ALL Responses primarily should be anchored in Mikesell’s “Fiscal Administration”
Question below:
3. You are the Budget Officer of a large town and you just informed the Town Manager that forecasted revenues are down 6.9 percent below the 9.1 million for the first six months of the budget year. The town manager has asked for a plan that includes strategies to close the budget gap. What strategies would you recommend? (1 page)
4. Describe the budget process for federal, state and local budgets and highlight the major differences. (1 page)
7. Does your state include performance measures in its budget document? If yes, choose one department’s performance measures and evaluate its validity. If you were to develop a performance measure for this department, what measures would you use? If no performance measures are provided in your state’s budget, develop three performance measures for a state department of your choice and explain why you choose them. (Hint: for an overview of the performance measures, you can re-read Chapter 6 in the Mikesell. Your state budget office website will be a resource to answer this question.) (1page)
9. Consider replacing the current US tax system with a proportional tax in which everyone would pay a constant fraction of their wages, and there would be no other taxes. How does that compare with the current personal tax system and what is the impact on lower and higher income households? (1 page)
10. In Texas, there are some large deposits of water containing dissolved methane (fossil fuel). It is possible to pump this water out of the ground and release the methane, which can then be sold. This process produces lots of poisonous wastewater, which is being dumped into nearby streams, which then flow onto the land of downstream ranches, severely damaging the land. Discuss this problem using the tools of public finance and propose solutions (financial and property) to mitigate the problem. (1Page )
