The first step, in my opinion, in productive citizen engagement is providing information and helping educate citizens about government and budgeting. This is because government is just a black box to most people. They sort of understand some of the most basic functions of government, but may not have any idea of which level of government does it. Who pays for libraries? Roads? Do I have police and a sheriff? What about fire service? What does the state even do? These are not unrealistic questions. Continue reading
Category: Budgeting (page 3 of 4)
Do you want your bonds to kill your city’s bond ratings?
Do you want your bonds to go into default?
Do you want to be responsible for a backlash against the mayor/council for not planning for a future you should have known was coming?
Do you want your city to become even more clogged with traffic, but this time the cars are empty and slowing everyone down?
Ignoring autonomous vehicles (AVs) may be possible today, but just know, they are coming soon–and by soon I mean this year (2017). While AVs may not yet be mainstream transportation today, do not count on it just being something your grandkids use. Cities have to start planning now, or their leaders will be saying YES (begrudgingly) to those questions above. A new report out from the folks at the Sustainable Cities Initiative at the University of Oregon is looking to help you deal with these questions. You can read our report here.
There has been a lot of interest in how to tighten up the relationships between citizens and their local governments. At the local level there is a lot more opportunity to work with and get feedback from citizens. This is accomplished by many communities and in various ways. I believe, and I know this will be shocking, that the budget is the single best place to engage citizens. The budget is the encyclopedia of government. The budget reflects what government does and reflects priorities based on spending decisions, as well as changes in the community as reflected in changes in the budget from year to year.
***I love this quote from a VP debate in 2012. 1) It is true. 2) It is hilarious because we are living in a time of continuing resolutions rather than budgets at the federal level, so I guess we prioritize not making hard decisions and not working together.*** Continue reading
Cities and counties are constructs of their respective states. Counties are almost always created by state constitutional decree. Cities are municipal corporations created by state legislative action. Regardless of the method of creation, states exercise significant control over what cities and counties can and cannot do. From the taxes levied to debt issuances to services that can or cannot be provided, the state determines the role of local governments within its borders. States have been pre-empting local policies at an increasing rate. The National League of Cities has documented a number of these actions. Popular targets are restrictions locally imposed minimum wages (24 states), paid leave (18 states), and public provision of broadband internet (17 states). Of these three, North Carolina is included in all. There are many other areas where states have been pre-empting local actions. This top-down view suggests that local governments have little ability to chart their own course. However, this isn’t quite right. There are many ways that cities and counties push back against state policy. In the news now, Sanctuary Cities in Texas are pushing back against new laws restricting their actions. This is a highly visible example; however, cities and counties often have other options that are less visible.
Have you ever used the County and Municipal Fiscal Analysis tool that is housed on Treasurer’s website? It allows municipalities and counties in the state to see how they are doing with regard to financial condition and compare their performance to peers. It has recently become the focus of new research coming from colleagues at the University of South Dakota and Indiana University. Ed Gerrish and Luke Spreen presented their research on our benchmarking tool earlier this month at the Public Management Research Conference and it is forthcoming at the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. In this Research Review I am going to discuss their research and pull a few findings that are especially notable for those of you that work in budgeting and finance.
Research Review is a place for me to bring you academic research that I think might be of interest or relevant to you all. It is not necessarily the Cliff notes of the paper, but it will present some key findings or insights from the paper.
There has been a great deal of interest in the distribution of local sales tax revenue in North Carolina in the past few years. I will admit that as a scholar of local sales tax policy and effects, it has been an interesting time to be in the state (and made me much more popular!). Not surprisingly, I have been having a lot of conversations with people across the state about SB 126, so I thought I would put some of my thoughts down on proverbial paper.
In the 1990s there was a wave of euphoria about cost accounting and particularly Activity Based Costing (ABC). One book in particular stands out in my mind as particularly euphoric: Common Cents: The ABC Performance Breakthrough by Stephen Turney. While it had a clever title, few people remember this book now, but many people remember ABC. Many finance and budget managers do not recall ABC with fondness. In fact, when government budget and finance managers are asked about the use of ABC in their organizations now, most will say that they are not using it. However, when asked if they are doing some form of cost accounting, the measure is much higher. In this post, I explore why budget and finance managers are willing to say that they are doing cost accounting and not ABC. I further explore (and mix) the metaphor of common sense/cents about cost accounting by thinking of its uses as two sides of the same coin.
Yup, you guessed it, today’s blog post is on revenue forecasting! My current blog series is about some of the non-legal finance issues that are out there and revenue forecasting, while required by law, is a really important one! There are many people that are involved with revenue forecasting in local governments. While many outside of government may just assume that there is some accountant or budget wonk sitting in a back room who is somehow magically able (or has some very scientific formula) to predict how much money is going to be coming in next year, we know better.
There is always room on the wall for a new shiny credential and on your resume for that matter.
The mission of the North Carolina Local Government Budget Association (NCLGBA) is to promote the budgeting profession through education, networking, and advocacy. As a strategy to promote the educational component of this mission, the NCLGBA created a certification program in July 2008 for members of the association to become Certified Budget & Evaluation Officers. Individuals seeking to become a Certified Budget & Evaluation Officer must possess a certain level of professional experience, must take four courses, and must pass three exams. I am writing this blog to respond to some of the most common questions associated with the certification, with the goal of promoting the certification program among budget and evaluation professionals.
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