Thank you for putting this out there for not just city council members and staff, but also those who watch the city council inbox. This is fantastic.
-Karen
From: Michal Bortnik
Date: Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 5:52 PM
To: city.council@menlopark.org
Subject: Budget Equity
Dear City Council Members,
Given your stated interest in racial equity in your 2021 work plan, I'd like to express my enthusiasm for the approach that the City of Mountain View is using to bring more equity to the budgeting process.
This is their approach, in short:
"the City committed to ask the following questions as an “equity lens” in helping to evaluate whether budget additions, potential reductions, and/or reallocations should be recommended:
1. Does this benefit communities of color and/or low-income residents?
2. Does this burden communities of color and/or low-income residents?
The one-time and ongoing recommendations contained in the Fiscal Year 2021-22 Recommended Budget were assessed using this equity lens and were determined to benefit communities of color and low-income residents."
(excerpted from page 1-12 of the attached document)
This feels like a great first step to incorporating equity in budgeting as well as correcting for known issues with community voices not being heard equally.
Respectfully,
Michał Bortnik
Menlo Park, District 4
P.S. I just wanted to add that it's impressive to me how you're all able to ingest, reason and make decisions about all the budget options, especially given the volume of information and the complexity of budget mechanics. I'm very thankful for your dedication to serving our community.
