Budget and Business Planning

Content

What are Business Plans and Why does the District do Business Plans?

Each year, Council and staff for the District of Maple Ridge conduct an extensive exercise to develop a business plan to guide our organization through the upcoming year and into the future. The plan provides a framework for making decisions regarding programs, services and allocation of resources from a corporate-wide perspective. This is an increasingly challenging task in an era of decreasing resources and high expectations of customers and citizens in a growing community.

Business plans reflect our commitment to excellence in delivery of our services and tie together the overall directions established in the Corporate Strategic Plan [PDF, 226KB] with the objectives and work plans for each department in the organization and a number of community groups. The process ensures that the programs and services offered by the District of Maple Ridge provide value-for-dollar and are responsive to our citizens and customers. Business plans report on the level of achievement in each service area and identify:

• the core businesses essential to the department and organization;
• objectives/goals to be achieved by the department and organization; and,
• key performance measures to be achieved in each service area of the department and organization:
  • measurement helps improve performance
  • measurement strengthens accountability
  • measurement stimulates productivity and creativity
  • measurement improves budget processes

Business Planning Guidebook

The Business Planning Guidebook [PDF, 226KB] for 2012-2016, which contains the budget guidelines for the 2012-2016 Financial Plan was presented at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, May 30, 2011. Citizens were invited to comment on the proposed guidelines and Council approved them at the June 14, 2011 Council meeting. For a copy of the document as well as contact information please visit our Budget and Financial Reports webpage. The approved guidelines form the basis for a 2012-2016 Financial Plan, which was considered by Council on December 12 and 13, 2011.

Citizen Input to Business and Financial Plans

Council and municipal staff welcome input from our citizens, businesses, community groups and other stakeholders. There are several opportunities for input in the business planning process.