IMPROVING A COUNTY BUDGET SYSTEM Introduction A

As a part of the process of developing and implementing an improved budgeting process for Adams County, a test implementation of a budgeting process will be effected for the county library system. The experiences with the test implementation involving the county library system will be used to develop a budgeting process for all elements of the Adams County government.

The advantages and disadvantages of several approaches to budgeting for public sector organizations are considered in this research. Further, a test budgeting process for the county library system is recommended as the conclusion to this consideration of the several approaches to budgeting.

The budgeting process encompasses both the actual budget through which the financial activities of an organization are planned, monitored, and controlled, and the forecasting of the requirements upon which a budget is based. A forecast is "an estimate of the level of demand for a product or for several products for some period of time in the future."1 To be meaningful, forecasts must project a variable in measurable units, such as demand in terms of measurable units of book borrowings for a specific period of a library's operations.

There are a number of procedures by which forecasts may be developed. Some, such as subjective opinion forecasts, are not suitable for use in contemporary county budgeting applications. A somewhat more sop

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t it makes no effort to assess the effectiveness or the efficiency of the expenditures included in it. For the county library administrator, an objects of expenditure budget requires that he or she justify things, as opposed to justifying what it is that an organization does, or is supposed to do. Thus, it is sometimes criticized as placing too much emphasis on minute detail. Conversely, however, many people think that this budget format tends to keep public administrators honest. Performance Budgets A performance budget is, like the objects of expenditure budget, an incremental budget. A performance budget, in contrast to the objects of expenditures budget, emphasizes the functions of the organization. It is these functions that are budgeted, as opposed to the items required to perform the functions, as is done in an objects of expenditure budget format. The functions of an organization are tied directly to its missions and objectives. The advantage of the program budget format is that it places costs on functions. People are able to see exactly what is costs to have a specific function performed by a public sector organization. The performance budget format provides both supporters and opponents of specific governm

Category: Economics - I