Municipal Budgeting Tools: Zero Base and Price Indices

Municipal Budgeting Tools: Zero Base and Price Indices
As the financial conditions and challenges of municipalities have become more complex, it is important to remain on the lookout for new budgeting tools. Zero based budgeting and municipal price indices are revived approaches to improving the municipal budget process, but are they right for your municipality? Join MFOA in an overview webinar on these hot topics in municipal finance.

Part One: Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB)
  • Using the previous year's budget as a baseline during budget preparation is a standard practice across municipalities. But what if the previous year’s budget did not matter and the baseline was zero? What if services and programs had to be rejustified every budget cycle in order to receive funding? This is the core idea behind zero based budgeting, an approach that encourages us to question why we should continue doing what has been done in the past. Join us to learn more about what it is and how it can be used by municipalities.

Part Two: Municipal Price Index (MPI)
  • Municipal purchases often vary significantly from consumer purchases, thus using the standard CPI during budget preparations will almost certainly lead to discrepancies. 16 years on from the FCM’s call for a nationwide Municipal Price Index, the MFOA examines indexing approaches used by municipalities, big and small, from across the country.

What You will Learn: The webinar will provide an overview of how ZBB and MPIs have been used in the past and why they have made a resurgence. It will importantly discuss potential benefits and disadvantages of these tools and how municipalities can determine if and how they would be useful.

Who Should Attend: Municipal finance professionals of all levels, including those who are involved in the municipal budgeting process.

Benefits of Attending:
  • Gain an understanding of how ZBB and MPIs would impact municipal budgeting .
  • Discover if and how either tool could benefit your municipality.

About your Presenters:

Ida Mensah
Policy Intern, MFOA
Ida is a fourth year Political Science student at York University with a professional interest in public policy and administration. She is a youth fellow with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and participates in their policy task forces regarding various topics on the local level, such as municipal finance and economic development.

Jacob Marr
Policy Intern, MFOA
Jacob is a fourth year Finance & Economics student at the University of Toronto and a second year Indigenous Governance student at Yukon University. Jacob previously received a Fulbright Canada scholarship and has completed several municipal policy research projects ranging from natural asset planning to electric vehicle infrastructure.
When
8/13/2025 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Where
Online

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