Running head: BUDGET EVALUATION 1
Budget Evaluation for City Council of Columbia
Oril Demas
Columbia Southern University
BUDGET EVALUATION 2
Budget Evaluation for City Council of Columbia
Introduction
The financial transactions by the City Council of Columbia are handled by the Finance
Department. The intention of municipal budgeting is to enable the management and the elected
officials access appropriate financial information and recommendations on the important projects
that require immediate attention. Further still, the budget ensures that the council’s operations are
as much as transparent as possible. Most of the mandatory expenses are the recurring
expenditure, debt services, capital projects, and annual strategic plans. Despite having the
mandatory expenses, the municipal must prioritize public goods and services. Public goods are
commodities provided to the public by the government without intentions of making profit the
most important public goods receive larger financial allocations. This essay focuses on
prioritized public goods and services by the previous budgets of the City Council of Columbia.
The analysis shall focus on the 2017/2018, 2016/2018, and 2015/2016 budget allocations.
Goals and Priorities of the Local Government Goods and Services
In the 2015/2016 budgetary allocations, several ongoing projects were under the office of
the city manager. The office was to facilitate the revitalization of housing projects in that had
been started in East Columbia. The Columbian clean water vision 2020 was also apriority in the
budget (“Budget in Brief”). Infrastructure developments were also to be implemented in the
downtown businesses, mainly in the Columbia Main Street. Some of the programs aimed at
supporting the council’s employees; for instance, a wellness program was to be introduced to
encourage healthy behavior among employees. The budgetary allocations for community
development was approximately $1, 098, 373
Commented [CS1]: Important information about how to properly format papers is included in the following tutorial: http://columbiasouthern.adobeconnect.com/formattingformalassig nments/
Commented [CS2]: Review level heading rules: http://columbiasouthern.adobeconnect.com/levelheadings/
Commented [CS3]: This will change when the reference entry is corrected.
BUDGET EVALUATION 3
In 2016/2017 approximately $63,644,467 was allocated to police and fire departments to
boost security services in the city, the next major service allocation was the public works and
recreation that received approximately $30,000,000, while the recurrent government expenses
were approximately $18,594,951. The priority is on the safety of properties and security of the
City of Columbia (“Budget in Brief”).
In 2017/2018 financial year, the fire, the police, and the council’s administration
expenses were still the major expenses. However, the expenses allocated for the improvement of
parks and recreation facilities had increased.
Challenges for the Provision of Goods and Services
Internal challenges are major hindrances in the provision of goods and services to the
general public. They are sometimes caused by the council’s structures or the management. First,
the bureaucratic structure of the council hinders quick decision making. There are several offices
that need to be consulted before the final decision is made; thus, quick services urgently needed
by the public and were not preplanned cannot be provided. In addition, political interests of the
councilors hinder proper services and goods delivery. The policies passed are in the interest of
the party rather than those of the electorates. Finally, financial limitations also hinder service
delivery. The council faces challenges in collecting revenues and taxes from public businesses
within its jurisdiction.
External challenges include hierarchical intergovernmental relations. There are several
governments in the City of Columbia which include the federal government, the state
government, and the local government. Sometimes, council government faces frustration from
the senior government; thus, hindering its operations. Furthermore, mistrust between private
Commented [CS4]: A run-on occurs when there is insufficient punctuation to connect two independent clauses (sentences that can
stand on their own). There are three ways to correct the error.
1. Create two separate sentences by using a period and capitalizing
the first word of the second sentence
2. Place a semicolon between the two main clauses
3. Place a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction (for, and,
nor, but, or, yet, so) between the two main clauses
I recommend the following tutorial:
http://columbiasouthern.adobeconnect.com/runons/
Commented [CS5]: Where are the citations for information? Citations are needed every 2-4 sentences even when the source remains the same.
BUDGET EVALUATION 4
sector and public sector is one of the major hindrances of service delivery in the local
government level.
Budget Stabilization Measures
Budget stabilization measures are important for any budgetary allocations because they
help in reducing expenditure and increasing income to fill the budget pitfalls. They intend to
supplement budgets during financial deficit. Some of the measures include the allocation of
surplus more for use in the future date or just allocation of the budget stabilization reserve fund
(BSF). However, the budget of City Council of Columbia lacks proper stabilization measures.
Recommendations
Even though the budget focuses on basic needs such as security and fire protection, the
council tends to focus more on recurrent expenditure. It also needs to establish development
projects for the public. In addition, the budget lacks proper stabilization measures. The council
needs to introduce measures of ensuring that budgetary surplus is available during emergencies.
BUDGET EVALUATION 5
Reference
“Budget in Brief”. City of Columbia Retrieved on August 14, 2018 from
https://columbiasc.gov/depts/budget-office/glance_2016-_10-2016_6.pdf
I suggest using the above format. Columbia South Carolina Office of Budget and Program
Management is the author.
