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 All panelists and attendees you work in. Make sure you send to attendees as well, not just panelists!
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 Advancement Project CA – Equity in Community Investments team Local Budget Advocacy Leader Sandra Celedon President and CEO Fresno Building Healthy Asad Baig Jacky Guerrero Anisha Hingorani Communities Mike Russo Daniel Wherley
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 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 $5,000 $- 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 California 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 K-12 Spending Per Student 1983 1984 1985 New York 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 US Avg Minus CA 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Advocate Recommendation: 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
Budget History – A Fresno City Example Fresno City Budget History (FY06=100) 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 GF Revenues Police GF PARCS GF
Budgeting in the COVID-19 Era
CARES Act Overview CARES Act California Overview
State and Local Policy 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.
Policymaker Recommendation Match Funds to Community Needs • 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.
Take 3 deep breaths…
Build Power, Demand Accountability
Public Budgeting & Community Participation Issues • 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
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
Lessons from the Great Recession • 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.
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 operate 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.
Demanding Justice in a COVID-19 Response • 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.
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: • Redefine the narrative and make the affirmative case for investment; • Advocate for equitable use of federal, state, and local revenues ;
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.
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