The background
At a Feb. 14 council meeting, Whyte proposed a wider conversation about using a zero-based budget for the city of San Antonio’s fiscal year 2024-25 cycle.
City staff use the council-approved budget from the previous fiscal year to prepare the next year’s budget, utilizing allocated dollars for each city department and function as a starting point.
Whyte said a zero-based budget starts from a “zero base"—where city departments and functions are allocated no dollars as a starting point—and could permit local leaders to better examine every city department and function, and their needs and priorities.
Before his election to council in 2023, Whyte said he campaigned for greater scrutiny on the city’s budgeting process. Whyte also said budgets are built around necessities required in the upcoming fiscal period with staff from every department being asked to justify their budgeted dollars.
What they’re saying
Whyte said a report from the Government Finance Officers Association indicates zero-based budgeting is more accurate, and its use is more beneficial to a local government because relying on traditional budgeting methods means a city government could base a budget on past spending patterns that are no longer guaranteed.
“We need to start over and look at how money is spent. A zero-based budget gives us the best chance to ensure that money is spent in a way that gives residents the best return on investment while increasing accountability and transparency,” Whyte said in a statement.
City Manager Erik Walsh said he agreed there are some factors and processes in budget development that no longer are needed or could be updated to reflect current needs. But Walsh also said he and city staffers would require more time to determine whether zero-based budgeting could be applicable to developing San Antonio's budget.
“We do not do incremental budgeting here. We strip out things from the prior year and build back up, but we don’t go all the way to zero,” Walsh said. “Maybe some variation of that is helpful.”
Council members, including Marina Aldrete Gavito of District 7, said a semblance of zero-based budgeting could help council members further focus on what their own constituents need in their community.
“Getting us to a version of zero-based budgeting allows us to build a budget around what those priorities are,” Aldrete Gavito said.
Council members and city department heads will not begin development of the FY 2024-25 budget until later this spring.