Since one of the easiest means of understanding phenomena is through the use of comparisons, you will be required to compare and contrast two cities' budgets. Your paper should focus on 1) how the budgets are similar; and 2) how they are different; and 3) how the budget reflect the character of the city. How the cities get their money and spent it; how are the cities alike and different based on the per-capita amounts.
COMPONENTS OF THE ASSIGNMENT I. Revenues and Expenditure: You should include all revenues and expenditures under control of the city council, including revenues and expenditures of the Redevelopment Agency or the "successor agency." You should organize the major portion of your information about revenues and expenditures into three broad categories:
1) General Revenues and Expenditures; 2) Enterprise Revenues and Expenditures; and 3) Redevelopment Revenues and Expenditures. I have these in the excel tables files I uploaded. This section of your paper should be organized into the following three areas. You should include a table in this section with the revenues, expenditures and per capita information (using EXCEL table function). Please answer all the following questions in the essay. A. REVENUES: How much revenue is available per city? What are the major revenue sources? What are the per capita revenues —totally and for major sources? Are the cities reliant upon intergovernmental transfers? Are there unique or unusual revenue sources? How do the revenues reflect the character of the cities? B. EXPENDITURES: How much do the cities spend? What are the major expenditure functions? What is the expenditure per capita — both totally and for major functions? How do enterprise revenues compare with expenditures for enterprises? How do the functions provided reflect the need and desires of the citizens? C. BUDGET FORMATS: Is the budget format line item, performance, program, or zero base? Is the budget well organized and comprehensible? What purposes do the budgets seek to emphasize? Include some examples of program information found in the budgets. How do the budget formats reflect the character of the cities?
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