Dallas City Budget as a Policy Document
The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) set a
number of criteria which the analysis of any budget document should follow (Campenni
& Khan, p.298). One of their approaches to a budget is to look at it as a
policy document. This is more so with respect to local governments given their
limited chances at communicating with the various stakeholders. This is in
contrast to both the federal and state governments, both of which have the
power to enact legislations. Thus, not only must a budget document specify both
policy issues and goals. It must also prioritize them. Four main prerequisites
are necessary for any budgetary document to meet the threshold. For one, it
should contain a clear articulation of long-term budgetary policies and goals.
It is through this articulation that the budgeting entity explains how its long-term
budgetary practices are consistent with policy goals. In addition, one should
be able to glean the budgetary process itself merely by going through the
document. Key information in achieving this would be dates, steps and phases.
Also connected to the first prerequisite is the need for an outline of the basic
policies, goals as well as objectives of the government. Lastly, the mode of
implementation and evaluation should be apparent from the documents.
The City of Dallas budget document quickly sets out the
long-term policy goals in the introductory pages. For instance, the maintenance
of public safety is singled out among the three guiding principles in the document
(Dallas City Council, 2012). Investment in the city’s infrastructure is also another
guiding principle identified. This is further bolstered by a clear statement of
a number of development goals like the restoration of critical initiatives. It
follows from these that the document actually meets one of the prerequisites of
a budget as a policy document. It is also clear from the Dallas budget document
that a detailed explanation of the process is offered. For example, one easily
realizes that the city’s budget relates to 12 months running from October 1 of
a particular year to September 30 of the following years.
Dallas City Budget as a Financial Plan
That a budget should be seen as a financial plan stems
from the need for accountability. Both the citizens and the council must find a
way of holding those they entrust with authority responsible. The council is
answerable to the citizens while the city management answers to it (Campenni
& Khan, p.298). The achievement of those roles requires that the budget
document provide the necessary information for these two groups to perform
their oversight role.
One category of that information is the summary of
revenues and expenditures that would enable even a non financial expert to have
an overview of the whole budget (Campenni & Khan, p.298). The summary
available in the Dallas City budget document only relates to expenditures. A
lay person would find it very difficult to know where the city is going to
raise the money simply by looking at the budget summary (Dallas City Council,
2012). The other information necessary
for accountability purposes is the comparative data. Thus, there should budget
and actual expenditure data for the prior year, the current year as well as the
proposed year where it is possible. The Dallas budget performs favorably well
on this score. For instance, there is a table detailing the expenditures for
the fiscal year 2011/2012 and comparing them with those of 2012/2013. The
preparers of the documents even took the trouble to work out the percentage
changes.
Furthermore, a discussion of major revenue sources also
aid in the accountability role of the budget document (Campenni & Khan,
p.298). That information must be accompanied by the assumptions underlying any
projections as well as key budget trends. Again, the Dallas budget provides
information on key revenue sources complete with the accompanying assumptions
underlying those estimates. For instance, sales and property taxes are
identified as some of the key revenue sources (Dallas City Council, 2012). The
city projects that revenues from both sources would increase, a projection
premised on the continued improvement in the overall U.S economy.
Again, changes or projected changes in fund balances
should also feature in an accountable budget document. The Dallas city budget
presents these information in a detailed manner starting from page 285 of the
document right to page 292. For instance, the city projects a beginning and
ending balance of the General Fund of $ 61,239,070 and $ 61,239,070 respectively
(Dallas City Council, 2012).
Dallas City Budget as an Operations Guide
As an operations guide, the budget document helps the
citizenry in understanding the structure of their city government. That
understanding is important for the citizens to know which people they should
hold accountable for the effective implementation of all programs in the
budget.
The first requirement towards meeting this goal is for
the budget document to provide an organizational chart of the entity detailing
the functions of the various offices in that chart. The budget documents under
analysis actually provide this information in a chart (Dallas City Council,
2012). A citizen going through the document will know that there are five major
offices directly below the elected council members. These offices include city
attorney, city secretary, city manager, city auditor and the judiciary. It also
becomes apparent to someone reading the document that the office of the city
manger is responsible for the overall day to day administration of the council.
The organization chart goes ahead to give a glimpse of how the various offices
of assistant city manager deal with their responsibility areas. For instance,
there is one office of assistant city manager responsible for the three
functions of Trinity Watershed management, Public Works & Transportation
and Communication & Information Services.
It is also a requirement of a budget document acting as
an operation guide to feature a discussion of personnel (Dallas City Council,
2012). The Dallas city budget unfortunately fails to include any discussion
relating to this issue. The only information that comes close to this
requirement is a breakdown of the services by each department. The argument can
be made that someone intending to assess the effectiveness of the city budget
can as well rely on that breakdown as an alternative to a discussion of
personnel. For instance, the breakdown identifies expenditures by departments
such as Sustainable Development and Construction as one of the departments.
Dallas City Budget as a Communications Device
Amongst all goals that a budget document should achieve, it
also acts as way through which the citizenry understands the various aspects of
their city government (Campenni & Khan, p.300). For example, it is through
the documents that the citizenry can to assess the effectiveness of their
government. One key step in achieving this goal is for the documents to provide
a cover or transmittal letter on the one hand or and a table of contents or an
index on the other. Any of those would enable a citizen to have an overview of
their government. The Dallas city budget document succeeds in this area by
providing more that the minimum requirement (Dallas City Council, 2012). For
one, there is a detailed but easy to understand summary of the document by the
City Manager addressed to the members of the council. An interested citizen can
equally find that summary very useful. In addition, the document contains an
easy to use table of contents. Even more important to a citizen who may find
the document complex is an explanation on a separate page on how to use the
document. In essence, the Dallas budget document is highly user friendly.
The use of simple graphs and tables also enhances the
ability of a budget document to act as a tool for communication (Dallas City
Council, 2012). It is also an area where the Dallas city budget manages to
score positively in many respects. For instance, the summary by the City
Manager contains three simple graphs. Two of those graphs relate to property
and sales taxes respectively while the third relate to new construction
permits. Besides these three, the entire
budget documents contain easy to follow tables.
Lastly, a budget document as a communications device must
have a discussion of the budgeting process (Campenni&Khan, p.301). To the
credit of Dallas City budget document, this information is provided in detail
enough for a citizen to follow. For instance, a citizen would easily know that
planning meetings are held by the council from every October as part of the
preparation process (Dallas City Council, 2012).
References
Campenni,M.,& Khan,A.(N.D).Budget Analysis:A Study in the Budgetary Practices of a Small Community.
Dallas City Council (2012). Annual Budget for Fiscal Year 2012-2013.
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