ResourceX presents priority-based budgeting data and next steps to Green Bay finance committee

Chris Fabian of ResourceX and Jesse, head of customer success for the ResourceX team, presented the company’s priority-based budgeting (PBB) work for the City of Green Bay at an October meeting of the Finance Committee.

ResourceX told the committee it had created a program inventory and program-cost dataset intended to show how city resources align with strategic priorities. The vendors reported they identified 385 programs and services covering roughly $276 million of the city’s budget; they also said about $225 million of that total was categorized as “high impact” (programs most aligned with the city’s stated strategies), while roughly 59 programs were categorized as least aligned and represented about 5% of the budget.

The vendors described the PBB approach as a complement to line-item budgeting that tags programs by factors such as degree of mandate, public reliance, alignment with community strategies (for example, equitable community development, public safety and 21st-century infrastructure) and governance strategies (organizational excellence and employee recruitment/engagement). Jesse described an “impact matrix” that maps program cost against program impact to surface candidate actions: efficiency opportunities, service-level trade-offs, partnerships and revenue ideas.

ResourceX said the dataset will be used to generate program-specific “insights” and implementation plans, including benchmarking against other jurisdictions in the company’s database and examples of case studies where similar changes have generated savings or revenue. The presenters said the company’s work produces an “ROI/insight” report for each program that lists potential savings or new revenue, implementation considerations and case-study references.

Committee members asked about how strategic priorities would be set and where responsibility for those choices lies. Staff said the city’s 2021 strategic plan has been used as a baseline, staff will bring updated strategic priorities to the council for feedback, and any council changes would be incorporated into the system. Staff and the vendors said the PBB dataset will be vetted internally by departments before public release.

On timing, presenters and staff said the ResourceX dataset currently uses the city’s 2025 budget; they requested that the 2026 budget be loaded into ResourceX early next year so departments can vet insights and use selected items to help develop the 2027 budget. The presenters also said ResourceX recently became part of Tyler Technologies and that a longer-term product roadmap calls for tighter integration between ResourceX and Tyler’s ERP/budget tools.

The presenters told the committee that, across clients, implementers of priority-based budgeting have typically identified reallocation and revenue opportunities equal to about 10% of the operating budget covered by the PBB process, but noted the timetable for realizing those opportunities varies by locality and the pace of implementation.

Committee members and staff said departments participated in data development and scoring; staff emphasized the PBB data would add another analytical layer on top of the existing line-item budget rather than replace current budget processes. Jesse and Chris closed by thanking staff for their work on the dataset and saying the next phase will focus on turning insights into implementable plans.