Accept the Challenge - It’s Your City Budget

 

Designing a sound city budget in today’s economy isn’t accidental. The City of Irving has embarked on a journey of constant improvement by focusing on the "voice of the customer" - a strategic approach to improving services. Using Lean Six Sigma, a private sector business practice, Irving provides a high value by sustaining relevant services and eliminating antiquated practices. Too difficult to do you say? No! Any city can do this! It is not a simple coincidence that Irving’s double ‘AAA’ bond ratings have been reaffirmed by Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s. This accomplishment results from applying business acumen and a common sense approach to government practices!

 

Citizens, it is your city budget. Despite an economic downturn, the City of Irving is embracing its 2009-10 fiscal year with thriving optimism. Our planned structurally balanced budget represents much more than simple dollars and cents. This budget service plan represents strategic service thinking, sound leadership and quality of life planning—an uncompromising city staff commitment to Irving residents.

We delight in employee-designed $12.7 million in cost-containment saving recommendations. The possible effects of a 2009 multimillion dollar revenue shortfall have been minimized for 200,000 plus Irving residents. Due to sound business practices, Irving citizens enjoy the second lowest property tax rate among Irving’s 10 benchmark cities, and the second lowest water rate based on Dallas Water Utilities’ 30 member cities.

Citizens must expect the best for their tax dollars! Long before the national recession became real for so many, we were challenging ourselves to implement process improvement, cost-containment actions. When the recession passes, Irving residents can count on their leaders to sustain improvements in services and results. Implementing new, innovative ways to reduce service costs without negatively impacting program quality is the ‘new normal’.

With 48 developmental projects in the design process and 38 under construction, Irving’s capital improvement program is active and strong. Over the next three years, several local projects will produce highly visible results which include:

• Accessible (ADA) Children’s Park and Miracle League Field

• Animal Care Complex and Dog Park

• Convention Center

• West Irving Aquatic Center and Library

Every city leader, in every municipality, must be a superior steward of citizen resources. When leaders proactively embrace this fiscal responsibility, mass city employee layoffs or emergency furloughs are avoided. Included in Irving’s city budget are pay adjustments for eligible employees and funding for employee incentive programs to produce superior service results.

With the state of the economy and the reality that large and small cities nationwide are operating with deficits, what Irving has achieved is astounding. What is more astonishing is that even though we are doing ‘more with less’, according to our 2009 Resident Survey, resident satisfaction has increased in these areas:

• Quality of Life • Public Safety

• Code Enforcement • Street and Park Maintenance

So, choose positive change over complacency! Listening to residents shapes essential budgetary ‘key focus’ areas. These areas guide investments in exceptional service delivery. I’ll continue listening and acting on citizen input to create an even ‘sunnier and brighter future’ for Irving. Our 2010-11 fiscal year budget review is already underway. Residents everywhere should demand thoughtful, proactive results from their city leaders. Sound governance, fiscal responsibility and exceptional service are non-negotiable. Accept the challenge?