Equity-conscious budget scorecard and service-equity audit

The problem

Budgets can look balanced while quietly shortchanging the neighborhoods that need the most. Without an equity check, spending patterns just repeat old disparities year after year.

The plan

An equity-conscious budget scorecard grades each budget on whether spending reaches neighborhoods fairly, backed by a service-equity audit of how services are actually distributed across the city.

Baseline data and a fiscal model come first — the scorecard measures real patterns, not intentions — and findings are published.

How you’ll know it’s working

• Equity scorecard methodology published
• Service-equity audit completed
• Budget findings published before adoption

From the Blueprint

• Defines equity tags across budget lines and embeds them in the budget workbook.
• A public dashboard shows spending by equity tag alongside neighborhood need.
• Finance owns the scorecard; the Office of Equity sets methodology; Civic Insights handles visualization.
• A rolling service equity audit inventories resident-facing services and ties corrective recommendations to KPI targets.