Ideas from elsewhere: Finances

Oct. 14, 2007
The Philadelphia Inquirer

New York City - Independent Budget Office This independent city agency is dedicated to enhancing understanding of New York City's budget by providing nonpartisan budgetary, economic and policy analysis. It does for the city much of what the Government Accountability Office does for the federal government. New York City also has a Citizens Budget Commission, an outside watchdog. Philadelphia has several fiscal watchdogs, but none has quite the mix of independence, expertise, resources and public profile of New York's IBO. For more information, see http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us.

Dallas and other cities - Budgeting for Outcomes "Budgeting for Outcomes" is the catchphrase of the moment in municipal finance. It is a strategic approach to budgeting that makes strong use of public input to decide which desired outcomes of government should take priority. Developed by Public Strategies Group, a Minnesota-based consulting firm, Budgeting for Outcomes has been tried in Dallas, the states of Washington and Iowa, and several other cities. For more information, see http://www.dlc.org - click on State and Local Playbook, then Budget.

Citizen Online Budget Games Foundations and media outlets around the nation have developed sophisticated online budget exercises that put taxpayers in the position of Mayor or Governor for a day. The game presents players with a realistic, well-researched set of budget choices, and gives them a running tally of how they are doing in balancing a government budget and what impact their choices might have in the real world. For an excellent example, see the California budget game developed by the Next Ten, an independent policy organization, at http://www.nextten.org.