Catch-Up Update

Staffing

• Administrative Clerk, Flor Magallanes, continues to support PB efforts. In October 2020, interim PB coordinator Allision Mattioli transitioned to another role and Felicia Flores became the City's new contact for PB

Program Status

• PB was put on hold as of March 2020 due to COVID. The vote for cycle 7 did not take place as originally planned given the high reliance on in-person outreach efforts for community engagement and voting.
• The program continues to be on pause pending Steering Committee discussion and City Council guidance. This continues to be a focus of the PBSC.

Funding Allocation

• The Fiscal Year 20-21 budget called for the use of the following tools to help stave off financial impacts associated with COVID:

  (1) Reduce costs, most notably the freezing of non-public safety vacancies, producing salary savings. (2) Decrease discretionary spending (3) Deferral of capital projects, and large vehicle and equipment purchases (4) Judicious use of a small portion of our rainy-day cash reserves

• Because of the items listed above, PB funding allocation was reduced from $1,000,000 to $500,000 in the Fiscal Year 20-21 budget. This decision was explained in the Budget Letter -

  • One notable recommended discretionary spending reduction is in the Participatory Budgeting Program (PB). The proposed budget does not eliminate the program but calls to reduce the $1 million allocation to $500,000 for FY 20-21. Other discretionary spending, like the Participatory Budgeting, will also be reduced. We recognize that the City Council has been extremely supportive of funding our vast array of community programs, particularly in the areas of arts & culture, as well as youth programs, and that as a City, we are proud of the community engagement reflected in the PB process. For this next fiscal year, it is recommended that the PB program be modified to focus more so on concentrating the available funding on a reduced number of projects, particularly focusing on those priority areas of youth and arts & culture projects. Additionally, this next fiscal year, it will be necessary for staff to focus efforts toward modifying this program, which historically has been heavily dependent on in-person community engagement, to adapt to our “new normal.”

Administrative Updates

• Going into Cycle 7, there was a backlog of open projects. We have been working behind the scenes to check in with implementing partners, reconcile funding (including an internal audit and review of project balances and spending), and move pending projects forward, including executing some amendments to extend the term of grant agreements.
• City Staff continues to share progress updates at each PB Steering Committee meeting