Budget Formulation Considerations

The Office of Planning and Development (OPD) is responsible
for carrying out the central planning and planning coordination
function assigned to the Mayor under the Home Rule Charter. This
office is responsible for preparing the District's elements of the
Comprehensive Plan for the National Capital, providing administrative
and staff support to the Zoning Commission and Board of Zoning
Adjustment, representing the city on various regional and federal
planning bodies, providing a centralized statistical information
service for the District government, and serving as a project review
agency and liaison on federal projects impacting the District.
also provides a policy analysis function for the Mayor and the City
Administrator.

It

In formulating its FY 1981 budget request, OPD has given primary consideration to completing the Comprehensive Plan, upgrading the Municipal Automated Geographic Information System (MACIS) and continuing staff support to the Zoning Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustment. In FY 1981 the office will be completing the local elements of the Comprehensive Plan. Once the plan is completed, implementation will require an increased policy coordination capacity to see that all District agencies are complying with plan recommendations and proposals. All other planning which takes place in the District government including the functional systems plans of operating age cies and the capital improvements program must be designed to be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. These activities must be undertaken in the face of continuing cutbacks in Federal grants which had previously supported comprehensive planning.

The MAGIS project has been funded almost entirely by Federal grants. The ability to make this system into a full fledged automated information system for planning, programming, research, and analysis available to the entire District government has been hampered by inadequate resources.

Program and Service Implications of FY 1981 Budget Decisions

To maintain the current level of program operations and service
delivery will require at least keeping funding at the FY 1980 level.
To complete the Comprehensive Plan, improve the MAGIS system and to
continue to provide adequate staff support to the Zoning Commission
and Board of Zoning Adjustment will require additional funding.
Therefore, we are requesting the following program enhancements:

- Three (3) positions and $63,800 to be used for analytical studies required by the Comprehensive Plan.

- Five (5) positions and $171,300 to be used to expand and fully utilize the MACIS capabilities.

The effect of these program enhancements will be that completion of the Comprehensive Plan can be accelerated and MAGIS will be a fully operational planning and research tool available to the entire District government.

Implementation Strategies and Cost Reduction Opportunities

During FY 1980 OPD will be instituting a number of internal
management changes in an effort to make the organization operate
more effectively and efficiently. These changes include realignment
of the organizational structure, instituting budgeting and work
programming systems, developing a systematic framework and process
for city-wide planning and policy coordination, and developing
procedures for coordinating all major development activities. The
effect of these changes will be to help increase productivity and
service while holding resources constant.

Budget and Program Priorities for FY 1981

The top program priority for FY 1981 will be completion of the Comprehensive Plan and the commencement of plan implementation. Implementation of the plan may involve revisions to the Zoning Regulations and Zoning Map, drafting of legislative proposals to carry out plan recommendations, redirection of capital improvements to conform to the plan, and monitoring and coordinating plans of other District agencies to assure consistency with the Comprehensive Plan. Concurrent with the development of the Comprehensive Plan will be geographically based Ward Plans which are more detailed and make specific proposals for various areas of the city. OPD will also monitor and coordinate the implementation of these proposals.

The next program priority is the expansion and upgrading of the MAGIS system to fully utilize statistical information capabilities. The system will be expanded by the addition of files, particularly more socio-eocnomic data, adding the computer mapping capabilities, and the addition of data from the 1980 Census. Once the system is expanded and more people become aware of its potentials, more computer specialists and computer programmers will be needed to process requests for output.

Federal and Other Funds Summary

The HUD Comprehensive Planning Assistance (701) grant has been
an ongoing grant available to OPD for general planning purposes.
However, over the last three years Congressional appropriations
under the program have been cut substantially. OPD funds under the
program have been cut substantially. OPD funds under the program
have been reduced 140% over three years. Indications are that the
program will be further cut or possibly eliminated completely.
This grant is used to support both the Area Planning and Comprehensive
Planning staffs.