Turning Numbers into Narratives: A Budget Communication Success Story

How Sunnyvale’s clear communication transforms financial data into community understanding

September is now in the rear-view mirror, as is budget season for local governments here in Texas. To my colleagues across the Lone Star State: congratulations on navigating the maze of public hearings, notices, and deliberations mandated by state law. It’s a tough process, but one that’s essential.

With budgets top of mind, a Good Government Files truism bears repeating: Communicating about the budget is one of the most critical tasks local governments tackle each year. The budget is more than just numbers on a page — it’s a direct reflection of an elected body’s values and priorities. If something matters, it gets funded.

The problem is that budgets are decidedly not sexy, with their endless numbers, tables, and pie charts. But for savvy agencies, this challenge is an opportunity. By meeting the complexity head-on, they can craft communication strategies that do justice to the importance budgets hold. In my 25 years in government communications, some of the most impressive work I've seen came from those who turned dry data into compelling stories. It's a chance to transform the mundane into something meaningful and connect with constituents where it matters most — their pocketbooks.

In today’s newsletter, I’m sharing what I believe is the best print communications on budget and tax rates I’ve ever seen. I came across it when judging award entries for CAPIO, the California Association of Public Information Officers. Forgive the hubris, but I know what award-winning budget productions look like, having won multiple state and national awards for our creative fiscal storytelling in Round Rock, Texas.

So, when I saw the special edition of the Horizon newsletter from the City of Sunnyvale, CA, focused on its 2023 budget, I knew I was looking at something truly special. Without question, this was an award-winner.

And yet …

My fellow judges didn’t see it the same way. They scored other projects higher. I don’t know who the other judges are — these selections are opaque to protect the integrity of the judging — but I can say they were wrong. (I was going to say they were idiots but that would be unprofessional and rude, so I won’t.) Without question, Sunnyvale deserved an EPIC Award.

“I confess I was sad,” said Communication Officer Jennifer Garnett, APR. “I thought we had an award-winning product.”

Here’s Jennifer at the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers (CSMFO) conference in Anaheim, home of Disneyland, earlier this year. The finance folks very much appreciated the magic of the Horizon newsletter.

You did, Jennifer. Trust me, you did¹. One purpose of today’s newsletter is to show Sunnyvale’s efforts are worthy of the inaugural Good Government Files award for budget communications excellence: The C.A.S.H. Award for Communicating Accountability in Spending Honestly.

The real takeaway from today’s newsletter is that what Jennifer has accomplished in Sunnyvale can be successfully replicated by other local governments.

First, some background

Jennifer has been working for 12 years in Sunnyvale, which bills itself as the Heart of Silicon Valley℠. Its largest employers are Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook, so the motto checks out. Prior to her current position, she spent 10 years working for the City of San Jose, the largest city in Silicon Valley. She understands her constituents, which informed her amazing newsletter. But I get ahead of myself.

Here’s how Sunnyvale, population 157,000, describes itself:

From humble beginnings as a small agricultural settlement to an aerospace and technology hub, Sunnyvale has been a key part of the San Francisco Bay Area’s evolution and is the region’s seventh largest city. Since the city’s incorporation in 1912, smart planning and a diverse community have made Sunnyvale a center of innovation, a town of family neighborhoods and a place where businesses thrive.

The median household income in Silicon Valley is $174,506, and the median home price just reached $2 million. 😳 Sunnyvale is buzzing with residential growth and the kind of economic development success most cities can only dream of — yet this success brings its own set of challenges.

Contrary to the stereotype of government spending being out of control in California, Sunnyvale runs a tight fiscal ship, Jennifer says. For example, the communications department consists of Jennifer and a webmaster. That’s it. Two people. For a city with a total of budget north of $730 million and 950 full-time employees. (The good news is Jennifer is likely to get a new employee in the 2024-25 budget!)

Which makes the Horizon newsletter special budget edition, done mostly in-house, that much more impressive.

The origin of a masterpiece

When Jennifer joined the City of Sunnyvale in 2012, she was tasked with writing an article about the city’s budget for what was then known as the Quarterly Report — a name she admits “makes my skin crawl” for being overly bureaucratic. The city manager at the time specifically asked her to focus on communicating the value of city services, addressing residents’ frequent complaints that they were paying too much.

As Jennifer worked on the project, she realized a simple article wouldn’t suffice.

“I went back to the city manager and said, ‘I think to really do this justice, we’ve got to tell a story,’” she said.

Her pitch to revamp the entire publication, turning it into a full-color, special edition devoted solely to the budget, ultimately paid off. In the days after it was mailed, Jennifer recalls seeing people come to the city council meeting clutching copies of the newsletter. She was more than a little nervous. “I thought, oh, boy, here we go.”

“But they just loved it,” she said. “We got rave reviews. People came down to the city council meeting, holding their copies in their hands, waving it around, saying it was the best thing they’d ever read.”

Let that sink in, dear reader. I’ve attended dozens of budget public hearings in my career. Never, not one time — even with all our award-winning budget videos — did even one citizen show up to say, “Wow. Great job.” Jennifer’s newsletter drew multiple residents.

It’s a huge effort, as you’ll see, so it’s not something Jennifer and her small staff can produce every year. But she believed the time was right last year to again dedicate an entire newsletter to the budget.

“We have so many key projects underway in the city,” she said. “We’ve got some of the biggest capital improvements going on in our city’s history, rebuilding our wastewater treatment plant. We’re rebuilding fire stations. We just built a brand-new city hall. We’ve got a measure on the November ballot for a bond to do a new library. So, we’ve got a lot of things going on.

“And so, I felt like sort of setting the table again for the community around how well-run this organization is, and how you pay for city services. Underpinning it all is the value that you get — that’s the linchpin of the entire publication”

Why Sunnyvale’s budget publication stands out

First and foremost, the publication takes a complicated document and breaks it down into easy-to-understand — and relatable — chunks of information. It is comprehensive without being tedious. Most importantly, it tells the budget story from the perspective of the residents themselves. In fact, it goes even further by presenting the budget through the lens of a family of five — including Concha, their golden retriever, who also benefits from city services!

The writing avoids government and financial lingo, which aligns with Sunnyvale’s communications philosophy.

“We take plain language very seriously,” Jennifer says.

And it shows, right from the cover of the tabloid-size publication mailed to all households in town. Note the focus is on “You,” i.e., the resident. This is your money we’re talking about here.

Page 2 features a message from City Manager Kent Steffens on the value of city services. It’s five easy-to-read paragraphs and includes his picture, email address and phone number (i.e. he’s a real person you can contact). Below his message is this text and graphic, which gets to the heart of the matter.

The graphics smartly show how Sunnyvale’s portion of what “you” pay is a mere sliver of the overall property tax and sales tax burden for residents.

Page 2 focuses on User Fees, which the text notes are “the biggest way you pay for city services.” Here’s a screen grab.

I appreciate the clear, succinct explanation, but what stands out even more is the smiling face of a city employee, helping to illustrate the important work funded by user fees. Featuring employees is always a winning strategy when telling the organization’s story — you can never do it too often.