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March 29, 2016 <br /> <br /> <br /> The New Portsmouth where city employees work tirelessly to make the best <br />decisions necessary to achieve our city’s vision and move in a forward direction <br />characterized by methodical deliberation and expediency. <br /> <br /> The New Portsmouth where employees are courageous decision makers with <br />financial acuity, to ensure cost effectiveness, government efficiency, and protection over <br />the city’s financial resources. <br /> <br />The theme for the FY 2017 budget process is Review, Reflect and Refocus: <br /> <br /> Review – taking a formal assessment or examination of all aspects of <br />department budgets with the possibility or intention of instituting change where <br />necessary <br /> <br /> Reflect – think deeply and carefully about the department goals and formulate <br />cost-effective plans with careful consideration for all budget recommendations <br /> <br /> Refocus – focus (attention and resources) on performing work differently, setting <br />priorities in city programs or using different approaches to the delivery of services <br /> <br />through combining services and collaboration <br /> <br />The guiding questions for the budget discussions were: <br /> <br /> <br /> Who benefits from the services? <br /> <br /> <br /> How we can improve the results? <br /> <br /> <br /> How are the results related to the Council’s Vision Principles? <br /> <br /> <br /> How can there be interdepartmental collaboration for these services? <br /> <br />In addition, departments ranked the five (5) lowest services and potential impact to <br />citizens to provide a blueprint for discussion at each of the thirty-seven budget defense <br />meetings. This was done to eliminate duplication of services, to maintain financial <br /> <br />acuity, and to ensure efficient service delivery. <br />In addition to NO NEW TAXES and NO NEW FEES, some of the highlights in this <br />message are: <br /> <br /> Increasing the city’s local share for Portsmouth Public Schools by $1 million. <br /> <br /> Implementing an unprecedented approach to address the school’s infrastructure <br />needs through funding the top ten capital improvement projects in the first year of the <br />Capital Improvement Program (CIP). <br /> <br /> Rewarding and recognizing the city’s public servants through a one-time bonus <br />effective December 2016. <br /> <br /> Reserving funds for Governor McAuliffe’s proposed 2% increase for <br />Constitutional Officers and their employees effective December 2016. <br /> <br />Collaboration among Stakeholders <br />As we work toward building “The New Portsmouth”, the proposed annual operating <br />budget and proposed Capital Improvement Program (CIP) five-year plan are reflective <br />of a multi-step process that involved the entire organization as well as the Portsmouth <br />Public Schools, and citizens within our community. In working together, we identified <br />savings through efficiencies and collaboration. <br />The value of this multi-step approach highlighted several areas: interrelatedness of <br />activities, increased knowledge and appreciation of each other’s work within the <br />organization, and a greater sense of cooperation and coordination. Because of this <br />approach, it has led us to appropriately allocate resources driven toward the Council’s <br />Vision Principles for the Year 2030 and properly align goals and objectives. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />