Page 139 - Southlake FY23 Budget

STRATEGIC DIRECTIOn

Staff has set up a real-time data tracking and visualization system to ensure proper implementation of each
plan’s priorities.

Operationally, each department maintains the status information on items for which they are assigned
responsibility. Accountability is established through regular reporting to the City Council as well as Boards
and Commissions who oversee projects related to plan elements. The second level of implementation plans
includes our departmental business plans. Departments prepare their business plans following an analysis of
their department’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and with the goal of implementing best
practices associated with the services they provide. These plans are prepared biennially each spring and are
the basis for budget submittal. Additionally, departments prepare annual work plans which articulate both
the connection to the business plan as well as clearly outlining what the department is planning to do, how
they are planning to do it and when they project the work will be complete.
Southlake’S Strategic deVeloPMent / Budget cycle

Establishing a link between a City’s strategy and budget is fundamental to effective public budgeting. Southlake
works hard to connect the SMS to the budget process. Incorporating the Strategy Map into resource allocation
decisions ensures the City budget reflects the priorities of City Council. The illustration below depicts the annual
process of developing the City’s budget in conjunction with the Strategic Management System.

The budget process, like the Strategy Map, connects each department to the organization as a whole. At the
micro level, City departments work to provide quality services to the citizens of Southlake. At the macro level,
departments use the Strategy Map to make budgetary requests so that these services can be performed. As
the Budget Cycle illustration indicates (below), the process never ceases. At the beginning of each fiscal year, in
October, we conduct or review the results from the most recent citizen survey, this aids staff in focusing its work
for the coming year. Then a meeting with City Council in January provides an opportunity to review the strategic
direction, followed by the creation of departmental business plans in April and budget development in August.
In order for funding to be allocated, departments must follow the Strategy Map to align requests with the goals,
mission, and vision of Southlake.

Strategic planning plays an integral role in the development of each year’s budget and ensures the City’s ability to
meet the needs of a growing community. To be effective, the City must direct resources to those areas most essential
to the community’s priorities. The aim of the City’s Strategic Management System, with its many integrated parts,
does just that.

138 FY 2023 City of Southlake | BUDGET BOOK
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