Question

Budget Surplus: A Case Study

A small midwestern city has a $1 million budget surplus. Two groups immediately begin vying for the funds. One of the requests comes from downtown businesses requesting to use the money to beautify downtown by adding brick sidewalks and planting areas with the goal of attracting customers. As city manager, you are aware that the downtown area has not been doing as well as predicted and that the small businesses are necessary for the development of a “vibrant downtown,” as stated in the city’s goals. The other request comes from the city’s police department wanting to begin a unit to pursue “career criminals.” You are familiar with the statistics and know that repeat offenders commit an overwhelming number of crimes. There is an apparent trend in police departments to address this issue separately. The two groups are competing for limited resources. Both causes are considered worthy of city funding, but decisions must be made, given that $1 million will not fully fund both requests. Both crime control and economic development are of vital interest to your community, and both have active constituents who will come to the city council meetings with their requests.

Respond to the following questions:

Please answer the following questions and explain. (it needs to fit a two paged memo)

1.First, diagnose what the specific problem is. Who are the stakeholders, and what roles do they play? What assumptions or attributions are you making about the problem and the circumstances under which it occurs?

2. Second, are there secondary problems? identify the facts and what special considerations must be taken into account. What are the strategic factors that must be satisfied to solve the problem.

3. Third, determine what are the options (recommended procedures, practices, and techniques) for dealing with or solving the problem.

4.Fourth, make a recommendation or decision. These decisions need to be provided with supporting analysis and evidence that explains or justifies why the decision was made.

5.Fifth, focus on the generalizable assessment of the case study or simulation reflecting on the takeaways, lessons and insights derived from it.

Answer 1

1. The problem being discussed at hand is a budget allocation problem between two important constituents of the city management - the police department and a group of downtown businesses. Both requests made are reasonable in terms of their relevance to the city. The key stakeholders here are the police department, the city management team, downtown businesses and also the average citizen to an extent. The key decision maker is the city manager who must prioritize between these proposals to utilize the budget. Also it must me noted that the source of funds is a budget surplus, and not an external grant of any sort. Hence it is an internal decision of the city management entirely. A vibrant downtown is specified under the city's goals for the period under consideration and is an important goal for the city to ensure its economic well-being. As is the need for reduced crime in the city.

2. The secondary problem here is the fact that the city management will, in any decision it takes, be making a choice which will look like it is suboptimal for either or both parties. This will need to be addressed in the way the decision is justified and communicated and the future action on that. It is important to have some kind of information on the performance of the vying prties with respect to similar previous situations if possible. Also the overall track record of the departments in question of implementing and executing plans on a budget would be useful in making the decision.

3. There can be several ways of dealing with the problem. A good place to start would be prioritizing overall objectives for the city's welfare and ensuring that the articulation of the same is known and communicated to all stakeholders. This would ensure some notion of fairness in evaluating proposals. It is also important to ensure that neither party feels let down during the entire process - the attempt being made here is over and above what had been budgeted for and even if the plans do not come through as bid for, the parties must be appreciated for putting in the effort to build the city. The city management team will need to do the homework on both aspects of the issue - the city's current propensity to be affected by crime and also the overall economic scenario. The outcomes of the plans in either case must be clearly understoond and documented. The timelines for these outcomes would also need to be looked at to determine favourability of the case. Also, it would be good to get insights from average citizens on issues related to crime and economic development to get an understanding of where exactly current gaps lie within these and how important or critical they are with respect to each other. These initiatives would help the city manager take a more informed decision around prioritization. Once the prioritization is done, it needs to be quantified in a way that help use decide whether we should split the budgets between the proposals or go entirely with one party. There will be pros and cons to each but whatever the decision is, it must ensure that the projects were not critically affected.

4. Given the above groundwork, the city management team needs to make a decision. Making a few assumptions and looking at the nature of the projects, I would look to split the budgets in a 60:40 ratio between the police and small businesses. We know that police departments are looking at repeat crimes with greater seriousness and anything that tries to address that stands to benefit the overall community in the long term. A beautification of the downtown area, while providing a feel-good factor amongst citizens may be shortlived in its impact and also may not be seen as a critical initiative. In addition, it may be a good motivating factor for the city's police team to see it's proposal being prioritized to a certain extent.

5. The assignment is about taking a considered decision as an important manager between two alternatives that are noble in intent and serve concrete purposes. Strategic decision making must be a comprehensive process, taking into account all possible factors affecting a situation. There could be secondary issues that emanate from the problem at hand which will also need to be taken care of without affecting the primary decision.