Budget office adopts ClearGov and explains CDBG scoring, collections progress

Julian Fry, director of the Office of Management, Budget & Grants, told council the office acquired a commercial budgeting package, ClearGov, to improve personnel budgeting, forecasting and the capital improvement planning process. He said the software will increase sustainability of forecasting tools previously maintained internally.

Cheryl Horowitz, who heads central grants administration, described improvements to HUD contracting and the CDBG proposal review process. She said the department solicits proposals, assigns mixed review teams (professionals and community members), scores applications using an internally developed rubric and recommends awards to the mayor based on scores, HUD compliance and risk. "We try not to go below $10,000 because...when we fund somebody for less than $10,000 they really can't do very much and there's a tremendous amount of regulatory compliance," Cheryl said.

Julian provided data on delinquent non‑tax revenues: accounts 60 days past due were about 6.85% as of the end of February, and FY2025 year‑end was about 7.3% for the same metric. Council also asked about mill‑rate economics; OMG staff said one mill generates roughly $4.1 million in revenue.