Part one on GovSense for Budgeting: Make every dollar count for your community’s essential and improvement services.

Use Technology to Tackle the Five Biggest Challenges to Local Government Budgeting

The importance of disciplined budgeting at the local government level cannot be over emphasized since the annual budget determines which projects and services will be funded to serve your communities and constituents. The budget essentially becomes the annual operating plan that each department uses to set priorities and execute approved projects. While there are a wide variety of approaches and methodologies used to produce budgets that fit the needs of each unique jurisdiction, we have identified five budgeting challenges for which utilizing technology will help all government organizations better allocate funds and manage expenditures with transparency and confidence.

If you are like the hundreds of local jurisdictions we talk to regularly, you will recognize these budgeting challenges that, when conquered, can significantly contribute to a vibrant future for your community. So, ask yourself … is it actually possible to:

1. Shorten the budgeting cycle
2. Eliminate silo budgeting
3. Efficiently manage capital investments
4. Increase accuracy of revenue projections
5. Reduce time spent on reporting

Take just eleven minutes to learn how an advanced, unified software system can make all the difference in your ability to achieve these game-changing goals.

1. Shorten the Budgeting Cycle

There are many steps in the local government budgeting cycle that can not be altered since the actions are mandated by policies enacted to ensure proper checks and balances. Some scenarios add to the complexity of the process, such as when a city and a county exist in an overlapping jurisdiction. We know, however, that automation, featuring advanced best practice workflows in a unified software system, can condense and speed up most of these required steps. And the best of these systems help shorten the production cycle for any type of budget you need to prepare, including line-item budgets, program budgets, performance budgets and strategic budgets.

When you decrease the time it takes to create, analyze and adjust budgets, then you can present a more timely, precise, and complete budget for citizen feedback and legislative adoption.

The annual budget hearing, before and after meetings and the legislative body review all take an inordinate amount of time, so the sooner you can get the budget to these reviewers, the better. You’ll be able to be more prepared for the unexpected, too, like natural disasters or economic downturns.

Utilizing advanced software functionality, you can customize budgeting functions to the unique requirements of your jurisdiction. With all departments working from the same system, instead of multiple versions of inconsistent spreadsheets or outdated on-premise databases, you simplify the previously complex budgeting process with consistent information and formats that are quickly and automatically compiled, validated and presented in report formats you designate. The process is now expedited, and the annual budget can be produced in record time.

Next Week: Part 2 of GovSense for Budgeting — Eliminate Silo Budgeting and Efficiently Manage Capital Investments.