Americans are not unfamiliar with the concept of a budget, in fact, most follow a budget on an everyday basis, however, the topic of a public budget can be overwhelming to many them. Although many Americans might have a small concept of how the federal budget works, very few are familiar with their local budget process, and even less familiar to their adopted annual city budget. Every local budget is as unique as the cities who developed them. The following paper will summarize, evaluate, and compare El Paso Texas and San Diego California’s 2012 budgets. It will compare their revenues, expenditures, and budget format. It will attempt to analyze the similarities and differences and determine the causes of such similarities and differences.
Summaries of Cities
San Diego is a city in southern California and lies on the coast of the Pacific. As of 2012, the estimated population was 1,338,348. San Diego is known as “America's Finest City," its perfect climate, beautiful beaches, and rich culture make it a great tourist attraction (San Diego website). San Diego has a big military community, with several military installations which has played a major economic factor in the city, however in recent years, tourism, international trade, and manufacturing have taken the lead as engines of San Diego’s economy. San Diego proximity to the national border and port of entry has enabled the city to become a major player in international trade. San Diego is home to several professional sport teams and has also been the host to several major sporting events. San Diego is also home to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and UCSD Medical Center (Fiscal Year 2012 Adopted Budget | Financial Management, 2011, p.1-5).
El Paso is the lies in...
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...r both the public and city council to ask questions and express concerns. Pending final approval, proposed budget is subjected to the Mayor’s revision or veto (City of El Paso, 2011, p.75-77).
References
Borunda, D. (2013, February 6). El Paso ranked safest large city in U.S. for 3rd straight year. El Paso Times [El Paso]. Retrieved from http://www.elpasotimes.com/tablehome/ci_22523903/el-paso-ranked-safest-large-city-u-shtml
Census Bureau Homepage. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/
City of El Paso (2011). Budget 2012. Retrieved from http://home.elpasotexas.gov/omb/_documents/City%20of%20El%20Paso,%20Texas%20FY%202012%20Budget%20Book.pdf
Fiscal Year 2012 Adopted Budget | Financial Management. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.sandiego.gov/fm/annual/fy12/index.shtml
www.elpasotexas.gov - Home. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://home.elpasotexas.gov/
Our Preamble lists five main goals that are required to help create a strong and stable society within our country. However, money is required in order to achieve these goals. We get this money from the Federal Budget which is the yearly amount we receive in order to better our country. The question here is, are we slicing the pie correctly in relation to the federal budget? In each of three budget clusters, the U.S Government should make adjustments in the way it is distributing money by making changes involving the Big Five, the Middle Five, and the Little Guys.
After tracing the evolution of the provincial-local financial relationship in Canada it has become apparent that the trend, throughout history, has been towards greater Provincial control and in turn less fiscal autonomy for the municipality. There has been an increase (due to demand as well as downloading from the provinces) in the functions and responsibilities of the municipality, as well as the cost of these functions, and a decrease in fiscal resources and revenue sources.
Wayne Swan 2010, ‘Budget Speech 2010-11’ Australian Government. Retrieved May 20th, 2010, from - http://www.budget.gov.au/2010-11/content/speech/html/speech.htm
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San Francisco belongs to California state in America and located on the west coast of American continent connecting to Pacific ocean, so it has been an important entrance for many ships from east to America including China, Japan, Korea, Russia, etc. California used to belong to Spain and Mexico, until 1848 America won California after United States war with Mexico. At the same year in 1848, gold was found accidently in Sutter’s Mill, California, and the gold rush att...
Our government here in Texas has three major parts that play a significant part in our decision making process. These levels have been deigned to decentralize power and make it more affective for the public's needs. The primary level is the Texas legislature. It is almost a given to say that everyone has at least heard of the legislature. Some variables that the legislature contains are the Lt. Governor, the Speaker of the house of Representatives and Committee Chairs. The Speaker acts as the presiding officer over the house and has two levels of power. These two levels are institutional powers which allow the officer to preside over the Legislative Audit Committee and Sunset Advisory Committee.
In modern times Oakland is known as the main metropolitan city in the East Bay. The city possesses 3 professional sports teams, which have a population of just below 400,000. Oakland is also the 3rd largest metropolitan city in the Bay Area behind San Jose, and San Francisco.( Encyclopedia Britannica ) The city mayor is the ex Governor of California Jerry Brown. Located in Alameda County Oakland’s area consists of a total square mileage of 78.2 miles, of which 56.1 miles is land, and the latter consisting of water.( Encyclopedia Britannica ) Oakland also possesses the 3rd largest seaport on the west coast.
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In general, California is very well known for countless things that make it a famous, notable state and establish their society. California is one of the most populated states in the USA with it’s 38.8 million people, and 10.1 million specifically in Los Angeles. It is the third largest state and would be the 34th most populated if it was it’s own country. There economy is centered on technology and finance as it contains most movie
...he surrounding area are required (and thus get more funding from local property taxes), by law and Education Code, to give a portion of their funding to school districts that are “poor” in order to boost the “poor” school districts performance; this idea of taking from the rich and giving to the poor is why it is dubbed the “Robin Hood” plan (Smith, Schools are Reassigned to Robin Hood, 2011). This bill was the first in a long series of proposed bills that was ruled as a constitutional solution for the 1989 Texas Supreme Court case Edgewood v. Kirby, but it is also the reason for the not only the current lawsuit filed by approximately 600 school districts (both wealthy and poor), but also the 2003 school funding lawsuit (Texas School Finance History, n.d.). It has been ruled unconstitional several times throughout its history, yet it still remains in practice today.
When states try to find ways to restrain from non-essential areas, unfunded federal mandates are at the top of the list. These mandates often force state and local governments to spend much more than necessary on everything from medical care to welfare to road building. A complex web of federal programs bind together the tree treasuries of the local, state, and federal government. As much as 25 percent of state budgets now comes from the federal government, and up to 60 percent of some state budgets is spent on joint federal-state programs.
During the past decade, the state of California has been one of the fastest growing economies of the United States. The substantial growth has positioned California as the top one economy in the United States, with a gross domestic production of approximately 2.3 trillion dollars for the fiscal year 2014. The state of California has also ranked number eight in the largest world economies, passing countries like Italy and Russia (Young, 2014). Although many factors have led to this growth, the most influential have been related to the high investment of private industries and the increases on international trade and the real estate sector.
The Chicago Public School District is the third largest school district in the United States educating around 400,000 students. Back in 1987 CPS was named “the worst in the nation”(). Moving its way up to the top, since then, CPS had completely rebuilt its structure, appointing leaders and reformed ideas. Now, with a deficit projected to be around $1 billion CPS is headed back in a downwards path, money being the biggest issue. The United States Federal Government already has financial issues of its own, which makes dealing with a CPS budget a problem within a problem. CPS, with a $6.6 billion FY2013 budget, is now taking a new strategy based upon a flawed “Student-Based Budgeting System”. The Board of Education is also struggling to solve the debt they have reached, and with their FY2014 plans this year’s budget book is argued to be “one of the most poorly written budgets”(). The way CPS is handling their budget is not benefiting the lives and education of students and is leaving CPS at a loss with giant financial issues.
I learned that school budgets not only inform us of priorities, but they can also serve as a communication tool for the whole district. I feel as if our school could use the budget as an opportunity to discuss progress as well as our strategic plan, but they don’t. Teachers and parents rarely hear about the budget’s educational and operational objectives and accomplishments. This is definitely something my school could improve on, since the school budget should reflect the community and their values. I also think there is a skewed public, and even faculty, perception regarding the school budget. Some of these views include that the school budget is wasteful, administrators are overpaid, administrators are not forward-thinking, and money is spent in the wrong areas. These adverse perceptions of the school budget are often heard during difficult economic times, such as when our school district recently went on fiscal distress. However, I have learned that without meaningful involvement of the community, educators, and staff, these perceptions will never