Week 2: Politics and Dynamics of Public Budgeting

1
Week 2 Politics and Dynamics of Public Budgeting

• Budgeting political or technical?
• Rubins model of budgetary decision making
• The baseline class exercise
• Actors in the budget process
• dramatization
• Preview week 3

2
Public Administration Dichotomy Debate

• Classical Public Administration 1880s - 1930s
• Efficiency of organizations
• Scientific principles of administration
• Expertise over politics
• Left out concern for politics, values, ethics
• Behavorial 1940s - 1960s
• Dichotomy questioned administration is political
• Irony more attention to administrative tools
  (e.g. PPBS)
• From efficiency to effectiveness
• Human element in organizational decision making
• New kind of science of administration (social)

3
Public Administration Dichotomy Debate (cont.)

• The New Public Administration 1970s -
• No dichotomy
• Try to bring managerial and political values
  together
• Two branches
• Public policy
• looked at politics in policy but not in
  administration
• PA moved to Business Schools
• Political management
• the governance function of public administration
• define the role of public managers in political
  system

4
Political v Technical

• Budget Process
• ___ technical
• ___ political
• Budget as a Document (Expenditure Plan)
• ___ technical
• ___ political
• Budget Management and Implementation
• ___ technical
• ___ political

5
Budget Process political v technical?

• Who plays what roles who has power
• macro and micro issues
• Rules and timelines
• Estimating revenues
• Preparing budget requests
• Defending requests (testify, lobby)
• Reviewing requests (budget analysis)
• Specialized legislative committees

6
The Budget Document political v technical

• scope of government
• priorities
• variety of funding sources
• balance of revenues and expenditures
• program and legal requirements
• one-time v ongoing accounting
• comparative contexts
• accountability to public budget presentation
• http//www.sacto.org/budget/pdf/4 - Budget
  Overview.pdf
• http//www.dof.ca.gov/html/bud_docs/backinfo.htm

7
Budget Management political or technical?

• Internal allocations
• Reallocation
• Managing ones own units budget
• Staying within budget/overspending
• Transfer among categories
• Determining and using reserves
• Publication -- how much to reveal
• Appropriate use of different funds
• Year end strategies

8
Rubins Model of Budgetary Decision Making

• Environment
• Process
• Strategies
• Outcomes

9
Rubins Model of Budgetary Decision Making

• Environment
• Affects outcomes directly
• Affects process
• Affects strategies
• Process
• Affects outcomes directly
• Affects strategies
• Strategies
• Affects outcomes directly
• Affects process

10
The Baseline Budget

• How to compute it
• Current year initial budget
• Current year revised budget
• Current year expenditures
• Current services level adjusted forward
  (inflation, caseload)
• Current law
• Current year budget less one-time
• CSUS case study Program of Dance

11
Actors in Public Budgeting

• Chief Executive
• Executive branch chiefs
• Control agencies
• executive
• legislative
• Legislators
• Interest groups
• Public

12
Mini-Case -- Indian Health Program

• What is the committee chair trying to accomplish?
• Why is the Bureau Chief in a difficult position?
• What power does the committee chair have over the
  Assistant Secretary and the Bureau Chief?
• What power does the Assistant Secretary have over
  the Bureau Chief?
• Did the Assistant Secretary do a good job of
  responding?
• Did the Bureau Chief do a good job of responding?

13
Preview of Week 3

• Schick in reader Federal Budget Process
• Internet readings on CBO, State process
• Think about
• Importance of process
• Key characteristics of Federal process
• Differences between State and Federal Processes
• Different roles of CBO/LAO OMB/Finance
• Remember first weekly email assignment (samples
  on web)