South Pasadena Wants Your Input On City Budget

Press release from the City of South Pasadena:

May 4, 2020

The City of South Pasadena is facing financial challenges as a result of the current economic climate and needs feedback from residents regarding priorities for City resources.

Due to the health crisis and social distancing guidelines, the City has created a fully digital community budget engagement program. The platform includes visual information about the municipal budget accompanied by narratives from each department, an interactive activity that allows residents to adjust the priorities for city departments and see the tradeoffs of their choices, and a survey on specific City services and programs.

The community budget engagement program was developed by staff to facilitate a dialogue between residents and the City to better understand community priorities for future spending.

• Learn more about the City’s Budget
• Review department goals for Fiscal Year 2020-21
• Provide input on priorities through survey

The City will be collecting responses to the survey from May 4, 2020 through May 17, 2020. Following that, a draft budget will be presented to the Finance Commission and the City Council at public meetings. The City Council is scheduled to adopt a budget on June 17, 2020.

The Budget serves as a “blueprint” for providing City services and as a working financial plan for the fiscal year. It reflects City policies, goals, and priorities and provides an overall plan for allocating City resources to a variety of programs and services. The budget process has evolved with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on the economy. The City of South Pasadena forecasts immediate budget deficits that will hinder its ability to maintain service levels. While there are many uncertainties and changes that will inevitably dictate the City’s financial future we will be proposing a budget to serve as a reference point for the city’s future plans.

If you would like to participate in the budget process, please visit our website or submit your comment to: budget@southpasadenaca.gov.

This press release was produced by the City of South Pasadena. The views expressed here are the author’s own.