Somerville counts on wonks-in-training for budget overhaul
It was an unlikely scene last fall, as 60 students from a graduate course on budgeting at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government descended on Somerville City Hall and its departmental outposts. Divided into teams of four or five, students sat with firefighters at their stations and hopped on trucks when calls came in. Some were at the elbows of election officials at polling places on November 2. Others sat with senior police officers going over arrest procedures.
Somerville counts on wonks-in-training for budget overhaul
By Robert Preer
It was an unlikely scene last fall, as 60 students from a graduate course on budgeting at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government descended on Somerville City Hall and its departmental outposts. Divided into teams of four or five, students sat with firefighters at their stations and hopped on trucks when calls came in. Some were at the elbows of election officials at polling places on November 2. Others sat with senior police officers going over arrest procedures.
This curious collaboration—all the more striking because of Harvard’s rarified reputation and Somerville’s sometimes unsavory past—was designed to introduce to the city a new form of financial management known as activity-based budgeting. The student teams were undertaking an exercise known as activity mapping—trying to determine exactly what municipal departments do and how they do it. The information would be used in a new budgeting process meant to direct resources where they are most needed, not just where they’ve always gone.
“They are a very energetic group of kids,” says Fire Chief Kevin Kelleher. “After our first meeting, I came into my office the next day and had five different e-mails from them.”
The project came about as a result of a seminar the Kennedy School held more than a year ago for new mayors from around the country. Professor Linda Bilmes spoke about activity-based budgeting to the group, which included Somerville’s Joseph Curtatone. The alderman who had just been elected mayor was so fascinated that he followed Bilmes to her next class. After subsequent talks, the two hit upon the plan to use her students to bring activity-based budgeting to Somerville.
Activity-based budgeting contrasts sharply with the standard line-item method, which typically starts with last year’s numbers and goes up or down slightly, depending on projected revenue. Activity-based budgeting starts by identifying functions that organizations perform, then breaking out their cost. For example, if a city picks up roadkill, there are the salary and benefits costs of the employees who do the scooping up; their supervisors, the expense of disposal of the carcasses, plus the cost of vehicles, insurance, fuel, shovels, and so on. When the functions and their costs are determined, more thoughtful choices can be made about how to spend money.
“It gives you a different way of thinking about managing a city,” says Bilmes. “It can be a powerful tool.”
The first step is to dissect the functions of government and figure out exactly what departments do. This is a very labor-intensive process, which was where the Harvard students came in. To encourage the 97 students in the class to
Photo caption:
Linda Bilmes and Mayor Joseph Curtatone: unlikely allies for budget reform.