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Financial Management for Elected Officials January 2013 <br /> <br />Institute for Local Government www.ca-ilg.org 10 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Local Agency Budgeting: <br />Resources for Further <br />Information <br /> <br />Government Finance Officers <br />Association, Recommended Budget <br />Practices: A Framework for <br />Improved State and Local <br />Budgeting (1998), available at <br />www.gfoa.org/services/dfl/budget/ <br />RecommendedBudgetPractices.pdf <br /> <br />Institute for Local Government, A <br />Local Official's Guide to Public <br />Engagement in Budgeting (2010), <br />available at www.ca-ilg.org/public- <br />engagement-best- <br />practices/engaging-public- <br />budgeting. <br />• How does the agency’s budget compare with other <br />agencies in the geographic area (both for the next <br />fiscal year and the trend over the past five years)? <br /> <br />o If there are differences, what are they and what <br />factors account for the differences? (For <br />example, are other agencies using different <br />assumptions and why?) <br /> <br />o Is the agency’s budget dependent on any other <br />agencies, in terms of revenues (or <br />expenditures)? <br /> <br />o Are the other agencies planning changes that <br />should affect the agency’s assumptions? <br /> <br />• Where is the agency in terms of constitutional <br />limits on state and local spending? (In 1979 the <br />California voters in 1979 approved a ballot <br />measure 15 that limited the growth in state and local <br />spending to a formula tied to increases in <br />population and inflation. Finance professionals <br />sometimes refer to this as the “Gann Limit” named after the ballot measure’s sponsor. Local <br />voters can approve an increase in the formula, for a period of up to years.16) <br /> <br />• If changes to the budget prove necessary during the fiscal year, why are those adjustments <br />necessary? What steps were taken to avoid having to make mid-year changes? What steps <br />can be taken to avoid such changes in the future? <br /> <br />Personnel-Related Questions <br /> <br />• What procedures does the agency use to forecast and manage projected personnel <br />expenses?17 When do labor agreements expire? <br /> <br />• How does the agency set its salary and benefit levels or ranges? <br /> <br />o Are there salary-setting guidelines available for positions within the agency? Has the <br />agency considered and followed them?18 <br /> <br />o Does the agency research and consider salaries and benefits other agencies provide for <br />positions with similar responsibilities in the agency’s geographic area? <br /> <br />o How are changes in compensation determined? For unrepresented employees not subject <br />to a memorandum of understanding, are changes based on an annual goal-setting and <br />performance review process? What other variables does the agency consider (overall <br />agency fiscal health, public perception, relationship to other agencies’ practices, etc.)? <br />Page 60 of 109