Reply to at least 2 of your classmates. Be constructive and professional in your responses. When replying to another classmate or in discussion areas, the minimum word count is 100 words and the response must be substantive in nature.
Discussion question for the week:
- Discuss the strategies that public sector officials should use to engage the media to effectively communicate their organizational budgets and budget policies.
- Discuss methods of public participation and input into public sector budgeting. What are the benefits and setbacks associated with these approaches?
Response 1:
When working with the media in regards to any topics it is vital to know the facts of the topic. The media has the ability to use your words and take them out of context to fit the narrative of the media’s agenda. To avoid the misunderstanding of the statement be sure to use facts, figures and verifiable statistics to back up you statements. Instead of using vague terminology such as “a portion of proceeds will go to a charitable organization”, be specific in your statement. “6 percent of all proceeds will go to the Ronald McDonald house based out of Norfolk, VA”. A clear an concise statement will eliminate the accidental misunderstanding or the intentional manipulation of the statement.
According to Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (2021), “Good public participation practices can help governments be more accountable and responsive to their communities, and can also improve the public’s perception of governmental performance and the value the public receives from their government. Transparency is a core value of governmental budgeting” (para 1). The open and active involvement in the budgeting process with government and the public is ensure the publics needs are known and the governments limitations are established. The residents need to know what the government has the ability to do and where there ability stops. An open line of communication with the public creates a level of transparency, building a certain amount of trust. The setback to this methods is accountability for failure. When the public has set the expectations of the government and the government fails, the people will want accountability. This is a setback in the eyes of the people who will loose their roles in government but not a setback in the eyes of the public.
Response 2:
A significant difference between public sector budget notification and private sector is what the money is doing. In the private sector, the point is to have increased revenue with decreased costs to have more profit. In the public sector, there is not a profit margin to base revenue. The budget for a government entity should revolve around paying government employees and providing services to the tax-paying public. Keeping that in mind, no matter the method of conveying their budget, it must always be done in the spirit of how it benefits the taxpayer.
Thomas Ridout classifies three ways of how an organization can communicate its budget: focusing on how the budget supports the goals of an organization, discussing the variables that may impact the budget, and focusing on transparency (Ridout. 2017). First, the organization, or government entity, must plainly show what they plan to do with the number. Staying away from the perspective and hopeful answers, they must show the plan with specified budget numbers. Wide-ranging numbers with vague promises will only stand to irritate the taxpayer and show that they do not have a solid plan.
When the public sector discusses their budget variables with the citizens, they allow them to see the potential risks and avoid overcompensating their abilities by pretending there will be no issues with the proposed plan. When an organization minimalizes possible concerns that arise from citizens, it shows that they are not interested in the wishes of their constituents. When projects fall behind due to extensive variables and progress comes to a halt, we see pieces on the local news channel about failed government projects.
Finally, transparency allows people to form their own opinions about a project or budget. When budget committee members allow news organizations to ask questions regarding the proposed budget, it allows wider dissemination of the information. News organizations can give this information a much more comprehensive range of audiences than a government-sponsored program would. When questions are asked and answered, citizens feel that their money is put to better use because they have a better understanding of the project and allow for slight ownership feelings among the citizens.
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