Response
The $9.9 million reduction in budget allocation makes one of the things that caught me by surprise. A closer analysis of the budget reveals that security/counter-terrorism grants have reduced dramatically from the 2013 values. The other most surprising thing is that the budget for communication was also reduced in 2014. Common knowledge would suggest an increased funding in communications and counter-terrorism programs. The capital program also surprised me since the department seems to have an elaborate ten-year plan that underfunded. Further, I was surprised to note that administration of the police department increased in budget allocation. The budget shows a deviation from the public’s main interest of being secure from terrorism. Anybody looking at the budget would conclude that the police department has shifted its focus from terrorism (Niblack et al., 2013).
The budget format used is the hybrid budget format. It uses both line-item and program budget format. The financial summary is done using line-item format; however, the rest of the budget is done using program budget format. The line-item budget format does not indicate where the money will be used hence making it hard for anyone to determine why some programs should be allocated so much money. The alternative format for this budget would be the performance budget format. Performance budget format would offer a way to articulate the results of the programs. The new budget format would explain, in details, the usage of money allocated to the patrol program. The performance budget format would also improve the efficiency of the police department (Niblack et al., 2013).
I think the NYPD budget is enough. Over $4.6 billion was budgeted for 2014, and from my perspective this is enough funding for the city of New York. The money should, however, be redistributed to provide more funding for critical programs such as counter-terrorism.
Reference
Niblack, P., Rodus, J., Ryan, R., & Francois, L. (2013). Hearing on the fiscal year 2014 executive budget for the police department.
