Author Archive
Should Across-the-Board Cuts affect all Departments?
In this time of financial uncertainty it has become common for cities, and even the State, to call for across-the-board reductions in expenditures. But what if a department or function is entirely fee supported? This could apply to Building & Safety, Current Planning, and Development Engineering. Should those departments have to reduce staffing even if [...]
Prioritizing Your Budget
As the State concludes its annual kabuki dance over the budget, it reminds me of the fact that no one in State government is setting priorities for the budget. Instead they are demanding across the board cuts for every area or producing a series of inadequate stopgap measures. But the State is looking at the [...]
Cost Allocation Plan vs. Internal Service Fund
In last month’s article I wrote about what happens when you write a Program Budget and no one cares. In other words, you have identified the full costs of providing various services to the community but it does not affect funding decisions. So depending on your resources you will want to ask yourself, What do [...]
To ISF or not to ISF?
Being someone who allocates costs for a living, it has become an axiom that if you can allocate costs then you do it. But is more information always a good idea? Or in other words, has the allocation of central costs merely become an academic exercise?
Caltrans A-87 Cost Allocation Plan
Everyone has heard of the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-87. And everyone feels they need an A-87 Cost Allocation Plan to recover the administrative costs of any federal grants that they may have. But when you get into the detail of the A-87 Circular there is a lot of detail about [...]
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