Assignment 2: The Operating Budget

Refer back to the e-Activity in Week 3. From your local city's budget, select an agency, program, or departmentin your city, and that appears as a budget item in the city budget you downloaded in Week 3. Assume you are the new budgeting and finance administrator for your local government agency. Your first responsibility is to become familiar with the agency, the budget, program, and capital projects. As the administrator, you will be responsible for analyzing, examining, proposing, and preparing the agency's budget for the next five (5) years.

Write a four- to five-page paper, titled Part I: The Operating Budget for the (selected Agency/program/Department) in which you separate the content into sections:

1. Provide background information about the agency, mission, goals, objectives, departments, and strategic plan. (Title this section Introduction.)

2. Describe the budget of the agency by addressing the following items: (Title this section Budget Overview.)

1. Financial Summary, including Revenue and Expenditures

2. Department Budgets

3. Funding

4. Capital Projects

5. Debt Administration.

3. Perform a Cost Analysis. (Title this section Cost Analysis.) The costs should include the following:

1. Fixed Costs

2. Step-fixed Costs

3. Variable Costs

4. Identify and explain one to two challenges you will have in managing the budget. (Title this section Budget Challenges.)

5. Recommend two to three strategies the agency should review regarding new initiatives and budget cuts over the next five years. (Title this section Budget Recommendations.)

6. Include the agency's most recent budget or financial plan.

7. Provide the agency's Website name, URL, and any other sources used to support the assignment's criteria.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double-spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Analyze the basic skills and tools needed for budgeting for public sector agencies and / or departments.

• Recommend appropriate policy actions based on the evaluation.

• Evaluate a budgeting system at any governmental level.

• Analyze the scope and sequence of budgeting in terms of sources of revenues, purpose of government expenditures, budget cycles, budget preparation, and debt administration.

• Examine the process and components of preparing a viable operating budget.

• Prepare a preliminary budgeting system for presentation before Congress, state / local government, or other organization.

• Develop various budget charts that represent segments of the budgeting process.

• Use technology and information resources to research issues in public budgeting and finance.

• Write clearly and concisely about public budgeting and finance using proper writing mechanics.