Haverhill staff describe new 10-year budget model and collaborative, performance-based process

City auditor and chief financial officer Angel A. Perkins told the Haverhill City Council the administration has expanded its budget process to include a collaborative budget team, a 10-year projection and performance-based elements intended to prioritize capital projects and reduce last-minute funding requests.

"We've we've kind of gone through a budget model, which has included a 10 year projection," Perkins said, describing sessions with department heads, council members and a school committee representative to review reserves, debt capacity and capital planning.

Perkins said the effort aims to rank capital requests against consistent criteria — public safety, legal obligation, prior starts and overall city benefit — and to identify what can be paid ‘‘pay-as-you-go’’ versus what requires borrowing. She described the work as producing a set of charts and analyses used to test scenarios and…