Paper Example: Government Budget Paper

In every institution, formulating a budget is the first step toward effective financial management. The budget presentation refers to the report of the budget that is to be used by the local government or any other entity for a given duration and for the allocation of the finances, which can then be divided into all the operational requirements of a company or an organization. A budget is an approximation of expenses and revenues over a given time, and it is often compiled and re-assessed on a periodic basis. In the city government of Florida, a budget is used to indicate or show trade-offs made in different transactions. It enhances transparency and accountability and also ensuring that the required resources are allocated to the right projects. In the city of Florida, there are cases when the policy-makers attempt to balance the budget to equal expenses and revenues. In some other cases, there are scenarios where expenses exceed the revenues (Publishing et al., 2001). The review is to indicate the budgeting processes in Florida City and how the resources are allocated for different purposes or projects. The above work involves the analysis of Florida City's budget. Every financial year, Florida city authority receives financial resources from the state and national government, which they use in the planning processes for different projects. The organization has a well-established executive that controls different activities including budgeting and allocation of different assets to the diverse administrative areas.

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Budgeting is often done depending on the population. Florida City is headed by the Mayor, who also presides over the financial activities (Menifield, 2017). Florida City is in Miami County, United States; it is mainly a Miami suburb and one of the main agricultural areas in the region. The city, being a metropolitan area, has a local government that is responsible for using public funding. The administration is responsible for the submission of financial reports required by the law as a way of achieving or demonstrating accountability. There are two major forms of financial reporting in Florida, Annual Financial Report and the Annual Financial Audit. The laws require all the municipalities that reach a specific threshold of expenditures and revenues to partake in yearly financial audit of all the financial activities; the process needs to be undertaken by the independent certified accountant in nine months at the end of each fiscal year (Menifield, 2017). The law requires the financial audit reports to be documented with the state of Florida's Auditor General. The capability of taxing and spending is the main purpose of each government, the process may appear simple but that might not be the case. Florida's local government understands that budgeting is a two-way process at the very least. Initially, an individual or someone ought to decide the amount of money that the government requires to operate at the optimum levels. In the process of budget making, a person must define the number of funds that needs to be allocated to each department or program. The budgeting process involves the distribution of scarce resources to meet the demands required in the planning processes. In the planning process, Florida city policy-makers often find difficulties in balancing the budget to ensure equality or equitable distribution of the available funds. The local government needs to ensure effective approaches to revenue collection to raise enough funds to boost projects. The process may, however, become very complicated, crucial and sophisticated to the very existence of the local governments (Menifield, 2017). While balancing the budget, Florida's local government often tries not to carry deficits over to the following financial year. Though, in many cases, especially at the fund levels, deficits are usually carried forward on a budgeting basis.

Analysis

Policy Document

The local government of Florida Metropolitan has a policy document that highlights the rules, regulations, and guidelines that the administration requires all the stakeholders to follow. The policy document also reflects ethics and value that the government holds dear. The types of policies implemented represent the culture of the organization. Florida's local government has strategies that are often integrated into the budgeting process. The policy document, therefore, enables the local government to achieve set objectives or strategic goals, improve areas of weaknesses and reduce liability. The policy document guides the processes of budgeting. In Florida local government has a policy document that highlights the government's plan commitment concerning the planned processes through the development and exploitation of Information Communication Technology in the city. Florida's government is committed to improving the lives of the city dwellers, providing infrastructures, providing proper housing and sanitation, improving schools and ensuring the decent living standards of the city dwellers. All the above factors have been incorporated within the policy documents. In the policy document, the local government of Florida has got socio-economic development plans that are meant to uplift economic activities to increase revenue streams. In other words, the policy document is based on the analysis and review of the city's socioeconomic development policies, frameworks, strategies, and provisions that are aimed at boosting the living standards of city dwellers (Publishing et al., 2001).

Florida's city local authority document is a deliberate collection of principles that guides decisions aimed at achieving rational outcomes. The local government often implements policy documents as protocols or procedures. The policies are usually adopted by the governance body and interrogated by the policymakers and all the stakeholders of the city governance. In the Florida metropolitan, policies aids in both the objective and subjective decision-making processes. The policy document, therefore, guides the decision-makers while deciding on the strategies on how to formulate a balanced budget. The decisions derived from the policy document are based on the relative merits of different factors, which are very difficult to test objectively. While budgeting for every fiscal year, Florida city governance often based plans of the policy document, a scenario that ensures that all the factors are integrated within the financial plans.

Financial Plan

The city of Florida often develops a financial plan for every fiscal year; the financial statement guides are revenues generated used to fund different projects and economic activities within the metropolitan. The financial plan is an all-inclusive statement of the city's long-term objectives for well-being and security, as well as detailed investing and savings strategies for accomplishing the strategies or objectives. Florida metropolitan administrative has got independent and financial planners who preside over the budgets and incorporate financial plans that may enhance the balancing of the budgets and financial distribution in all the departments and projects. In the fiscal year of 2019, the financial department drafted a budget that covered all the financial activities for the entire department and projects.

From the revenues generated, Florida's city financial planners managed to balance the distribution of resources to all the departments including salaries. In the 2019 budget, there was a portion of the budget went to the repayment of debts; however, the debts were not fully repaid as there were plans to also increase allocations to other sectors, including education, infrastructural development, and security. These areas often claim the largest share of the budget. Before the allocations, the 2019 budget includes the revenues generated from taxes including utility service taxes, local option taxes, Ad valorem taxes, and communication service taxes. The main source of revenue was taxes that amounted to over $ 6, 200,000 followed by the income generated from the charges on different services, including water utility, electric utility, Garbage, and other physical environment charges. There were also intergovernmental revenues, which include state shared revenues and grants from the federal government. All the revenues from different sources were consolidated to create one source of revenue for planning different activities within the city. In the allocation processes, some departments received the largest share. Judgments, fines and forfeits all contributed to the revenues collected. There were also miscellaneous sources of revenues including interest's deposition of fixed assets and the sale of surplus materials and scrap materials.

Even though the financial plan exceeds the revenue collected, Florida city policy-makers attempted to balance the budget to cover all the activities under each department. There was also the repayment of debts owed for some of the firms and financial institutions. In the planning processes, the policymakers took into consideration a population of over ten thousand people. The resource allocation was not only based on the populace but also on the number of projects under each department. The 2019 budget took into consideration some of the short-term and long-term factors that influence economic growth. For instance, there was the allocation for the infrastructural development that was meant to go to the street light installations, repair of tarmacs and expansion of road network. Education received the greatest amount of allocation following the needs to improve the education system in the city through the development of more learning institutions and the improvement of an efficient environment for learning activities.

Operations Guide

The operational activities towards the formulation of the city's budget followed the operational guides both from the federal and state government. Both federal and state laws guide the distribution of revenues within the budget. For instance, to promote the development of local schools and education systems, there is a specific percentage that is supposed distributed. The distribution of the financial resource is also guided by the policies that have been formulated by the local government. The formula used is dependent on the population as well as the number of resources in specific areas. The formula also incorporates the amount of revenue collected in specific areas of the city. In most cases, areas that produce high revenues through taxation are allocated more shares of the budget to maintain income streams. In the city of Florida, the planning of the budget, there is the line-item or the traditional guides that are used to fund specific commodities or objects of costs. In the above case, the emphasis is put on the supplies, personnel, utilities, capital expenditures and contractual services. In the process of budgeting, each of the above categories is broken down into individual items. For instance, within personal costs, there are subcategories such as fringe benefits, including social security, pensions, and healthcare. There are also salaries and retirement benefits.

Within the budget for the fiscal year 2019, the local government for the city of Florida included capital outlays that involved planning for high-cost items that have great value for many years. There was the allocation for items such as highways, buildings, bridges, and equipment. Budgeting for equipment included items such as computers, cars, and typewriters.