Assignment: Budgetary Expenses

Every budget prepared by a private business or public agency includes common budgetary expenses. Examples of common budgetary expenses include personnel services, operating expenditures, and capital outlays. Personnel services include salaries and fringe benefits. Within the personnel budget there are mandatory expenses like Social Security and Medicare, and discretionary expenditures such as pensions, insurance, and overtime pay. Operating budgets consist of items needed for the agency to function. Telephones, trainings, travel, paper, pens, and copy machines are considered operating costs. Although the operating portion of the budget is typically smaller than the personnel budget, it is important to fund operating costs so that the agency can carry out its mission and goals. Capital budgets identify high-cost items needed by the agency on a nonroutine basis. A new jail, police cars, or new mattresses for inmates would be considered capital budget expenses. In lean budget times, capital expenses may be the first items cut from budgets.

For this assignment you develop a personnel budget based on the case scenario provided and justify the identified expenses. Completing this assignment will give you a better understanding of how budget expenses impact the budgeting process.

Note: Please be sure to submit the written assignment in paragraph form as well as the completed budget sheet.

To prepare for this assignment:

• Review the case scenario provided in the Learning Resources and focus on the various budget expenses related to personnel services.
• Review Chapter 3 of your course text, The Basics of Public Budgeting and Financial Management, and the budget template provided in the Learning Resources to gain an understanding of the proper budget format.
• Review the video segment “Budget Proposals” and consider information you might provide to justify budgeted expenses.
• Complete a new personnel expense budget for the department profiled in the case scenario using the template provided.
• Consider why the personnel expenses you identified are reasonable, necessary, and important to the budget.

The assignment (1 page):

• Develop a new personnel expense budget for the rural police department profiled in the case scenario by clearly identifying each personnel expense.
• Justify why the personnel expenses you identified are reasonable, necessary, and important to the budget.