On the Art of Collaboration at Long Beach.

• Author: Ludwig, Katie
• Position: FINANCE

For the leaders of the City of Long Beach, California, Budget Office, collaboration is part of their day-to-day job, but they don't take it for granted. The team works hard to nurture a culture of collaboration within and outside of the Budget Office, which they believe allows them to serve their community better.

The Budget Office leadership team consists of Budget Manager Grace H. Yoon, Budget Management Officer Rhutu Amin Gharib, Revenue Management Officer Geraldine Alejo, and Budget Analysis Officer Greg Sorensen, who just recently became a part of the team. For the City of Long Beach, the budget function falls within the Department of Financial Management (longbeach.gov/finance), which is one of 23 departments. For FY 2021, the city had a S2.8 billion budget, spread across 37 funds. The Department of Financial Management has nearly 250 employees and consists of seven bureaus: Budget, Accounting, Business Services, Commercial Services, Fleet Services, Treasury, and Administration. The Budget Bureau has about 15 employees.

Rhutu, the budget management officer, has been with the department since 2006, working her way up from a budget analyst position. She has been in her current role for six years and oversees the functions related to internal Budget Bureau operations and management. This includes implementing all the processes involved in developing the upcoming year's budget, facilitating major fiscal milestones such as closing out the old fiscal year and getting the new one started, and managing the calendar that maps out all the projects that staff must complete throughout the year. Along with Geraldine and Greg, Rhutu oversees the citywide review of budget amendments and fiscal impact statements of city council letters.

Geraldine, the revenue management officer, started with the City of Long Beach in 2008 as a graduate student intern. She worked her way up from an analyst to the management level and did a few stints in other city departments, but she has always come back to the Budget Office. "For me, the Budget Office has become my home. Even with the pressure and the stress and the complexities, the challenges and the people have always been that home base for me to come back to," she said. Her responsibilities include forecasting general fund revenue, including sales tax, property tax, and franchise fees, and reviewing current performance to ensure that the city's financial projections are based on the most up-to-date information available.

Grace, the budget manager, oversees the entire budget operation. "My job is really just to cheerlead Rhutu, Geraldine, and the rest of the budget team on," she said. "We work very closely together."

Grace believes that the value of collaboration is greatest when a crisis hits. "How much team capital do you have to draw on when there's a crisis or when there's a fire? For me, I think the test and the value of collaboration isn't when things are smooth-flowing or when we're just having fun--it's when the crisis hits. It's when the stress runs high. It's when there's pressure from all sides to meet sudden, unexpected deadlines. That's when you really see the power and the value of a culture of teamwork, friendship, and collaboration, and...