Public Sector Budgeting - City of Long Beach, California Assignment

Essays on Public Sector Budgeting - City of Long Beach, California Assignment What is the budget process at the of Long Beach, California that is surprising It is quite surprising that after the city manager has proposed the budget, it has to be verified by the mayor, who then proposes changes in the budget if there is any. The budget after release is reviewed by the city council, which takes a maximum of 45 days. Finally, the mayor will have a period of five days to make final changes. The Long Beach budget has many processes before it is finally adopted. 2. Steps in the budget process that are noteworthy The mayor is going through the budget after the city manager has proposed it to be practical. The mayor understands what the locals are missing and what should be improved or removed from the budget. It is, therefore, an advantage on the side of ordinary people. The budget being subdued to long processes before it is adopted is beneficial. This is because by going through long verifications, it prevents hasty decisions being made that may affect people negatively. 3. How to strengthen the overall budget process as a public administrator As a future public administrator, I will make it my priority to employ only people who understand the value of a dollar. This is by only letting people with the knowledge in accounts handle the budget (Erie, 2004); by doing this, no money will be left unaccounted for and every single penny will be put in use. 4. Categories that account for the most of public expenditures, and the City of Long Beach expenditure and the skills that administrators need to manage this category In the categories of public expenditure, the category of public education accounts for the most of the public budget. For the City of Long Beach, health and welfare category accounts for the most of its budget. For administrators to manage the health and welfare category, they need to have knowledge of how the category affects individuals, and the areas that can be improved if there is enough money. 5. Major revenue sources in the public budget of the City of Long Beach, California, and skills administrators need to manage the resources. The sources of revenue in the City of Long Beach are (Lee, Johnson, Joyce, 2004): levy taxes paid by tourists who visit the city’s beaches, Levies paid on imports and exports Tax deducted from public workers salaries. For administrators to manage these funds, they need to know the amount lost or gained by the government. Administrators should know the measures to take in case the amount of money gained by the government relapses. The administration should be made of individuals who are not corrupt to prevent cash embezzlement. 6. General skills one can gain from a public sector budgeting course Not everyone is a good planner when it comes to budgeting. Taking a budgeting course enables one to learn how to spend money wisely and how to avoid being an over spender. A budgeting course helps people know what should be their most priority when budgeting and what should be their least priority. 7. Skills one can take back to the working place from a public sector budgeting course In a work environment, there are different people. There are the groups that are aware of how to be wise spenders, and their counterparts who are clueless. Having some knowledge in budgeting enables one to assist his or her acquaintances in managing their incomes (Kanters, 2003). One can start by teaching one person in the office environment; as time goes by, others will be interested and then the idea can be implemented. This is if the majority at the work place supports the idea. 8. Identify at least one budget area that one should gain some additional hands on experience in order to be a better public administrator and how one can gain experience This will be the area of allocation of funds, which enables one as a public administrator to know where funds are needed to be allocated most. This can be attained through taking courses in accounts. 9. Public area budgeting issues of the City of Long Beach, California and ideas to manage these issues The budget on education is adversely affected every year. To help culminate this, the public revenue should prioritize public education funds before seeking to attend to any other public area. 10. Redevelopment has been important in the City of Long Beach, California, discuss the particular issues affecting the city as a result of the elimination of redevelopment agencies and how this will affect the processing of the integrating of the budgets for the city The City of Long Beach faces the challenge of scarce resources, and some public employees had to be laid off because they could not be paid. These challenges will affect the integrating of the budget because the budget will not be able to cover all the needed areas. Learning in schools will be interfered with as some lessons will have to be cut off from the curriculum. References Erie, S. P. (2004). Globalizing L.A: Trade, infrastructure, and regional development. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. Kanter, R. M. (2003). Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the frontiers of management. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School. Lee, R. D., Johnson, R. W., Joyce, P. G. (2004). Public budgeting systems. Boston, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.