Fillable Printable Community Budget Discussion Meeting Sample Agenda
Fillable Printable Community Budget Discussion Meeting Sample Agenda
Community Budget Discussion Meeting Sample Agenda
Community Budget Discussion Meeting
Sample Agenda
Set up the chairs in the room.
Place snacks, translation equipment, and directional signs where
needed.
Lay out sign-in sheets and name tags.
Check in with small group facilitators.
Lay out budget materials that may be available such as:
9 Copies of the Power Point presentation
9 City budget educational information
9 Results of compiled board budget surveys
9 Results of compiled community budget surveys (if Neighborhood
Council surveyed the community or collected other community input
data.)
Consider whether
translation services will
help people feel
welcome and more
comfortable giving
input.
Notes for Facilitators,
Committees, Boards
Agenda Sections
Set up for Meeting
Introduction & Opening of Meeting
Should take 10-15 minutes
Welcome group and thank them for participating.
Review ground rules for the meeting and introduce key folks.
Meeting Overview- explain to the group that this meeting is
for the community to give input on what the budget priorities
should be for the city and for the Neighborhood Council area
Review meeting agenda.
Review process for getting to this meeting:
1. September 9, 2006 Budget Day where Mayor:
2. Laid out his vision and plan for developing City budget and
3. Requested input from Neighborhood Councils and the communities they
represent.
4. Neighborhood Council made decision to participate in advising the
Mayor on the budget & appointed 2 Neighborhood Council budget
representatives (if Neighborhood Council chose to do so)
5. Neighborhood Council organized Community meeting to gather
additional stakeholder input
6. Board members are surveyed individually by the Mayor’s office
Review goal outcome of meeting:
Set budget priorities for Neighborhood Council based
on community input
Be positive, this may be the first time
community members interact with the
Neighborhood Council leadership.
Make people feel welcomed and
encourage their ongoing
Neighborhood Council participation.
Let community know who the two
budget representatives are if they
have already been chosen
Community Budget Discussion Meeting
Sample Agenda
City Budget “101”– optional education on City budget process
Should take 10-15 minutes
Brief (no more than 3-5 minutes) general discussion of City budget
¾Importance of budget to City and to community
¾Importance of being heard in the budget process
Go over the steps of how the city creates and approves a budget
including:
¾City’s fiscal year timeline
¾Roles of Mayor, City Council, Neighborhood Council, and
community in creation of budget
¾Opportunities that Neighborhood Council and community
have for giving input in the budget process
¾Areas covered and not covered by the city’s budget
Review any available budget education materials (optional)
¾Power Point presentation from Budget Day (if AV
equipment is available)
¾General budget information distributed by City
Administrative Officer (i.e. City budget department )
Budget Priorities Discussion– Option 1
Should take 40-60 minutes
Review any available compiled budget survey results with the group:
¾Results from the board
¾Results from community stakeholders
Begin discussion of budget priorities and budget survey questions
Announce that you will go through the budget survey questions one by
one, giving each question 5-10 minutes of discussion
Take survey questions one by one and ask community speakers to
comment on what their preferred option would be and why
After hearing a broad range of input on each of the questions, the board
votes to adopt a collective position on the survey questions
After approving the position, the board selects someone to draft a written
statement that will accompany the board position
¾The written statement should elaborate on why the board chose to go
with the position it did on the survey questions
¾The person assigned to draft the statement might cite values, conditions,
community input, or preferences that led the board to adopt the ultimate
conclusion
¾The writer of the statement might also choose to use quotes from
community members or give local examples related to a given budget
question
Please proceed to “ Meeting
Closure” section
If most of the speakers are
supporting one point of view, the
facilitator should specifically ask for
persons with a differing point of view
and call on them.
Community Budget Discussion Meeting
Sample Agenda
Review any available compiled budget survey results:
¾From the board
¾From community stakeholders
Announce that people will break into small groups (no more than 5-6
persons) to discuss the budget survey questions and lay out the
suggested discussion format
One discussion format option:
With the help of a facilitator and note taker for each small group , have
small groups look at each budget survey question one at a time and
discuss the following:
1. What is the preferred option of each group member for each
of the survey questions?
2. What are the values, reasons, or experiences that inform each
person’s preference?
3. What are possible tradeoffs—benefits or disadvantages—of
each choice?
4. Take a final poll of everyone in the group to see if their original
preferred options have changed or been modified.
5. Have one representative of each group report back to the
larger group on key points in the discussion such as:
Whether there was or was not general agreement on most of
the questions
What were some of the values and experiences that strongly
influenced people’s choices?
If there was general agreement, the most preferred options can be
reported.
If there was not general agreement, report what were the most
contentious points.
After hearing a broad range of input from each of the small groups, the
board votes to adopt a collective position on the survey questions.
After approving the position, the board selects someone to draft the
written statement that will accompany the board position
¾The written statement should elaborate on why, ultimately, the board
chose to go with the position it did on the survey questions
¾The person assigned to draft the statement might cite values,
conditions, community input, or preferences that led the board to adopt
the ultimate conclusion
¾The writer of the statement might also choose to use quotes from
community members or give local examples related to a given budget
question
Make sure that the process for
breaking into groups is decided and
planned ahead of time.
One method is to give people bits of
various colored paper as they enter the
room. At the designated time, all
persons with the same color of paper
will move into a small group together.
Make sure that small group facilitators
have been prepared and are
comfortable leading discussions
In addition to a facilitator, small groups
should also have:
9A note taker
9Someone who reminds the
group of when it’s time to
move the discussion to the
next budget question
9 Someone who reports the
results to the larger group
If the small-group option is
chosen, make sure that your
meeting site has adequate
space and seating options for
small groups to talk and still be
able to hear one another.
If most of the speakers are
supporting one point of view, the
facilitator should specifically ask for
persons with a differing point of view
and call on them.
Budget Priorities Discussion– Option 2
Should take 60-100 minutes
Please proceed to “ Meeting
Closure” section
Community Budget Discussion Meeting
Sample Agenda
Explain to group: Now we are going to end the meeting. We want to
end with an evaluation of the meeting.
¾Review next steps for follow up .
¾Ask: What worked about the meeting and what could have been
improved?
Follow up steps should be
written down and later shared
with as many board members
and stakeholders as possible.
The close of the meeting is
also a good time for
Neighborhood Councils to
remind stakeholders to fill out
volunteer cards and/or sign-up
sheets so you can add them to
your database.
Meeting Closure– should take 5-10 minutes
