1. Basic Budget Preparation Election Directors Conference December 2014 William C. Rivenbark Professor School of Government

2. Objectives zDiscuss selected law that governs budget preparation in North Carolina zPresent performance and financial framework for contextualizing a budget request zReview three sources of conflict during budget deliberations zExercise on improving budget requests in your organization

3. Balanced budget ordinance zEach local government shall operate under an annual balanced budget ordinance, which is balanced when the sum of estimated net revenues and appropriated fund balance is equal to appropriations [G.S. 159-8(a)].

4. Budget calendar zG.S. 159-10 - Departmental requests to budget officer before April 30 (includes budget requests and revenue estimates) zG.S. 159-11(b) - Budget and budget message submitted to governing board not later than June 1 zG.S. 159-13(a) - Budget ordinance adopted not later than July 1

5. Budget officer zIn counties having the manager form of government, the manager is the budget officer. In counties without the manager form of government, the governing board may impose the duties of budget officer on the county finance officer or any other employee except the sheriff, or in counties having a population of more than 7,500, the register of deeds (G.S. 159-9).

6. Board of Commissioners zThe board of commissioners has and shall exercise the responsibility of developing and directing the fiscal policy of the county government under the provisions and procedures of the Local Government Budget and Fiscal Control Act (G.S. 153A-101).

7. Preparation and submission of budget zUnless the governing board requests an unbalanced budget, the budget officer shall prepare and present, together with a budget message, a proposed balanced budget to the governing board no later than June 1 [G.S. 159-11(a)(b)].

8. Budget message zThe budget message should address: yOrganizational goals yImportant features of the budget yMajor changes in fiscal policy yChanges from the previous year in program goals and appropriations levels [G.S. 159-11(b)].

9. Filing and publication of the budget zOn the same day that the proposed budget is submitted to the board, a copy is filed with the office of the clerk for public inspection [G.S. 159- 12(a)]. zThe clerk shall make a copy available to all news media and a statement is published (newspaper of general circulation) that the proposed budget has been submitted to the board, including the time and place of the public hearing [G.S. 159-12(a)].

10. Adoption of budget ordinance zBefore adopting the budget ordinance, the board shall hold a public hearing at which time any persons who wish to be heard on the budget may appear [G.S. 159-12(b)]. zNot earlier than 10 days after the day the budget is presented to the board and not later than July 1, the government board shall adopt a budget ordinance [G.S. 159-13(a)].

11. Performance and financial framework zMission: To plan, organize, conduct, and monitor all elections and to ensure that the citizens have the right to vote in fair and impartial elections zGoal: Improve customer service to provide effective service to all stakeholders zObjective: To maintain a customer satisfaction rate of 90 percent of higher zOutcome: Customer satisfaction rate of 95 percent z(Abbreviated information from Chatham County)

12. Performance and financial framework 12-13 Actual 13-14 Actual 14-15 Budget 15-16 Proposed 16-17 Projected Salaries$84,137100,170104,888107,268105,730 Operating113,873161,143148,340170,799165,799 Capital5,00010,000 5,000 Total$203,010271,313263,228283,067276,529 FTE2.02.5

13. Performance and financial framework zMajor responsibilities yRegister voters yRecruit and train poll workers yMaintain and audit campaign finance records yCode, test, and maintain voting records yConduct voting and absentee voting for each election yInform and educate the public z(Abbreviated information from Chatham County)

14. Sources of conflict zSpecialists are individuals who are extremely knowledgeable of the services being provided to the public zGeneralists are individuals who often function in administrative positions for overall good of the organization

15. Sources of conflict zAdvocates are internal and external groups that are requesting resources to meet their often growing service demands zConservers are individuals who must balance these requests against public welfare

16. Sources of conflict zSome individuals are more comfortable with incremental changes from year-to-year zOther individuals are more open to cyclical changes

17. Case zBrainstorm with the person sitting next to you on one strategy for improving budget requests in your organization.