PLSC 540 Public Budgeting Fall 2011 Imagine Yourself As The

Plsc 540 Public Budgeting Fall 2011imagine Yourself As The City Manage

Imagine yourself as the city manager or budget/finance officer in a reasonably mid-sized local government with a population ranging from 20,000 to 75,000 residents. Your task is to examine the current budget methods—covering format, timetables, data collection, and political influences—and explain why these methods are used. Additionally, you must provide a brief overview of alternative methods that could be considered for your community and suggest changes to improve the budgeting process. If current data is unavailable, use reasonable assumptions based on communities you are familiar with, citing sources where possible.

The analysis begins with a description of the major factors influencing your community’s budget process. These include demographic details such as population composition by race or ethnicity, employment patterns, income levels, age distribution, growth trends, and migration patterns. Consider factors like the size of the population, educational enrollment, elderly population, and whether the community is growing, static, or declining, along with the reasons for these trends.

Next, analyze the geography of your jurisdiction—its physical boundaries, natural features, and the potential for boundary expansion or restriction by neighboring communities. Discuss whether natural features are beneficial or problematic for development and service delivery.

Then, focus on the community’s primary resource (tax) base. Describe its composition and how it has evolved over time, along with projections for future changes. Evaluate the predictability of revenue streams from these sources and suggest improvements in forecasting accuracy.

Consider the major community expenditure areas such as infrastructure, safety, employment, and education. Discuss existing or anticipated changes in these priorities and the impact they will have on the budget.

Examine how broader economic conditions—state and national—affect local revenues and expenditures. Discuss the influence of economic cycles, state funding formulas, and federal aid on your community’s fiscal health.

Review the political landscape shaped by these demographic, geographic, economic, and social factors. Reflect on the role of elected officials and appointed administrators in the budgeting process and assess their quality and effectiveness.

Following this contextual analysis, describe the current budgeting approach used in your community, including the format, timeline, and the roles of various stakeholders in proposing and reviewing budgets. Explain the rationale behind your community’s choice of methods, including their strengths and weaknesses. Discuss how revenue and expenditure forecasts are generated and who gets involved in these estimations, especially for major dollar items. Consider what compromises or political considerations influence decisions.

Then, evaluate alternative budgeting formats and procedures that your community does not currently use. For each, discuss potential advantages and disadvantages—taking into account community size, resource constraints, and political feasibility.

Finally, propose realistic improvements to the budgeting process tailored to your community’s political and resource realities. Frame your suggestions as recommendations to elected officials who are caring and reasonably informed but perhaps hesitant to implement change for fear of community disruption. Justify your proposals with logical reasoning, emphasizing how they could lead to a more effective, transparent, and predictable budget process.