Finance experts share their advice for ways cities of all sizes can improve their budget processes and build public trust.

David Goldman (left) is deputy city administrator and finance director for the City of Oak Harbor, serves on numerous committees with the Government Finance Officers Association, and is a member of the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Council. He has worked for more than 25 years in municipal finance roles from Florida and California to Washington.

Mike Bailey (right) spent several decades working as finance director for cities throughout Washington and now serves as an independent consultant helping cities in Washington and Colorado implement priority-based budgeting strategies.

Here are some ways they say cities can effectively implement new methods for budgeting that incorporate innovative approaches and increase collaboration.

1. Break the bad news. Nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news. But when city staff waits until the last minute to share bad news with superiors or elected officials, it can lead to finger-pointing and create an emergency that robs leaders of valuable time to plan for a solution. “If there’s bad news, just show it,” says Goldman. “And make sure that the people who need to make the decisions—whether it’s other departments, a city manager, or elected officials—are aware of what the issue is, what the research and background are, and some scenarios that can mitigate the situation before it gets out of hand.”
2. Partner with elected officials. It’s important to build trusting relationships between city staff and elected officials with open communication and information sharing. “Staff tends to come from a technical perspective, whereas elected officials are the ones closest to the people,” says Goldman. When staff shares data, background, and subject-matter expertise, elected officials can apply that to their decision-making and come to solutions that address issues in a way that is most palatable for the community.
3. Meet people where they are at. These days, city business is being discussed far beyond the occasional city council meeting. Find out where your community tends to be actively talking about issues—whether that’s Reddit, Facebook, or other social media websites—and look for ways to engage with them there.
4. Clear up misconceptions. Miscommunication and misinformation can spread quickly on social media. Simple misunderstandings or half-truths about complex financial topics posted by one community member can be assumed to be true by many others. That can lead to large groups of people getting upset, voicing anger toward councilmembers, and even confusing their own understanding of an issue. “You might think you’ve explained everything to the city council, given your city manager and mayor all the background they need, and all of a sudden people show up making comments that can confuse the situation,” says Goldman. By being proactive and jumping into online forums to clear up those details, cities can address misinformation early, before it snowballs.
5. Simplify complexity. Don’t rely on a budget book that is hundreds of pages thick and hard to understand. Instead, focus on breaking down complex concepts and putting things in bite-sized pieces so people—both elected officials and the general public—can better understand how the complexities of municipal finance can be worked through. “People like to talk about how city finance is just like running a household, but that doesn’t always make sense,” says Goldman, who’s working to create dozens of short videos explaining all aspects of municipal finance for his city, ranging from Oak Harbor’s budget process and annual financial statements to revenues and resources, bonds and loans, and how property taxes work in Washington state.
6. Get the public engaged. “A lot of times, public involvement is limited to the public hearing, but by that time, the budget is pretty cooked and not a lot is going to change,” says Bailey. “Public involvement needs to be done right up front and effectively.” That can come in the form of nominating formal budget committees, distributing public surveys, holding neighborhood meetings with listening sessions, conducting interactive workshops using software tools, visioning exercises, or simple quadratic voting activities (a voting method that reflects the strength of people’s preferences in collective decisions).
7. Try something new and iterate. If you don’t know where to start, just start somewhere. “Don’t let the fact that you’ve never done it and you’re uncertain about how much time it’ll take stop you from trying or taking that first step,” says Goldman. Although smaller cities have fewer resources than larger ones, he says there are ways to figure out how to redefine processes and do things more efficiently with technology. Also, because many city workers in smaller cities are forced to wear multiple hats, they often have more direct access to seeing how things run and being able to talk directly to the people doing the work.