Roswell Council to Discuss Priority-Based Budgeting

The Roswell Mayor & Council will get an overview of priority-based budgeting Wednesday during a special called work session. 

The meeting begins at 11 a.m. and will take place in Room 220 of City Hall, 38 Hill Street. 

Last month, the Mayor & Council approved spending $35,000 for consulting work from the Center for Priority-Based Budgeting, which will be introduced and whose representatives will outline the concept at the work session. 

The Denver-based organization says that priority-based budgeting, which came into vogue four years ago, "aligns city services and programs," and that the concept has gained more interest from local governments since the recession. 

Alliance for Innovation explains the concept this way: 

"Priority-based budgeting is a way for local governments to spend within their means by continuously focusing on theresults most relevant to their communities and the programs that influence those results to the highest possible degree. The process involves a systematic review of existing services, why they exist, what value they offer to citizens, how they benefit the community, what they cost, and what objectives and citizen demands they are achieving. Each service or program is assigned a score based on its contribution to desired results so that tax dollars can be allocated to those with the greatest impact."