Transcript Week 9: Budget Proposals and Priorities • Politics of competition for resources • Budget proposals and justification – format for Budget Change Proposal.

Week 9: Budget Proposals and Priorities
• Politics of competition for resources
• Budget proposals and justification
– format for Budget Change Proposal (BCP)
– strategies and characteristics of good budget requests
• Review sample BCPs
• Class exercise
Politics of Competition (and avoiding competition)
• Norms of competition
– incrementalism as old school
– competition can be dynamic and intense
• Structure of competition
– macro and micro levels
– how budget process structures competition
• Strategies for winning
– crisis; broad benefits; understate costs; compelling need
• Strategies for avoiding
– earmarking; mandates; entitlements; special funds/own
revenue sources; fees; formulas
• Summary
– conflict and potential for change are inversely related
– trend to lock up $ and minimize conflict reduces flexibility
of public officials to respond to public preferences
BCP Format – see “How to Write an Effective BCP” for more
detail on what to include in each section
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2.
3.
BCP Title and Summary Statement (cover page)
Budget tables (see next two slides)
Nature of request
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4.
Background/History (and “state level considerations)
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5.
why will this approach be effective in addressing problem?
how were the specific amounts determined?
why are current efforts and resources insufficient?
Accountability: objectives and performance measures
Analysis of Alternatives
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8.
relevant history of program – how this problem arose
legislative history
state role and relation to other state programs
Justification
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6.
7.
what is the need?
why is it arising now? (new mandate, growing problem, etc.)
how much are you requesting and for what purposes?
e.g. partial funding, delay implementation, alternative approach
Recommendation and Timetable
Summary Budget Table
Personnel Years
Current Year*
Budget Year
Total Salaries and Wages
Salary Savings
Net Salaries and Wages
Staff Benefits
Total Personnel Services
Operating Expense and Equipment
General Expense
Travel
Training
Communications
Equipment
Facilities operations
Consulting and professional services
Other…
Total, OEE
Total Expenditures
State Operations
Local Assistance
Source of Funds
General Fund
Other (specify)
* Base budget for department
Dollars
Current Year* Budget Year
Detail of Personal Services Table
Positions
Classification
Total Salaries
Staff benefits @ 27%
Total Personal Services
CY
BY
Monthly
Salary
Amount
CY
BY
Categories of Budget Justification
• mandate—new program; new level of service
• workload increase – within an ongoing function
• cost increase (for same level of service)
– salaries
– inflation on operating budgets
– reduction in other funding sources
• proposing expanded or new program or services
– to increase effectiveness of existing programs
– to address new set of problems
Strategies for Developing Budget Justification
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baseline cost/workload data (which base year to choose?)
justify changes from base (e.g. quantify workload increase)
comparisons (relevant)
formulas and standards (appropriate and inappropriate uses)
“fair share”
research on cause and effect
best practices
pilot (where research may be lacking or inconclusive)
fit under budget office guidelines, strategic plan, etc.
propose accountability measures
check to avoid “the big mistake”
Characteristics of Good Budget Request
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Frames request in terms of program priorities/strategic plan
Provides baseline data for a few years, for context
Clearly lays out different parts of request
Deals with each part in turn (and they add up!)
Provides quantitative justification for dollar amounts
Makes logical arguments
Reflects research – not the easy way out
Doesn’t try to fool the analyst
Honest about current resource availability
Addresses issues of priority within the department
Acknowledges recent history of budgeting in the unit
Addresses one-time v on-going needs openly
Includes objectives, expected results, and performance measures
BCP: Commission on Improving Life Through Service
• Strengths
– Compelling explanation of need in view of policy priorities
– Strong analytical basis for requested increase
• growth in local programs
• constant administrative budget
• exhaustion of prior year carryover
• evidence from privates of limits to their support
• new program responsibilities
– Recommended alternative shows commitment from agency as well
• Weaknesses
– no explanation of what the new staff will do, or why that number
– some numbers with no context or benchmarks
– too long and repetitive
– only cited three states that receive state support
– 2nd alternative is disingenuous; 3rd is “straw man”
BCP: School for the Blind: (if this is a good BCP…….?)
OK budget analysts: what questions would YOU ask?
• “Existing resources provide an inadequate level of support
because the CSB does not receive the same allocation of
positions as public school programs for the blind and
visually impaired. This denies students at CSB access to
the same instructional teaching ratios found in local school
districts.”
• “Three TA positions have been an extremely positive and
long-standing asset to our education program”
BCP: School for the Blind (continued)
• In response to “what have been recent program changes?”
– “CSB has been significantly impacted by the increase
of students with multiple disabilities. Approximately
70% of the student body has additional disabilities.”
• In response to “are there examples from other states where
this approach has succeeded?”
– “all other state schools for the blind are funded for
teaching assistants.”
• In response to “what facts and figures support this…”
– “the requested teaching assistants are needed to provide
a comparable learning environment to public schools...”
BCP: Adult Programs Demonstration Projects
• Strengths
– well written and well organized
– good discussion of need
– good justification of request that is not easy to quantify
• based on staffing in other units doing similar tasks
• projects four proposals per year reviewed by staff
– includes detailed job descriptions of new staff
• Weaknesses
– includes “straw man” alternative to double the increase
– builds rationale on one example of program not reviewed
Class Exercise
Case 1: Sacramento Fire Department
• requests 12 additional firefighters, two new fire stations, 4 new
vehicles, 4 replacement vehicles, associated equipment, and training
funds
Case 2: CSUS -- Student Affairs
• requests two additional counselor positions, a half-time clerical
position, 3 computers, and associated operating costs, to develop and
implement a new program to improve retention and graduation rates
for students in “at risk” groups
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Program officers:
• develop line item request and rationale; use hypothetical numbers
where needed; anticipate questions from budget officers
Budget officers:
• prepare specific questions for program officers; make sure they fully
justify their requests
Preview of Week 10
Budget Analysis
• Review and discuss 4 Legislative Analyst’s Office analyses
(be prepared to discuss the one you wrote about in your
memo)
• Categorize analytical strategies and approaches
• Budget analysis class exercise
• Distribute information on week 11 Eureka (state budget
balancing) exercise
• distribute mid-term