Budget Advocacy in the Age of COVID-19 Webinar May 5, 2020 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Budget Advocacy in the Age of COVID-19 Webinar May 5, 2020 10:00-11:30am

Welcome! We’ll begin in a few minutes.

Using the chat function, share what city/region you work in. Make sure you send to attendees as well, not just panelists!

All panelists and attendees

Meeting Crisis with Courage: A COVID-19 Budget Webinar for Advocates and Policymakers

Take a deep breath and get present.

“Meeting Crisis With Courage” budget playbook brief is available at: http:/www.advancementprojectca.org/covid

Working Agreements & Zoom Basics

• We invite you to stay present
• We have kept attendees on mute with your videos off
• This webinar is being recorded and will be shared with all

those who registered.

• Use the Chat, Raise Hand, and Q&A functions to engage

Featured Speakers

Asad Baig Anisha Hingorani Daniel Wherley Jacky Guerrero Mike Russo Sandra Celedon President and CEO Fresno Building Healthy Communities

Advancement Project CA – Equity in Community Investments team Local Budget Advocacy Leader

Agenda

I – Understanding budget history to shape our future II – Budgeting in the COVID-19 era III – Building power and demanding accountability IV – Making equity essential

Understanding Budget History to Shape Our Future

How We Got Here – The Long Legacy of Proposition 13

Capping property taxes led to a severely reduced revenue base for communities, with many cascading impacts . . .

• Localities with fewer revenue-raising tools – over-reliant on

unsteady, regressive local revenue sources

• Federal and state support bridged gaps – with caveats
• Shrinking allocations to public services and schools –

proportionately more devoted to law enforcement and incarceration

• Expanding racial inequities

Budget History – The Education Example

$- $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000

1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

K-12 Spending Per Student California New York US Avg Minus CA

Conduct a budget analysis to help tell the story of inequitable Great Recession recovery

• Conduct a 12-year budget analysis of key departments;

revenues, expenditures, and staffing numbers

• Understand the projected deficit amount; use that to

inform your strategy and approach

Advocate Recommendation:

Budget History – A Fresno City Example

20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20

Fresno City Budget History (FY06=100)

GF Revenues Police GF PARCS GF

Budgeting in the COVID-19 Era

CARES Act Overview CARES Act California Overview

State Perspectives

• $7 billion response plan through June; 75% reimbursed by federal resources.
• May Revision will include additional public health expenditures and a first wave of cuts.
• Revenue uncertainty will require the adoption of a "placeholder" budget in June.
• Once the revenue picture clears, supplemental budget processes are expected in late summer through

the end of 2020. Local Perspectives

• Erosion of flexible revenues such as sales, hotel, and business taxes for cities and counties. Property

taxes are expected drop off more slowly in ordinary recessions.

• School districts rely heavily on state funding and distance learning is increasing the demand.
• Like the state, placeholder budgets and supplemental processes are expected.

State and Local Policy

• Prioritize direct aid to the most vulnerable communities, because

until everyone is safe, everyone is at risk.

• Use federal and state funding to complement and expand health-

promoting programs.

• Adhere to built-in equity principles such as K-12 Title I grants,

CDBG funds, and special-purpose funds.

Policymaker Recommendation

Match Funds to Community Needs

Take 3 deep breaths…

Build Power, Demand Accountability

• Local budget development processes were already insular and

inaccessible pre-COVID-19.

• City Councils and Boards of Supervisors have cancelled community

meetings and are holding meetings virtually with varying levels of success.

• Public documents are not linguistically or physically accessible
• Public participation options are limited and inconsistent
• Elected officials are harder to engage with between meetings,

raising serious public accountability and transparency concerns

Public Budgeting & Community Participation Issues

Local power-building & rapid response strategies Sandra Celedon President and CEO Fresno Building Healthy Communities

Advocate Recommendation:

• Create Alliances and Align with Community

Policymaker Recommendations:

• Ensure an Open Budget Process
• Connect with community members regularly
• Publish a budget calendar and relevant documents
• Provide translation and interpretation for meetings
• Create multi-modal approaches to public comment
• Commit to full transparency on how stimulus funds are used
• Create a Community COVID-19 Task Force

Quick Poll:

Which recommendation would you like more of a strategic deep dive on in a future webinar?

• Conduct a Budget Analysis
• Create Alliances and Align with Community
• Ensure an Open Budget Process
• Create a Community COVID-19 Task Force

Making Equity Essential in the COVID-19 Era

• Policymakers responded to budget shortfalls caused by the Great Recession by

making a combination of the following approaches to balance their budgets:

• Cutting spending in programs and services;
• Restructuring departments;
• Privatizing services;
• Eliminating positions; and
• Drawing from reserves.
• Meanwhile, protecting and or increasing spending for public safety and

business supports under the claim that these were essential services.

Lessons from the Great Recession

Case Study Examples from the Impacts of the Great Recession

Jurisdiction Responses Fresno (city)

• Between 2009 and 2013, the city’s parks budget was reduced by 53%.
• During these years, the city shifted to a privatization and volunteer models to
• perate and maintain many of its parks and community centers.

Los Angeles (city)

• In 2009, the Commission for Children, Youth, and Their Families (CCYF) was

reorganized into another department that soon after was dissolved, the commission in the end going defunct. Merced (county)

• Starting in 2009, the county began a series of cuts to its Medical Assistance

Program (MAP), a health safety net program that served more than 1,400

• residents. By 2016, this incremental process left the program with no remaining

staff or beneficiaries.

• The “essential service” narrative paved the way for disproportionate

law enforcement suppression of communities of color and racialized displacement and gentrification.

• Justice demands that this recovery, unlike the previous one, must

take a racial equity approach.

• This is vital for Black, Latino, Indigenous, and immigrant communities

who are confronting longstanding inequities.

Demanding Justice in a COVID-19 Response

Advocate Recommendations:

• Redefine the narrative and make the affirmative case for

investment;

• Advocate for equitable use of federal, state, and local revenues;

Making Equity Essential in the COVID-19 Response

Policymaker Recommendations:

• Apply a racial equity lens to all COVID-19 related policy and

budget shifts.

Advocate Recommendations

Be ready for the long haul:

• Prepare for a second round of budget deliberations in late summer

and early fall, and perhaps even an additional round at the end of the year (mostly applicable to counties and school districts).

• Prepare for sustained budget engagement with coalition partners

and policymakers.

• Keep an eye open towards new revenue opportunities such as

Schools and Communities First initiative.

Local power-building & rapid response strategies Sandra Celedon President and CEO Fresno Building Healthy Communities

Moment of reflection

Which of the strategies mentioned today are most helpful to your work? What additional information would you like to see future webinars address? Please respond in the chat box.