TITLE
A Resolution of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, creating a policy requiring that County authorities, agencies, and boards receiving funding from the County's adopted annual budget(s) provide information to the County annually regarding budget priorities, information on the cost effectiveness and success of programs being pursued, and tying any requests for increased allocations to those priorities and programs.
BODY
WHEREAS, the Home Rule Charter of Allegheny County vests final budget authority with Allegheny County Council; and
WHEREAS, as the majority of the funding that is appropriated comes from the taxpayers of Allegheny County, County Council, in exercising its budget authority, must remain accountable to the County taxpayers by ensuring that funding priorities are clear and that the programs it funds are cost-effective; and
WHEREAS, in order to set funding priorities and make informed budget decisions, the Council must have clear information regarding the authorities, agencies, and boards that request appropriations, including information on program and project cost-effectiveness, and documentation of predicted and actual outcomes; and
WHEREAS, County authorities, agencies, and boards currently provide extensive budget data, but have not explicitly been asked by Council to identify ongoing budget priorities or to provide clear information on the cost-effectiveness of programs or initiatives; and
WHEREAS, although County authorities, agencies, and boards have done extensive work on strategic plans and performance measures, these measures have not been formally linked to decisions on resource allocation by the County;
The Council of the County of Allegheny hereby resolves as follows:
SECTION 1.
A. It shall be the policy of Allegheny County to require County authorities, agencies, and boards receiving funding from the County's adopted annual budget(s) to provide annual information on budget priorities, the cost effectiveness and success of programs being pursued, and to tie any requests for increased allocations to those priorities and programs. Such practice shall begin in 2005 and continue each year thereafter.
1. A budget priority is a specific item(s) or action(s) that is deemed to be particularly important for the improvement or continuation of any service or program offered by a County authority, agency or board in the coming year and may include:
a. Expanding staff;
b. Purchasing new equipment;
c. Developing new data processing capabilities;
d. Otherwise improving office efficiency;
e. Renovating or expanding facilities; and
f. Implementing new service programs.
Budget priorities from previous years that require continued funding should be treated as current budget priorities.
2. County authorities, agencies, and boards shall be those entities that fall under the definitions provided in § 5-101.03 of the Administrative Code and that are specifically listed in §§ 5-203.01, 5-215.01, and 5-215.03 respectively.
SECTION 2.
A. On or before August 31 of each year, all County authorities, agencies, and boards requesting or receiving funding from the County's adopted annual budget(s) shall submit a budget request to County Council and the Chief Executive. The budget request shall include the following information:
1. Budget priorities for the next budget year including the specific funding request;
2. Goals and initiatives for the services and programs offered by the authority, agency, or board for the coming year and a narrative explaining how the budget priorities will aid in achieving those goals and initiatives;
3. Performance evaluations of each service and program that will allow Council to assess the results achieved with prior funding. The evaluations should rate:
a. The effectiveness of services and programs that relate to the budget priorities and should correlate with the stated goals of the service or program; and
b. The evaluations should also include the methods and information used to review program effectiveness and highlight the successes and improvement needs for each.
4. Funding requests by each County authority, agency, or board for the coming budget year should be related to the successes or improvement needs for each service and program as revealed by the performance evaluations and the cost effectiveness of each service and program.
B. The provided information shall include a breakdown and narrative explaining what authority, agency, or board funds were expended on each service and program.
C. The specific format for submission of this information shall be conveyed to the appropriate authorities, agencies, and board prior to the submission deadline.
SECTION 3.
Notice of the passage of this Resolution shall be provided by the Chief Clerk to all entities listed in §§ 5-203.01, 5-215.01, and 5-215.03 of the Administrative Code.
SECTION 4.
If any provision of this Resolution shall be determined to be unlawful, invalid, void or unenforceable, then that provision shall be considered severable from the remaining provisions of this Resolution which shall be in full force and effect.
SECTION 5.
Any Resolution or Ordinance or part thereof conflicting with the provisions of this Resolution is hereby repealed so far as the same affects this Resolution.