Introduction
The city of Baltimore, like most cities in the US, is still struggling to cope with the effects of the great recession that rocked several places in the country. As a result, the fiscal 2012 budget of Baltimore has suffered sharp shortfalls characterized by rising costs and lower revenues. Despite the shortfalls, the budget has adequately covered the most important obligations such as public learning institutions, hiring of a large number of police personnel, and the repair of the neighborhood street among other amenities (“Baltimore Budget” 1).
The budget will fund the most important facilities and services in the city without increasing the tax rates. For instance, the property tax rate will still be $2.268 per $100 of the value assessed. The rate is actually the lowest when compared to that imposed over the last decade. In addition, the budget will apply the outcome budgeting process, which will ensure that the taxpayers obtain a better value on their spending (“Baltimore Budget” 3).
This paper will analyze Baltimore’s Fiscal 2012 budget based on four aspects: the budget as a policy document, the budget as a financial plan, the budget as an operations guide and the budget as a communications budget.
The Baltimore Budget as a Policy Document
The main purpose of a budget is to give an appropriate representation of the goals, objectives and priorities of a government. These are the core elements that determine the policy of a particular government. City councils such as Baltimore lack mechanisms such as the congress and the legislature, which are supposed to enact bills and proposals that could help them implement and direct various policies. For that reason, the city councils solely depend on their budget documents to effectively formulate their policies (Campenni and Khan 298).
The local government can also achieve an absolute democracy through a well-formulated budget plan. A budget plan that helps in the enhancement of democracy is one that properly articulates its goals, objectives, policies and priorities in favor of the citizens. This should be mentioned clearly in the budget message, which may include any transformations regarding the goals and objectives or any other important issues emanating from the previous fiscal years (Campenni and Khan 298).
The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) recommends that the local governments such as that of Baltimore should ensure that they produce a budget plan that explains the budgetary process, which includes the steps, phases, and the exact dates of the making of the budget, and a rational statement that explains the long term budgetary goals, objectives and policies. A good budget, according to the GFOA, should also outline the basic goals, policies and objectives of the government and how such important elements will be implemented (Campenni and Khan 298).
The Baltimore 2012 fiscal budget has complied with the recommendations of the GFOA. The budget has mentioned some of the goals, objectives and policies of the Baltimore government. Some of the goals include funding the public institutions, hiring more police officers, and the maintenance of the most crucial city services. The budget plan has also suggested some of the ways that the government will employ to implement the policies and accomplish the goals and the objectives (“Baltimore Budget” 4).
The government of Baltimore is set to make the city more innovative, implement strategies that will help in the examination of the plan’s effectiveness and reduce the government’s expenditure. The diversification of the city’s revenues and the maintenance of the property taxes are also included within the budgetary plan. Some of these strategies are geared toward encouraging more individual investments especially on the property investment (“Baltimore Budget” 5).
The Baltimore Budget as a Financial Plan
The electorates of the city of Baltimore hold the council of the city responsible through their votes. On the other hand, the council also compels the city’s administration to perform its duties through the policies and goals outlined in the budget document. As a result, the Baltimore budget can be considered as a measure of how effective the Baltimore government is, in formulating the financial plan for the city. All this can only be achieved by supplying sufficient data in the budget to act as the basis for making financial judgments (Campenni and Khan 298).
The GFOA recommends that a budget document be made in such a way that it contains all the important financial details. Some of these details include the expenditures and revenues of the current year and the actual expenditures and revenues for the preceding year. A good budget should also contain information regarding the financial structures of the government and a proper explanation of the capital expenditures and projects. All these details enable the citizenry and other stakeholders to understand the financial aspects of the budget (Campenni and Khan 299).
The Baltimore fiscal 2012 budget has met the GFOA financial criteria for the budgets. The budget has previewed the expenditure and the revenues of the Baltimore government in the fiscal year 2011.
For instance, the revenues collected from the admission and amusement in 2011 were $8.2 million, and about $765.7 million were obtained from the real and personal property tax revenues (“Baltimore Budget” 17). The fiscal 2011 budgetary information is what the budgetary team used to make the current budget. The team has improved the current budget by cutting down the unnecessary expenditures that were in the one done in 2011 (Mikesell 13).
The Baltimore Budget as an Operations Guide
The majority of the citizenry is now fully informed about the structures of their cities’ governments since the structure are not taught anywhere in the formal education system. Therefore, the citizenry may find it hard to follow up the operations of city government in order to evaluate its performance based on the operations. However, the electorate uses the city budget to verify the performance of the government and make a sound judgment on whether the government is delivering according to the goals that are outlined in the budget pan (Campenni and Khan 299).
The GFOA recommends that a city’s budget provides an organizational chart that represents the whole of the governmental body, which should include the way the administration is structured and how the administration functions. In addition, the budget should contain the details of the personnel and the staff and their positions and duties in the government. Apart from the personnel, the budget should also provide a description of the governmental units, their functions and the activities they are supposed to perform (Campenni and Khan 300).
The Baltimore fiscal year 2012 budget has outlined some of the organizations within the government of the city and the amount of money allocated to each. For instance, the police department will receive over 36 million to carry out its operations, and the traffic control and animal departments will receive more than 11 million and 3 million consecutively.
The community outreach services have been allocated more than one million dollars in the fiscal budget. The budget has also mentioned the strategies that the government will use to follow up the performance of these organizations (“Baltimore Budget” 58).
The Baltimore Budget as a Communicative Device
The citizens of Baltimore have the right to be informed about the performance of their governmental departments and organizations. The details that the citizens need to know about the government include the policies of the government and whether it is committed to accomplishing the set objectives. According to the GFOA, it is through the budgetary document that the government can communicate such crucial information to its citizens (Campenni and Khan 300).
The budget document should provide summarized information regarding the allocation of resources. This information is normally provided for in the index. The budget should contain less complicated graphs and tables that all the citizens will be able to scheme through and understand fast. The budget plan should also contain the ways of preparing, reviewing and implementing the contents of the budget (Campenni, and Khan 300).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Baltimore fiscal year 2012 budget has met the GFOA criteria for evaluating a budget as a communication device. The budget document contains simple and clear tables and graphs that are easy to understand and it gives a proper picture at a glance. For instance, the graph of the hotel tax revenue is so clear as regards the amount of revenue collected in the last six years. The budget document also has an appendix that contains shortened details of the entire information in the body of the document (“Baltimore Budget” 209).
Works Cited
“Baltimore Budget Fiscal 2012.” Summary of the Adopted Budget. Baltimore, MD: Enoch Pratt Free Library, 2012. Print.
Campenni, Michael, and Aman Khan. Budget Analysis: A study in the Budgetary Practices of a Small Community. New York, NY: Marcel Dekker, 2003. Print.
Mikesell, John L. Fiscal Administration: Analysis and Applications for the Public Sector. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.