieve the priority and how it will be measured. These frameworks (or Requests for Offers) are used by departments as the basis for making their budget offers. The Results Teams also rank the offers based on their likelihood to contribute towards the priority and recommend to the Mayor which offers should be considered for inclusion into the draft budget.

“The hard work performed by the Result Team citizen volunteers in 2008 contributed to the success of our 2009/2010 budget, continuing to perform essential services while holding the line on taxes,” stated Marchione. “I look forward to working closely with those who step forward for selection this year.”

Interested Redmond residents or those with a business in Redmond are encouraged to apply by sending a letter of interest to mayor@redmond.gov. Volunteer requirements include the flexibility to meet with city staff during regular business hours and ability to devote up to 80 working hours between March and July 2010. Applications will be accepted for consideration until Feb. 19.

For more information about these volunteer positions or the BP process, contact the Mayor’s Office at (425) 556-2101 or mayor@redmond.gov.