2. Failures of government are often failures of
communication.
Let’s look at the complex process of local
planning as an example to illustrate the
importance of communication before we talk
about budgeting
“WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS A FAILURE
TO COMMUNICATE…”
3. What practitioners’ think…
• Some blame the public.
– County planner: “In my community people have a NIMBY
Complex so they don’t want their neighbor to get
something that they can't have. So we get everyone
involved, at least with Comprehensive Planning.”
• Some blame their profession.
– County planner: “The public is general uninterested in
comprehensive planning due to its complexity and failure
of planners to make it meaningful for the general public.”
• Some blame politicians.
– County planner: “Planning as a stand alone function isn't
understood by most people let alone politicians.”
4. Communication in budgeting?
• Budgeting is a process of advising and negotiating with:
– Citizens
– Civic groups
– Technical specialists
– Political officials (appointed and elected)
– Merit-employees (often your superiors)
• This communication is technical and value-based.
– Three new police officers, which will cost the city an additional
$200,000, will help decrease crime.
– We need three new police officers.
• Communication is the glue that holds the process together
– You have to “sell” your budgets
5. How not to communicate…
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMgyi57s-
A4
6. Roles and Audiences
• Main public budgeting actors
– Agency head (local, state, and federal level)
– Central budget office
– Chief executive
– Legislative body
• If you work directly for the government, what
roles will you most likely play?
– Agency head
– City manager or county manager
– Program manager
7. Agency heads and program directors
• Your communication should be directed to
these audiences…
• What are your strategies?
• How do you justify your budget?
– Mandatory expenditures
– Base expenditures
– Discretionary expenditures
10. Discretionary expenditures
• New cost
• What you’ll need to justify.
• How do you justify these costs?
– Is there sufficient data to support my request?
– Is the new cost due to a state or federal mandate?
– Has the legislative body increased the service
demands?
11. City/county managers
• What are your audiences?
• Strategies/Tools
– Explaining the budget
• Public hearings
• Simulations
• Town hall meetings
– Writing the budget
• Neighborhood focus groups
• Simulations
– Let’s look at one for the federal government
• Participatory budgeting
13. Constraints on Legislatures
Factors Affecting Legislative Decisions
• Fragmentation
• Political Party Leadership
• Legislative Committees
• Availability of Time
• Compensation and Staff
14. The Legislative Budget Process
• Legislative body adopts the budget…
– What are the constraints now?
– Bureaucratic drift
– Limitations of legislative oversight of the executive
– Complexity of joint action (Wildavsky and
Pressman)
– Measuring success
15. What motivates legislators?
• Getting reelected!
• David Mayhew’s The Electoral Connection
• Goals of legislators:
– Credit claiming
– Advertising
– Position taking
• This can be a universal theory:
– See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngMs_4I1__o
– See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rPFcoydGn8
17. Significant events and legislation
• Budget and Accounting Act of 1921
• The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974
– Backdoor spending
– Impoundment
– Budget committees and the budget resolutions
– Congressional Budget Office
• David Stockman and Omnibus bills
• The arrival of large deficits, 1981 – 1985 and 2000s
• The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings I & II
– Sequester
– Reconciliation
• The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (Read my lips…)
18. Cont. events and legislation
• Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993
• 1995 Government shutdown
– Will it happen this year?
• 1997 Balance Budget Act
• Table 9-4 actually looks good now…
19. Reforms
• Line-item veto
– Clinton v. City of New York
• Balanced budget amendment
• Congressional reorganization
• Biennial budget
