Arapahoe County 2015 Adopted Budget

To: Department Manager
From: Me
Date: 24 September, 2017
Subject: Results from Analyzing the Arapahoe County 2015 Adopted Budget

This memo is to delineate the findings I have obtained from conducting an analysis of the Arapahoe County for the 2015 Adopted Budget. This encompassed assessing expenditure items for both the Clerk and Recorder’s Office and the Department’s General Fund. The purpose of my analysis is to bring forth to your attention the need for interim budget deduction owing to the shortfall in revenue. The revenue adjustments will make it possible for you as the department manager to be able to review the recommendations given and thereafter make adjustments to spending cuts in view of that.

There are some recommendations I have chosen to making alterations to the spending categories. In this particular analysis, I applied a flat rate of 10 percent in undertaking revenue adjustment for the general fund. There were significant changes to the budget in general. To begin with, the salaries and wages expenditure category, employee benefits, supplies category, service expenses together with other corresponding outlays all experienced a 10 percent decline. The central services within the Clerk and Recorder’s Office also declined by the same. The item within the budget that did not experience any changes is the capital outlay, which remained the same with regard to the 2015 adopted budget and the new budget amount. In total, 9.79 percent, similar to $886,559 is the total amount of deductions recommended to be subtracted to the total revenue.

Without a doubt these recommended changes will have a major impact on the department as a whole. It is imperative to note that the magnitude of the departmental interruption caused by these reductions are bound to be proportional to the magnitude of the cost-cutting undertaken. Bearing this in mind, it is necessary to fashion the reductions being undertaken to the savings objective. One of the key impacts is the reduction of personnel owing to the decrease in the amounts of wages. The recommendation is to terminate the three underperformers within the department. Another impact is that vacant positions will remain unfilled. This will also facilitate the ability to reduce the employee benefits. There is also the impact of a decline in supplies within the financial period. The key way of accomplishing this is through controlling miscellaneous spending. The recommendation for the department is to cease permitting personnel from spending sum amounts on a financial year on stationery and supplies devoid of obtaining consent from their superiors.

I believe that these recommendations are justifiable and rational for the department in particular. One of the main reasons why I chose a pro rata rate for the revenue adjustment is that it will be beneficial for the department to comprehend the total amount necessary for cuts and begin making the necessary changes immediately. For instance, making financial plans on reductions in salaries and wages as well as supplies at the start of the financial period rather than every certain time period is necessary. In addition, once this is done, the cash flow of the department will go on properly throughout the rest of the financial period. The budgeting process quantifies a plan the allocation of resources for the subsequent financial period. This process starts out at the onset of every financial year in order to come up with a proper placement of funds in the year. Imperatively, budgeting at the departmental level is a decentralized procedure and the department is liable for coming up with its budget. Therefore, by using a pro rata rate it becomes possible to finalize the reduction process and included in the main budget.