Over the past seven weeks in class, we have learned about budgeting for the local government. Robert L. Bland’s book reviewed the revenue sources, how the local budget is prepared, and the process that it takes in approving the budget. In the following paper, I will apply what I have learned in class to the 2014-2015 budget for the town of Garner, North Carolina. The following issues that will be addressed are public finance administration, the budget cycle, the role of budgeting, how the budget is prepared and approved, the town leaders that are involved, the taxes, the fees, other revenue sources, budget implementation process, and capital improvements. The process of adopting a budget helps direct the public finance administration in making …show more content…
Taxes are the amount of money that the government requires people to pay when they purchase something or when they own items that can be taxed. Sales tax and property tax both help with the budget by the money that they both bring into this town. The sales tax revenue has increased over the years and this is remaining to be a steady income that the town can rely on (Town Of Garner, p.47). As Garner, North Carolina is the town in Wake County, it has a legal agreement that they are able to collect property taxes every year from the resident that live in Garner (Town Of Garner, p.29). The 2014-2015 budget will have an one cent property tax increase that has not taken place in past budgets. This increase will contribute to being able to provide additional emergency services; such as, funding the Garner Volunteer Fire Rescue, Inc. (Town Of Garner, p.36). There are different fees listed in the town of Garner’s budget. These fees are reexamined and changed periodically to cover the total amount of the services used by the town (Town Of Garner, p.29). The budget for 2014-2015 will include a new fee dealing with Garner businesses. There will be an added $50 fee for fire inspections to see if businesses are up to code (Town Of Garner, p.36). Revenue is known for how much money will contribute to the budget. The revenues are listed in two structures of funds in this budget. They are general fund and capital projects fund. Local property taxes and fee for services help make up the general fund that the budget of Garner, North Carolina indicates. As the capital projects fund is used for intergovernmental revenues and the other revenue, this will last for more than a fiscal year (Town Of Garner, p.57). Projects are not completed quickly, because towns do not want to waste funds on additional projects to