Question one
The community in the county of Prince William has a total population of 430,959. The county is located in an area of 348 square miles (Citizen Guide, 2016). Moreover, the community has a total labor force of about 230,529 as at November 2013 (Citizen Guide, 2016). In the second quarter of 2013, the community had 117,965 of the employed population. On the other hand, the unemployed growth rate was at 4.4% in November 2013. Lastly, the median income for the household was $ 93,744. Consequently, this community was ranked in the twelfth position among the communities in the United States (Citizen Guide, 2016).
Question two
The Prince William County applied its strategic plan to establish the foundation of its budget in many ways. For instance, it uses systematic results that are based on good governance in the sense that, the citizens are engaged all the way through so that the people who are most cared for achieve the results. PWC uses its strategic plans as a foundation for the result based governance. Consequently, the plan pushes the budget and in return, it will drive the county targets and performance measures. The strategic plan for the PWC normally goes through some major updates after every four years with extensive community engagement. Therefore, the influence of the community on the strategic plans flows through to millions of U.S dollars especially in the budget shifts and the targets for service delivery to match the identified priorities of the community that have been reviewed and approved by the Board Supervisors of the County.
The performance feedback of the county provides the community with some additional ways of getting involved. For example, according to the citizen guide, the strategic plan offer some guidance to budgeting by making some highlights to critical areas for the continuous success of the community (Citizen Guide, 2016). Therefore, it assures the community that the planned service levels are achieved, major improvements are made as required, and the accountability of the desired results for the community have been achieved.
The community of Prince William County affects the measurement of the plans and the feedback into decision-making. Moreover, the key strategic planning is updated after every four years, and this engages the community through surveys concerning their focus and priorities. Thus deliberately developing a set of priority issues. The elected supervisors of the board are allowed to appoint some goal task forces from the members of the community to create key strategic goals and make a recommendation on the measurable outcomes of the goals. The Board will make a consideration on the appointments and modifies it through their deliberations while adopting the strategic plan for the PWC. Additionally, the Board also perform the annual progress review against the strategic plan where the citizens are also participants. The yearly satisfaction surveys by the citizens influence the services and the adjustments on the budgets. Moreover, the result based cycles are completed via consistent feedback performance to assist the program managers, the Board, and the executive staff to amend some changes so as to make the improvement in the daily delivery of services such as mid-year adjustments on the budgets.
The members of the community in PWC are engaged in several duties throughout the governing process especially from the earlier stages of planning. For instance, they are allowed to participate in the process of strategic planning through focus groups, survey, and goal task forces. Moreover, some citizens are allowed to collaborate with the staff of the county to facilitate the focus groups. That is the citizens are allowed to collaborate to forge some compromises that are working for some different interests. The community is also engaged as a stakeholder through surveys especially on the quality of life and satisfaction with the services of the county. The citizens also act as evaluators of the performance information that are offered by the county staff to the task forces and advisory committees of the society in the county.
Since the county has gained confidence through the creation of several opportunities for engagement, the community has learned that their efforts can make a difference. Therefore, they have been engaged in several ways throughout the whole budgeting process to assist the community in achieving the desired results.
The county is applying the use of performance feedback, and collaborations to generate results. Therefore, the result based governance system is driven by the strategic plan. For instance, concerning economic development, the county has provided a strong, and diverse economy with more quality employment opportunities and this has expanded the commercial tax base. Regarding education, PWC has provided a good educational environment with rich opportunities, and this has increased the attainment of the educational workforce in readiness for lifelong learning. Concerning the human resource services, PWC has provided human services to the citizens with most risky families through innovation and effective leverage of the state. For instance, in 1996, the citizens advocated for the presentation of data on the deteriorating social conditions like homelessness, and this forced the Board to create human services in the county budgets.
Question three
The four main sources of revenue for Prince William County (PWC) are the real estate tax that constitutes of about 47.5%, personal property tax with a percentage of 13%. Thirdly is the agency revenue with 22.4% and the fourth one is the local taxes with 7.6% (Citizen Guide, 2016). The revenue profile for PWC is typically for the counties in the United States because the profile understands the needs and wants of the citizens. For instance, as a requirement of the county budgets, the residents have to appreciate the efforts of keeping their tax burden to the lowest in the region as it provides exceptional services to the customers. This is has been the guiding principle in the production of a recommended budget in the United States.
Question four
Prince William County has both capital and operating budget. Capital budgets entail expenditure projects meant for improvements. That is capital budgets acts as additions to the capital inventory of the county such as roads, parkland, and other facilities. The sources of capital budgets are the general funds, fire levy, proffers, debt, fees for storm water management, both federal and state funds, fees for solid waste, fund balances, fees for cable franchise, and funds from Virginia Transportation Authority. When capital expenditure is made, then the county is planning to purchase additional assets that can last for more than one year. Moreover, the budget for capital budgets has to come from cash on hand for it to qualify as a capital budget expenditures. Therefore, a capital budget must take place within the county for it to continue its operations for the growth of the county government by purchasing assets that will generate income.
On the other hand, operating budget are the expected expenditures that are omitted in the capital expenditures. They include the operating transfers to PWC Schools. The main sources are employee compensation, agency revenues, general revenues, and county resources. The operating budgets should cover daily expenses such as utilities, and purchase of some items that can last for less than one year. For instance, if the PWC borrows money from its capital expenditures, the expense will come out from its operational budget since it will have to service the loan through monthly payments. Therefore, the operating budget can tell PWC the amount of cash that it need to take in every month to cover its bills.
Question five
The statement meant that the expenditure budget should be matched to the revenue budget. Therefore, if there is an existence of excess capacity, the County Executive is allowed to recommend for the additions, but only if such additions are sustainable for the five years or more. However, the County Executive may recommend that the surplus revenue be added to the revenue stabilization fund. If the expenditure is more than the budgeted revenue, then the County Executive will go back to the functional teams to determine the additional reductions. The special feature of this item is that the budget for the schools in handled independently for other agency budgets reviewed by the County Executive. It is also special in the sense that the elected school Board should submit the request for its budget directly to the BOCS at a work session.
Question six
Political sensitivity is reflected in this article because the county code requires the preparation of the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) under the guidance of the strategic plan, principles of the comprehensive plan, and sound management (Citizen Guide, 2016). Moreover, the budgeting process covers most politically sensitive regions such as public safety, transportation, general government, and community development.
Question seven
The counties in the United States make a distinction between capital and operating budgets despite the fact that the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) is reasonable for the counties due to the following reasons: the capital budget is the first budget to be passed in the fiscal year. Therefore, it contains an estimation of the cost of dollar for the capital projects for any given year. Moreover, all items that are in the capital budget must be included in CIP. Although, the CIP is a forecast of a planned expense of the capital for the next three years and the capital projects will extend beyond this period. Consequently, there will be a preparation of a three-year forecast in every year. The construction of facilities and improvement of roads are the examples of the items to be included in the CIP.
The operating budget is composed of the operating expenses for all departments and agencies of the counties in the United States for the fiscal year. The operating expenses include the personnel costs, supply costs, equipment, maintenance and repair of the equipment and building costs. On the other hand, capital budget expenditures include the additions to the capital inventory for the county like roads and parkland (Citizen Guide, 2016). Additionally, general fund expenditure, all funds expenditure, and general revenues are the key areas that dominate the anticipated capital budgeting. These funds are spent on public parks, safety, and judicial administration (Citizen Guide, 2016).
References
Citizen Guide. (2016). Proposed FY 2015: Prince William County, Virginia. Available at http://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/budget/SiteAssets/Pages/default/Citizen%20Guide%20-%20Adopted.pdf
