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:

1. How will you, as city manager, handle these requests? explian
2. What recommendations will you make to the city council? Explian
3. What role will you play with the constituents of both groups to satisfy their requests? Explian

Answer 1

1. As the city manager we need to ask both the parties to come up with proper plans and submit them so that we can understand their plan completely. We also must do some research in this regard so that we can be sure of our decision . There might be other causes for which the money can be used . Hence we need to filter each and every alternative.

2. After coming to a complete understanding , we can recommend the council to allott a percentage of amount to both the groups and ask them to implement the most crucial parts of their plan . This is because we cannot satisfy any group's request completely with the money and hence can atleast put a start to a change. We can also recommend some amount to be kept aside as savings as it would come useful if some emergency arises.

3. When we come to both the groups , we need to discuss all the pros and cons of their proposals and get a clarification on how they plan on utilising the amount they get . We can help them identify the most important steps in their plan and must encourage them to implement those steps with the amount they get and once the change gets initiated they can apply for more amount in future . By doing so , both the groups would be satisfied and also some good changes can be initiated for the city .