Yesterday was a big day in Peoria. The city had a study session to introduce the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, and pass out to council the budget book. The budget book is a very cool thing about local governments. It is a document that lays out a municipal budget in great detail, showing everything line by line. I love this because even though it can be a lot of work, it makes government accountable and transparent.
This year the budget is expected to be more contentious than in years prior. The city has put off rate increases on water/wastewater for the last couple of years and really can not put it off any longer. I won't say any more on the topic since not everything is public record yet, but will say that this will be a particularly difficult issue going forward.
The next month or so will be a difficult, but very interesting time to be in Peoria. For me as an intern it is a great opportunity to learn the political aspect of municipal budgeting.
This year, Glendale staff is proposing no water rate increases. It is good news for our city because last year, it looked like there may be a need for an increase this year. Although this is a good news item for our Council, it was interesting seeing how the Council responded.. mainly with skepticism. The politics of the budget are so interesting and fun to watch!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the budget book. Even if most people do not bother to see where their taxes are spent, it is good to have available and definitely increases accountability because it is easily accessible public record.
ReplyDelete@ Garrett: You make a very valid point but the question that I ask myself is why don't people care? There is so much information on government expenditure that no one checks out but this same people would believe that the government is inefficient. This puts we public administrators in a difficult position. I hope the people of Preoria make use of what they have
ReplyDeleteI also look forward to the budget book in the City of Phoenix, it is a way to make the budget process more transparent and it allows time for citizens to attend budget hearings to discuss options they support or oppose. I do not work for the city but I can only imagine how hectic the budget process can be, I am thankful as a citizen that opportunities for me to participate are available.
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