As a result of my efforts, City Council's long range planning doubled, so that instead of 5 years, we now plan 10 years ahead. This gives us a better planning horizon and means that we can better anticipate the challenges and opportunities ahead of us instead of reacting to each crisis as it develops. We started out with one department, expanded it year after year, until now our whole budget is done using goals, statements and graphs to show not just how much money is being spent by government, but how well that money is being used to achieve public policy goals. In other words, we made the City more accountable to taxpayers for what it spends. The final piece of the innovative reforms is the multi-year budget.
Most governments use the traditional, annual budget.
We changed that in Canandaigua when we adopted the first multi-year budget ever adopted in State history. We are now working under our second two-year budget. We did it without cutting any vital services and without laying off any employees. Ontario County and several other jurisdictions have copied or are considering copying our budget system. The Ontario County Conservative Party endorsed my candidacy for City Council in 1999.