Public Administration Magna Carta Mercantilism

Public Administration

Magna Carta

Mercantilism

Thomas Jefferson's famous phrase

Public Administration

Budgeting and Accounting Act of 1921

Full Employment Act of 1946

Annual Budget

Comprehensive Budget

Detailed Line Items

Identification of all transactions

Apportionment and Allotment

Planned-programming budgeting

Management by objections

Zero-base budgeting

Target-base Budgeting

Nondiscretionary spending

Entitlements

Sunset Legislation

Permanent Authority

Earmarked revenue

What are the challenges of state and local budgeting?

Cost overruns on federally mandated programs and rapid spending growth are a couple of challenges that state and local governments have when it comes to budgeting. When looking at revenue, the collapse of the stock market and the generally slow economy has kept tax receipts well below what most states expected. The largest errors that have been made in forecasting have been for corporate and personal income taxes. On average, total state tax collections have run about 10% below what was forecasted over the past several years. Almost every state has experienced some kind of shortfall. The key point about state and local budgets is that it is the health of the economy that determines the health of both state and local budgets. Ongoing economic weakness limits both states and local administrations to grow their way out of current problems. Sustained improvement in the national and regional economies will be critical to improvement in state and local fiscal conditions (Understanding State Budget Troubles, 2003).

Question 3

Distinguish between rational approaches and incremental approaches budgeting.