Public Budgeting Research Paper

Public Budgeting Research Paper

Select the actual budget of a particular county or city or village government or department in the government to perform the assessment.

The budget assessment could cover the following if you can find information:

What is the history?

What are the Racial Demographics?

What is their Budget summary ?

What services do they provide?

What is there revenue?

What are there expenses?

Do they have any debt and why?

Did they win any awards?

IRS/FBI incidents?

What is the mission(s)?

What are the major programs carried out?

What is the percent increase in total requested expenditures for next year over last year’s budget?

What object of expenditure category is the largest?

Which is growing the fastest?

Is the number of personnel (FTE) growing, and is the growth rate faster or slower than the personnel budget (in dollars)?

What does this tell you about changes in average salaries?

What are the most significant sources of revenue?

How have revenues for these sources changed?

Revenues

How much change in the property tax rate is acceptable in a given year?

How will one-time revenues, such as grants or tax windfalls, be used?

How frequently should service charges and fees be reviewed?

Discuss the policy priorities revealed by expenditure patterns?

Operating budget

How comprehensive is the budget?

Should it include both operating and capital budgets?

What funds should be in the operating budget?

Should the operating and capital budgets be prepared concurrently or separately?

What constitutes a balanced budget?

What types of budget reserves should be maintained?

How much money should be maintained in each?

Under what conditions money should be withdrawn?

What guidelines should govern budget preparation and amendment?

Who is responsible for budget preparation, and what are their duties?

Budget implementation

What policies should govern the transfer of money across accounts or funds?

Who is responsible for keeping spending within appropriated amounts?

Generate revenue estimates utilizing revenue forecasting techniques you learned from the class discussions and reading materials.

Assess if the projected revenues will be sufficient to cover the projected ongoing expenditure needs.

If there is a projected surplus, what budget adjustments do you suggest?

If there is a projected balance, what policy actions do you suggest to further strengthen the fiscal health? If there is a projected deficit, what budget adjustments do you suggest to correct the problem and achieve a balanced budget?