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Open PBB Data at Work in Longmont, CO

, | October 2, 2019 | By

"The City of Longmont is providing public access to the online Priority Based Budgeting tool (Open PBB Data) that helps staff make budget decisions. This sophisticated tool allows you to review City budgets based on multiple variables, including type of program, department, and quartile ranking, and to compare Longmont's budget to that of other organizations that use this tool."

The City of Longmont, Colorado is committed to sharing city data with the public to increase transparency, accountability, customer service, and empower citizens with the ability to harness a vast array of useful information to improve life in the city.

Longmont Open PBB Data is specifically designed to transparently share all the city’s priority based budgeting data. Through this Open PBB Data set, the community will now have the opportunity to:

  • Translates the city’s line-item budget into a program budget

  • Reveals the prioritization of every program in the city budget

  • Show exactly how much it costs the city to deliver every program (service)

  • Demonstrate exactly how much city staff support is required to deliver every program (service)

  • Exhibit the relevance of each program (service) in relation to community results

  • Show if a program is mandated (by Federal, State or local government) to be delivered

  • Demo if the city is a sole provider of a program or if others (public or private entity) are delivering similar programs

  • Present the level of reliance on the city citizens have for program delivery

  • Reveal program level revenue and if fee-based programs pay for themselves

  • Demonstrate the level in which every single city program impacts community results

Open PBB Data is the premier open data site in the nation. Never before have cities had the ability to share such comprehensive program level data with their citizens. With Longmont Open PBB Data citizens will be able to:

  • Obtain a thorough understanding of all the programs the city delivers, what it costs to deliver programs, and understand whether the programs contribute to community results

  • Understand exactly what programs are funded through tax dollars

  • Evaluate and analyze how city programs impact community results

  • Communicate with the city to evolve the prioritization of programs

  • Longmont business owners and other public entities will have an opportunity to evaluate all the city programs to determine where partnership opportunities exist

The City administration implemented a PBB process in 2014. Considered a best practice in government finance, the PBB analysis has been used to develop the city's 2016 - 2020 budgets to make improvements on how city resources are deployed, and identify opportunities to reduce costs and increase effectiveness of city services.

This process ultimately reflects "program metrics" that identifies the influences, measurements and factors that are most critical to achieving the result. See full result definitions and outcomes here.

The PBB information can be accessed from the City’s website at Longmont Open PBB Data. Here citizens can find a more detailed explanation of priority based budgeting plus full access to the city's budget data.

The City of Longmont is now the 22nd municipality in Colorado to implement priority based budgeting, joining many other neighboring communities in this innovative approach to ensuring a city’s long-term financial sustainability and will ultimately allow the City of Longmont to also serve its residents in the most effective, efficient and fiscally responsible manner possible.

Contact us to discover more about PBB and how to transparently bring your PBB data to life!