Conventional municipal budget & reporting practices make it difficult to answer simple questions like “How much of our annual budget is allocated to [insert department name or expense line here]?”
In West Boylston, for example, health insurance costs and debt service fall into two general buckets and are not linked back to the originating departments. Fuel expense for all town vehicles is combined in a line item within the DPW budget. Some departments list expenses individually within their budgets and some lump them together under “purchased services”. And the schools, which comprise a huge portion of the town’s budget, operate outside the budget process required for every other town department.
I share this not to disparage the fiscal management in West Boylston; indeed, I am quite impressed by our Town Administrator’s knowledge of municipal management, his handle on our finances and his willingness to share information. What I’m faulting is the legacy system of chutes and ladders he must work within.
With so much at stake, it’s imperative that we develop financial systems that quickly provide answers to basic, factual questions about how we’re spending our money. Otherwise we’ll never know if we’re truly funding what we value.
Stay tuned for ideas on how to effectively get this information to residents. Read full article.
