The Politics of Public Budgeting

by Rubin, Irene

• ISBN13: 9781604264616
• ISBN10: 1604264616
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-29
• Publisher: Cq Pr

Summary

Public budgeting is inherently political: too often, short-term partisan goals overrun long-term public interest. By presenting federal, state, and local budgeting within a clear, comparative framework, Rubin&BAD:rs"s classic text focuses on the issues of federalism and the political jockeying that influences all governmental budgets. Updated throughout to account for recent issues in budgeting, the sixth edition includes coverage of the Alternative Minimum Tax controversy, mayoral vetoes, state legislatures&BAD:rs" role in the budgeting process, conflicts between inspectors general and executives, PART evaluations, and more. In addition, Rubin now pays even greater attention to budgeting within state and local systems, incorporating examples from across the nation and better preparing students for future careers at all levels of government. Analyzing each strand of the decision-making process, Rubin shows the extraordinary coordination involved in passing a budget and achieving accountability.

Author Biography

Irene S. Rubin is professor emeritus of political science in the Division of Public Administration at Northern Illinois University. Her research focuses on public budgeting, qualitative methodologies, and contracting, especially for water and wastewater treatment. She is interested in budget implementation as "well, with particular respect to inspector General systems. Professor Rubin is the author of many articles and several books on public budgeting, including Balancing the Federal Budget. Trimming the Herds or Eating the Seed Corn? and a history of municipal budgeting, Class, Tax, and Power: Municipal Budgeting in the United States. She is a former editor of the Public Administration Review and Public Budgeting and Finance. She has served as a municipal finance adviser, a board member of the NIU annuitants association, and outside editor for the Government Finance Officers Association. She holds a master's degree in East Asian studies and a PhD in sociology.

Table of Contents

Tables, Figures, and Minicases	p. xiii
Preface	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
The Politics of Public Budgets	p. 1
What Is Budgeting?	p. 3
Minicase: The Time Dimension of Budgeting-Pensions in San Diego	p. 5
Governmental Budgeting	p. 6
Minicase: City Manager Replies to Scathing Budget Critique	p. 9
Minicase: Doctoring Audit Reports	p. 21
Minicase: Unfunded Mandates-No Child Left Behind	p. 22
Minicase: Highly Constrained Budgeting-Colorado's TABOR Amendment	p. 25
The Meaning of Politics in Public Budgeting	p. 26
Budgetary Decision Making	p. 28
Microbudgeting and Macrobudgeting	p. 31
Summary and Conclusions	p. 34
Revenue Politics	p. 35
Raising Taxes	p. 36
Minicase: Alabama Governor's $1.2 Billion Tax Increase Defeated	p. 37
Minicase: A Successful Municipal Tax Increase in Dayton, Ohio	p. 39
	p. 44
Minicase: Tax Increment Financing	p. 50
Minicase: Tax Breaks and Equity	p. 51
Minicase: Rescuing the Middle Class from the Alternative Minimum Tax	p. 58
Minicase: California and the Persistence of Tax Breaks	p. 59
Minicase: Dell Computers and Tax Breaks	p. 67
The Politics of Reform	p. 67
Summary and Conclusions	p. 70
The Politics of Process	p. 72
Minicase: California's Late Budgets and Dysfunctional Budget Rules	p. 73
Budget Process and the Characteristics of Public Budgeting	p. 74
Macro and Micro Politics	p. 76
Designing Process to Achieve Policy and Political Goals	p. 77
Minicase: Republican Macro-Level Reform Proposals	p. 78
Minicase: Micro Politics-Bending the Rules to Win Individual Decisions	p. 80
Minicase: How the Governor's Veto is Used	p. 85
Variation between and among Federal, State, and Local Governments	p. 89
Minicase: San Diego-Fiscal Problems, Strong Mayor, and Veto Powers	p. 94
Summary and Conclusions	p. 99
The Dynamics of Changing Budget Processes	p. 101
Overview	p. 102
Minicase: New York State and Pressure to Change the Formal Rules	p. 103
Minicase: The Executive and the Legislature in Florida's Budgeting	p. 106
Major Changes in the Federal Budget Process	p. 110
Minicase: Ad Hoc Scoring Rules	p. 121
Changes in Budget Process at the State Level	p. 123
Minicase: Maryland's Legislative Budget Power	p. 124
Minicase: South Carolina-An Example of a Legislatively Dominated Budget Process	p. 127
Minicase: Nevada-Legislative Access to Agency Budget Requests	p. 129
Changes in Budget Process at the Local Level	p. 130
Minicase: Florida and Unfunded Mandates	p. 137
Summary and Conclusions	p. 141
Expenditures: The Politics of Choice	p. 144
Strategies of Agency Heads or Program Directors	p. 146
Minicase: Linking State Department Funding to a Goal of Unlimited Value	p. 150
Minicase: GPRA and PART-Linking Effectiveness to Budget Allocation	p. 151
Minicase: The Department of Housing and Urban Development and Boutique Programs	p. 156
Top-Down Strategies	p. 160
Minicase: Earmark Corruption and Reform	p. 165
Minicase: Calculating the Base in St. Paul, 2005	p. 173
Minicase: Taking the Aviation Trust Fund Off-Budget	p. 180
The Environment Can Affect Spending Priorities	p. 180
Analysis: Accountability and Acceptability	p. 182
Summary and Conclusions	p. 183
The Politics of Balancing the Budget	p. 186
Balance as a Constraint	p. 188
Minicase: Balance in the Federal Highway Trust Fund	p. 189
Multiple Actors, Ideologies, and Deficits	p. 190
Minicase: California and the Politics of Acceptability	p. 191
The Environment, Unpredictability, and Deficits	p. 193
Minicase: Wisconsin Confronts Deficits	p. 195
Increasing Stress between Payer and Decider	p. 197
The Politics of Deficits: The Federal Level	p. 201
Deficits in the States	p. 210
Minicase: California and the Governor's Power to Rebalance theBudget	p. 213
Minicase: States Cut Revenues to Local Governments, 2008	p. 217
The Politics of Balance in Cities	p. 220
Minicase: The Politics of Deficits-An Urban Example	p. 222
Summary and Conclusions	p. 224
Budget Execution: The Politics of Adaptation	p. 226
Tools for Changing the Budget	p. 229
Minicase: Reprogramming in the Department of Defense	p. 237
Minicase: Congress and the President Fight over Reprogramming	p. 241
Summary and Conclusions	p. 245
Budget Implementation and Control	p. 247
The Discretion-Abuse-Control Cycle	p. 247
Minicase: Abuse and Controls at the Department of Defense	p. 252
Minicase: Recent Examples of Salary Absorption225
Discretion and Control: The Politics of Finding Waste, Fraud, and Abuse	p. 258
Minicase: Tension at the CIA	p. 262
Minicase: Getting Too Close to Administration- IGs at the Department of State and NASA	p. 265
Minicase: The Massachusetts Inspector General versus the Council and the Mayor	p. 278
Minicase: The New Orleans Inspector General-Delayed Implementation	p. 279
Summary and Conclusions	p. 281
Budgetary Decision Making and Politics	p. 283
Real-Time Budgeting	p. 283
A Comparison of the Decision-Making Streams	p. 287
Common Themes	p. 288
Reconceptualizing Reform	p. 295
Avenues for Research	p. 299
Summary and Conclusions	p. 301
Notes	p. 303
Name Index	p. 319
Subject Index	p. 321
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