CC 03-04-2025 Item No. 7. Baker Tilly Budget Review_Supplemental Report1
CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
SUPPLEMENTAL 1
Meeting: March 4, 2025
Agenda Item #7
Subject
Baker Tilly Budget Format Review and Performance Measures Updates
Recommended Action
Approve recommendations outlined in the Budget Format Review and Performance Measures
Updates report as prepared by Baker Tilly
Background:
Staff’s responses to questions received from councilmembers are shown in italics.
Q1: The staff report states ʺDuring the last round of budget preparation for FY 2024‐25
review, feedback received on the budget document from City Council, residents and City
staff from budget sessions, community outreach and internal budget meetings, and the
City’s internal auditors suggested the need to improve and streamline the annual budget.
That feedback also indicated a need to reassess the Cityʹs Performance Measures to focus
on outcomes that reflect the City’s priorities rather than workload indicators.ʺ I am not
aware of such feedback asking to ʺstreamline the annual budgetʺ or to ʺreassess the
performance measureʺ. Please indicate the date and time and the context such feedback
was collected and please point to public documents with such feedback. (Mayor Chao)
Staff Response: This was part of 1 on 1 interactions, see outreach dates in the table below. There is
no public document with this feedback. Most residents we spoke to did not view the document as
reader friendly documents and were unaware that the city was in financial hardship. In addition,
City Council at council meetings and prep sessions often has challenges locating areas of interest
within the document. The assessment of performance measures was an internal process based on
feedback from staff working on the performance measures, as well as recommended by the City’s
internal auditor as part of the Budget Process Review final report dated December 20, 2022.
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Event Date
Earth Day April 22, 2023
Community Budget Meeting #1 February 29, 2024
Community Engagement Booths April 6, April 12, April 20 2024
Community Budget Focus Groups April 9, April 10 2024
Community Budget Meeting #2 April 11, 2024
Earth Day April 20, 2024
Cherry Blossom Festival April 27, 2024
Q2: How much is the contract with Baker Tilly? Please include the contract and the Scope
of Work. (Mayor Chao)
Staff Response: The contract and scope of work can be found here.
https://records.cupertino.org/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=1127197&dbid=0&repo=CityofCupertin
o . As stated in the financial impact section of the staff report, the contract total is $89,900.
Q3: How much has been spent on the Baker Tilly contract so far? Will Baker Tilly continue
to provide services to implement the recommendations? (Mayor Chao)
Staff Response: So far, the city has paid Baker Tilly $56,400. An additional $25,440 is a pending
invoice for a total of $81,840. The implementation plan will be completed in‐house. Baker Tilly has
indicated they will continue to support the City in its implementation for the next 6‐9 months. Their
Director and Project Manager will continue to make themselves available to answer questions and
provide context and guidance remotely as part of their continuing business relationship with the
City. If, however, a need arises that is greater than simple questions or discussions about the
recommendations and the Cityʹs planned approach (e.g., something that requires more than 15‐20
hours of research and analysis), they might need to provide a scope of work to the City for
consideration. Both the City and Baker Tilly do not believe that additional work on their part other
than what is described will be necessary at this time
Q4: The recommendation states ʺRefer the reader to the Department section or OpenGov
for further detail.ʺ The budget document should not include links to any data that would
be changed later. I and other members of the public often have to access budget documents
from 10 years ago and they should be able to access the exact same data/chart as the city
council from 10 years ago. Please comment on how do we maintain the integrity of ʺpublic
recordʺ while using OpenGov? (Mayor Chao)
Staff Response: This was discussed with Baker Tilly during their work and during the Audit
Committee meeting with committee members. Baker Tilly indicated that the intent is to ensure that
the proposed and, ultimately, adopted budget be maintained as originally adopted and that that
remain clear regardless of the format of the data provided. Staff indicated their expectation to
maintain the adopted budget document in a PDF form, and such detailed data would also be available
in such form for future years subject to the Cityʹs retention policies.
Q5: The budget often looks at only one year in isolation. How can we include historical
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data and forecast in order to see the full picture also? (Mayor Chao)
Staff Response: OpenGov is the current tool utilized by the City to see historical actuals. Staff can
also look into adding historical information in the forecast section. This is in addition to two years
of actuals and one year of budget provided at the department and program budget level.
Attachments Provided with Original Staff Report:
A – Budget Document and Performance Measures Improvements Final Report
B – Draft Implementation Action Plan