City manager presents updates to Austin's citywide strategic plan; public dashboard to launch in June

City Manager T. C. Broadnax and city staff presented an update on Austin's citywide strategic plan at the City Council work session on June 3, describing near-term reporting changes, expanded implementation teams and a forthcoming public dashboard.

The update, led by Carrie Lang, director of the Office of Budget and Organizational Excellence, summarized work done since the plan's budget inclusion and explained how the plan will feed into quarterly reporting and future budget decisions.

Why it matters: The strategic plan is the city's operational blueprint linking council priorities to measurable goals and department strategies. The new dashboard and the refinement of measures aim to give council members, staff and residents clearer information about city performance and about whether programs are achieving intended results.

What staff presented

Carrie Lang said the plan is a 'living document' that the city is refining after a fiscal-year pilot. She described three tiers in the planning structure: broad strategic priorities (the plan's top-level focus areas), measurable goals and departmental strategies and work plans.

Lang said staff had refined 29 measures, added five new measures and removed eight measures after reviewing data availability and influence (i.e., whether city staff can affect the outcomes). The city has organized 45 goal-advancement teams: 15 teams supported directly by the Office of Budget and Organizational Excellence and 30 self-led teams across departments. Lang said more than 200 city employees are engaged in plan implementation.

Dashboard and reporting

Lang previewed a public-facing strategic dashboard that staff said would combine the plan's strategic measures, the city manager's annual goals and department key performance indicators in one interactive site. The city data team and budget staff said the dashboard would provide charts, maps and narrative context, and staff anticipated a mid-June go-live date.

Budget integration and next steps

Lang said staff have begun aligning budget requests with strategic-plan measures and that the plan will inform future budget considerations. She described quarterly reporting to city management and said staff would provide annual summaries to council showing progress, obstacles and suggested adjustments to measures or strategies.

Public comment and equity questions

One public speaker, Zenobia Joseph, used her allotted time to raise concerns about equity and transportation access in Northeast Austin and to urge staff and council to address known disparities; Lang noted the plan's stated values include equity, affordability and community trust.

Ending

Lang and city management said they would continue workshops with the goal teams, publish the dashboard when ready and return with annual updates on plan progress and potential adjustments for council consideration.