Recently with all the work going into the budget I have really been able to learn a lot. The Peoria budget office works through a what I would call a facilitative role. More than in years past the departments in the city have been responsible for their own budgets. This means that departments have been given targets, and how they get there is up to them (within certain constraints).
The role of budget staff (and one lowly intern) has been to offer assistance in making needed cuts, and then double checking department results. At times the budget department is called upon to make suggestions to others, crunch numbers for departments, decide best how others should specifically enter their information into the budget system, and make sure department targets are hit. This means a lot of detail work, following up, and balancing numbers.
This can be trickier than it sounds. The city has a lot of funds to balance. Decisions are always being made and at the last minute things can change. That leaves the budget office scrambling. It is an exciting time to be around, and a great opportunity to learn. At the same time I'm glad it's not always this stressful, it could really burn everyone out.
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