Modernizing Budgeting: A Transformational Shift to Priority-Based Budgeting

This program uses interactive sessions to teach the process of implementing priority-based budgeting and applying the data to budget creation and decision making.

In 21^st century local government organizations, program and priority-based budgeting are becoming more sought-after approaches. In contrast to traditional budgeting models, priority-based budgets align resources and funding with community priorities and outcomes. This builds a data-rich budget organized in terms relevant to how residents experience local government services, creating transparency and a better understanding of where funds are used and how they align with what is important to the community.

Local governments have been clinging to the same incremental budgeting approaches for decades. In fact, the practice of line-item budgeting recently passed the 100-year mark. This type of budgeting creates a use-it-or-lose-it mentality and promotes across-the-board budget cuts that don’t consider factors other than a percentage, making it difficult to connect funding with strategic goals or performance metrics.

Speaker and Presenter Information

Chris Fabian, Senior Director of Product Strategy for Budgeting at Tyler Technologies

Chris Fabian is senior director of product strategy for Budgeting at Tyler Technologies. Previously he was the founder and CEO of both the Center for Priority Based Budgeting and Resource Exploration (ResourceX) Technologies, before ResourceX was acquired by Tyler in 2023. As co-founder of ResourceX, Chris Fabian helped more than 300 schools and local governments implement priority-based budgeting. Priority Based Budgeting, powered by ResourceX, is a budgeting application that leverages machine learning and AI to predict and identify priority-based budgeting opportunities. Priority Based Budgeting helps school districts reallocate resources to meet desired outcomes of programs and services while saving money.