Little Budget Book: A Portable Budgeting Guide for Local Government

Little Budget Book: A Portable Budgeting Guide for Local Government
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A great and useful primer on budgeting.

Little Budget Book: A Portable Budgeting Guide for Local Government
Len Wood
Manufacturer: Training Shoppe
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Ring-bound

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ASIN: 0963437453

Book Description

The Little Budget Book is part of the Little Handbook series and is a compilation of practical ideas, concepts, questions and checklists for people who prepare, evaluate and implement public agency budgets. New budgeters will find it invaluable as a learning aide. Seasoned budgeters will find it to be an excellent reference source for ideas and checklists.

The Little Budget Book is divided into five sections:
1.Budget Overview covers overall trends and types of budgets.
2.Preparing Budgets identifies issues and steps in putting together a credible budget.
3.Analyzing Budgets discusses evaluation approaches and analytical techniques.
4.Budget Savvy covers the behavioral aspects of budgeting.
5.Budget Techniques covers tools such as trend analysis, discounting, rounding and depreciation..

Customer Reviews:

A great and useful primer on budgeting........1999-05-19

I use this book for teaching university level courses in budgeting and finance for government officials. It has been very well received and I urge all government officials to read this exceptional primer on governmental budgeting. Highly recommended.

Capital Budgeting and Finance: A Guide for Local Governments

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Capital Budgeting and Finance: A Guide for Local Governments
A. John Vogt
Manufacturer: International City/County Management Associat
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0873261372

Local Government Budgeting: A Managerial Approach

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Local Government Budgeting: A Managerial Approach
Gerasimos A. Gianakis , and Clifford P. McCue
Manufacturer: Quorum Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1567200060

Book Description

In an effort to bridge the gap between budget theorists and practitioners, this book approaches local government budgeting as the internal resource allocation process of a highly differentiated organization that operates in a very political environment, and whose boundaries are particularly permeable during the formal budget process. Written by academics with extensive practical experience in local government budgeting and finance, this text will be equally useful to practitioners, scholars and students. Theory building in public budgeting has been dominated by political science and economics, and these approaches have not produced theories that can serve as guides to action for practitioners or help them understand their action environments. In order to produce theory that has meaning for practitioners, researchers should approach the subject as it is experienced by practitioners. The long-term financial health of local governments requires an integrated approach to public budgeting. This book develops theory that illuminates practice. It recognizes that the budget process is the only organization-wide process that integrates all of the agencies that comprise the government, and thus, the budget must address the long-term consequences of any action. The budget process itself is presented as a vehicle to develop the decision premises and organizational values that will support allocative efficiency and productivity.

The Politics Of Budget Control: Congress, The Presidency And Growth Of The Administrative State

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Understanding the Administrative State
A "must-have" for studing public budgeting & admin theory

The Politics Of Budget Control: Congress, The Presidency And Growth Of The Administrative State
John A. Marini
Manufacturer: Taylor & Francis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

Understanding the Administrative State.......2001-04-16

In this philosophical work on budget control politics, Professor Marini explains how the executive budget provided the practical means for the implementation of the administrative state.(AKA: The Nanny State or the The Bureaucratic State.) Marini however, goes beyond other critiques of the administrative state by demonstrating that state theory is in direct opposition to and hostile towards the natural rights theory of American constitutionalism. The question Marini will force careful readers to ponder is this: If the purpose of constitutionalism is the prevention of tyranny, what is the goal of the administrative state?

A "must-have" for studing public budgeting & admin theory.......1999-11-06

Dr. Marini, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, explores the tensions arising from an "administrative state" within a constitutional regime of separated powers. He concludes that "the federal budget has come to be the principal instrument of politics in the American administrative state" (Preface, p. xii). This book should be included in the core required readings for the study and understanding of public budgeting, administrative theory and administrative bureaucracy.

Practical Government Budgeting: A Workbook for Public Managers (Suny Series in Public Administration)

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Lives Up to It's Title

Practical Government Budgeting: A Workbook for Public Managers (Suny Series in Public Administration)
Susan L. Riley , and Peter W. Colby
Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0791403920

Customer Reviews:

Lives Up to It's Title.......2007-09-23

I purchased this book for a class. It's very good and easily understandable. This is designed for the person that is first begining to learn about budgeting.

Memos to the Governor: An Introduction to State Budgeting

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The Art and Realism of State Budget-Making
A great book!

Memos to the Governor: An Introduction to State Budgeting
Dall W. Forsythe
Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1589010191

Customer Reviews:

The Art and Realism of State Budget-Making.......2007-04-07

No political figure of his time was more eloquent than the author's boss, Mario Cuomo. When asked to explain his failure to run for President, Cuomo once replied "I speak in poetry, but I govern in prose." The author of this book was one of the key figures composing the prose during his years as Cuomo's budget director.

The author has written a manual targeted for graduate students seeking to get a handle on the art and science of state budgeting. It is good enough, however, for governors, gubernatorial candidates and their staff, budget directors, and key legislative leaders and legislative staff to gain some worthwhile insights from.

This is not the book to learn the ins and outs of the step by step negotiations in New York or any other state. The author is sparing in his use of anecdotes. What he does, and does well, is to take the reader through the long and tortuous process of compiling a budget from the governor's point of view, and allowing the reader to see the obstacles any governor must face in achieving his vision under the American system of checks and balances.

"(B)udget success is the key to re-orienting government," the author writes. "New programs, changed priorities, tax cuts or shifts in tax burdens, a larger or smaller role for government in the state's economy--all these objectives must be won in the budget arena....In these memos, a successful budget is one that delivers on a governor's programmatic objectives, and does so within financial constraints that help achieve or maintain structural budget balance....Budget success also requires careful consideration of long-term strategic goals, a clear understanding of the impact of the business cycle on state budgets, and effective negotiating tactics to get executive recommendations adopted...."

The author, a rather straightforward modern Machiavelli, prepares 8 memos for his protypical governor. He closes with a stern warning. "If you cannot use the budget to state your goals and move state government in the direction you advocate, you are not likely to make much progress towards these goals. As your term ends, voters and the press will find it difficult to say what you have accomplished. If you have mastered the budget and adoption process, you will have a solid list of tangible achievements. Effective use of the budget as a policy and political tool is a necessary, if not quite sufficient, condition of successful leadership in the statehouse. Do everything you can as soon as you can to grab hold of the budget process and make it work for you."

The author's memos are entitled "You and Your Budget Officer," "Budget Strategy," "Preparing the Executive Budget--the Technical Underpinnings," "Choices in the Final Phase of Budget Preparation," "Budget Tactics:Laying the Groundwork for Adoption," "Going Public With the Budget," "The Legislative Phase of the Budget Process," and "Budget Execution."

Anyone holding the office of governor would likely ensure at least moderate success by intensely studying the author's book. A cautionary note is that the author does not spend much time inquiring into, or advising on, the motives of non-gubernatorial actors in the budgetary drama. A governor who really understood the positions of the advocates, the legislators, and the media--and who was able to use that understanding to lead others to achieve common ends--would do even better than one merely following this book.

The author does understand that legislators have district needs, and that legislative leaders are responsive to individual legislators, especially those in swing districts. But the interplay of localized electoral needs with statewide public policy is minimized in the author's accounts. More detailed subsequent writings may correct this.

The author's writing style is dry but decisive, like that of many other budget makers this customer reviewer has known. Every memo is full of good advice, and subtle warnings of the dangers of uncontrolled idealistic fervor to make great changes. "Publication of agency performance measures," the author warns, "may lead to an improvement in service delivery, but public performance measures can also provide quantitative evidence of government's inevitable failures and mistakes."

The author is no Don Quixote. He is a grizzled veteran of budgetary wars.
He identifies with governors and wants them to succeed. He does not identify with legislators, interest groups, and the media. He does not want them individually or collectively defeating a governor's choice of priorities, or, even worse, causing a governor to be defeated. That makes this an excellent book for understanding the gubernatorial mindset as well as the budgeting process.

A great book!.......1999-02-05

Dall Forsythe, former budget director to Gov. Mario Cuomo, has written an excellent book on how big policy decisions are made. It is written in an easy to read style in memo format for the new Governor.

Average customer rating:

Budgeting: A Guide for Local Government
Robert L. Bland , Irene Rubin , and International City
Manufacturer: International City/County Management Associat
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0873261518

The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting and Spending, Borrowing and Balancing

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Real-time Budgeting View

The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting and Spending, Borrowing and Balancing
Irene S. Rubin
Manufacturer: Seven Bridges Press, LLC
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ASIN: 1889119423

Book Description

As Irene Rubin has shown convincingly in past editions, public budgeting is inherently political. Short-term partisan goals overrun long-term public interest and democratic processes, eroding institutional and public capacity to address collective problems. By presenting federal, state, and local budgeting within a comparative framework, Rubin's classic text gives explicit attention to issues of federalism, always sensitive to the power struggles between the different branches and levels of government. How much control is exerted from above and what degree of autonomy can be found at each level of government? What kind of influence do elected officials wield over government priorities? How do we resolve the tension between patronage, pork, and tax breaks necessary for reelection and the requirements of balance, technical efficiency, and prioritization?

Analyzing each strand of the decision-making process, Rubin shows the extraordinary coordination involved in passing a budget and achieving some level of accountability. By moving beyond the simplistic and rigid "executive proposal and legislative disposal" cycle other books follow, Rubin explores shifts in power over time and explains decisions that do not always flow in a linear fashion.

A thorough revision at every turn, updates include:

the return to massive deficits at the federal level, requiring more attention on the relationship between budget process and outcomes
the resurgence of secrecy in recent years, looking at how and why the level of transparency decreases at some times and increases at others the implications of 9/11, exploring the impact of funding wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
the difficulty of getting Inspectors General sufficient independence and cooperation to implement their work, showing how these officials are "straddling a barbed wire fence"
over twenty new minicase studies

Customer Reviews:

Real-time Budgeting View.......2002-12-20

Those of you who read Aaron Wildavsky's (1979) "Politics of the Budgetary Process" know the big debate over public budgeting between those who believe public budgeting process is politically incremental and, therefore, who focus mainly on the individual actors and their strategies, and those who propose a more comprehensive and global outlook that focus on dynamics in the larger environment, which subsequently affect and shape how individual actors behave and respond to episodes.

Rather than approaching public budgeting from the narrow perspective of incremental view of public budgeting, which sees budgeting as negotiations among a group of routine actors, bureaucrats, budget officials, chief executives, and legislators, who meet each year and bargain to resolution, in "The Politics of Public Budgeting" Rubin (2000) develops what she calls "real-time budgeting" perspective, which refers to the continual adjustment of decisions in each stream to decisions and information coming from other streams and from the environment. Streams include:

The Revenue Cluster: Revenue decisions include technical estimates of how much income will be available for the following year, assuming no change in the tax structures, and policy decisions about changes in the level or type of taxation. Will taxes be raised or lowered? Will tax breaks be granted, and if so, to whom, for what purpose. Which tax sources will be emphasized, which de-emphasized, with what effect on regions and economic classes, or on age groups?

The Budget Process Cluster: The process cluster concerns how to make budget decisions. Who should participate in the budget deliberations? How influential should interest groups be? How much power should the legislature have? How should the work be divided, and when should particular decisions be made?

The Expenditure Cluster: The expenditure cluster involves some technical estimates of likely expenditures such as for grants that are dependent on formulas and benefit programs whose costs depend on the level of unemployment. Policy relevant expenditure questions involve which programs will be funded at what level, who will benefit from public programs and who will not, and similar questions.

The Balance Cluster: The Balance cluster concerns the basic budgetary question of whether the budget has to be balanced each year with each year's revenues, or whether borrowing is allowed to balance the budget, and if so, how much, for how long, and for what purposes.

Budget Implementation Cluster: Budget implementation cluster concerns the basic budgetary questions of how close actual expenditures should be to the ones planned in the budget, how one can justify variation from the budget plan, and the budget can be remade after it is approved during the budget year.

According to Rubin (2000), "budget outcomes are not solely the result of budget actors negotiating with one another in a free-for-all; outcomes depend on the environment, and on the budget process as well as individual strategies". "Individual strategies have to be framed in a broader context than simply perceived self-interest" (p. 33). What happens in the clusters consequentially is affected by the global environment of public budgeting and the perceptions and strategies of individual budget actors are adjusted accordingly. The clusters model of Rubin (2000) reminisces the "policy environments framework" (developed by Nakamura and Smallwood [1980]) that views public policy process as a simultaneously interaction among individual actors, elements of importance and arenas of power in three policy environments (policy formation, policy implementation and policy evaluation environments) with each environment having influence on the other ones with the help of communication linkages that let each actor in one environment the opportunity to send message to the others in the other environments. In Rubin's real-time budgeting view, each cluster is imbued with different questions and each cluster attracts a different characteristic set of actors and generates its typical pattern of politics (p. 27) and what happens in each cluster is influenced by the episodes in the larger policy environment.

Based on the real-time view of public budgeting, Rubin (2000) organizes her book into nine major chapters, with each chapter explaining the clusters in detail and supporting arguments with didactic short case studies. In general, the book provides the reader with a dynamic and rich description of budgeting process in public sector.

Having reviewed public budgeting process, Rubin (2000) recommends that a balance of power should be established and maintained between the executive and the legislature, so one can catch the other at bad practice-a recommendation running contrary to the argument that to solve federal budget deficit problem either the executive or the legislature has to be empowered.

Book Description

Classics of Public Budgeting is the next volume in the ASPA Classics series. It covers the most influential, paramount research articles published on public budgeting and finance. The book will surely be of great interest and use to anyone concerned with public budgeting, and anyone enrolled in, or teaching, a course on this topic in an MPA program.

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