Economics Question

Overview

Week 3

There are four actors involved in the budget proposal process. Discuss which of the four actors appear to play the greatest role in the process? Why do they play the greatest role? Justify your responses with examples.

Be sure to respond to at least one of your classmates' posts.

Classmate’ post

Cassey English

Hi class and professor,

The four actors involved in the budget approval process are: chief executive, budget director, legislators/councilmembers, and last agency directors. The greatest of the four would be the budget director because they run the budget office for the chief executive. This office is the center for the city or state's budget processing. Budget requests are generally sent to the budget office rather than directly to the executive. Once this office receives all of the requests, it goes about balancing expenditures against expected revenues. This effort can be eased when the executive informs the agencies of expected increase or decrease in revenue prior to their submitting budget requests. Given the constraints of limited revenues, the budget office must ensure that items of high priority, as deemed by the chief executive and legislative body, be provided for. This process can cause a lot of friction between the budget office and the agency directors.

Reference:

Menifield, Charles E. The Basics of Public Budgeting and Financial Management. A Handbook for Academics and Practitioners. 2021.

Week 4 Discussion - Fiscal Transparency

How important is fiscal transparency? Look at the budget for a department of your choice in Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2024Links to an external site.. Does the executive, federal budget reflect a realistic assessment of the fiscal problems facing state and local governments? Why or why not?

Be sure to respond to at least one of your classmates' posts.

Classmates’ post

Sharon Jacobs

11:54amJan 28 at 11:54am

Manage Discussion Entry

Hello Class and Dr. Parham,

In Government, increased efficiency and decreased borrowing costs are the results of fiscal openness, which includes public engagement, supervision by lawmakers, and budget and fiscal cycle transparency. Thus, for responsible and efficient government, fiscal openness is crucial (Seiwald, 2023). All government agencies are required to have detailed budgets that show their anticipated income, expenses, surpluses or deficits, and spending plans. Legislators and the general public are able to assess the usage of public funds in this way.

Government budgetary transparency is important for several reasons. It improves public financial management, trust, and accountability. Since the HUD budget reflects state and local government finances, fiscal transparency must be considered.

Importance of Fiscal Transparency

• Fiscal transparency lets taxpayers see how their money is used. Seeing how monies are disbursed increases faith in the government's decisions.
• Using accurate and reliable budgeting information improves financial planning and resource allocation (Seiwald, 2023).
• State budget and financial openness builds market confidence.
• To determine whether the federal executive budget accurately assesses state and local financial difficulties, it must be thoroughly examined.

There are many things to consider when examining the HUD budget and how it connects to state and local budgets:

• Sufficient Funding: State and local governments need enough money to address pressing fiscal concerns. Affordable accommodation, infrastructure, and growth in communities are included.
• Specific Programs: The budget should contain specific programs and efforts to aid state and local governments with finances. One option is to provide them money, grants, or other resources for their special needs.
• The budget should show federal, state, and local cooperation. It should listen to these groups and consider their ideas to accurately assess financial difficulties and find suitable solutions.

It is difficult to evaluate priorities and efficacy since the budget just provides broad program numbers without going into depth about how those money will be spent.

• States and towns are reporting budget problems, making the budget's assurances of increased financing for homelessness assistance funds seem idealistic (Allen et al.,2023).
• The extent of the necessary repairs to public housing is not fully covered by the budget. When compared to what is required to maintain and upgrade public housing throughout the country, the capital fund falls short.
• Larger deficits may result from using revenue estimates to establish budget parameters, since these projections may overestimate economic growth and underestimate expenses (Allen et al.,2023).

The HUD budget needs to be more transparent, include state and local partners' demands, and apply fair economic assumptions. More transparency would help the budget address important problems including homelessness, housing quality, and access and improve understanding of spending trade-offs. Community fiscal decisions may be better if HUD budgeting was more open and fact-based.

References

Allen, R., Akhazzan, N., Koshima, Y., Dubertret, J., & Welham, B. (2021). Fiscal Transparency Evaluation.

Seiwald, J. (2023). Fiscal and financial transparency. In Global encyclopedia of public administration, public policy, and governance (pp. 4903-4910). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Week 5

Discuss two governmental expenditures that you believe will have a significant impact on your local economy over the next year. Justify your response with examples.

Week 6

Discuss 2–3 challenges an administrator may face when developing and reviewing a financial plan or capital improvement plan. Justify your response with examples