For this assignment, you will develop a diagram/infographic that analyzes the powers of influential federal offices, such as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the impact of these agencies on budgeting for your chose government agency. You will also provide a 2-3 page brief evaluating the infographic and explaining your rationale.
An infographic is a visual representation of knowledge or data to present information quickly and clearly. Infographics will help explain your knowledge of complex processes to others in a simple, graphic manner.
An infographic is a fairly easy and creative method to explain more complex concepts clearly. Generally, an infographic is a single page in length and consists of graphics and key concepts. While a Venn diagram is a typical form of an infographic (as Venn diagrams show both concepts and the common overlap of concepts), modern technologies are now available to help you be creative! In fact, you will find a simple Internet search may locate more examples than you could possibly think of.A list of resources is available for you below.
Resources:
Snappa, Visme, PikToChart, Venngage, Microsoft Word’s SmartArt
Adobe Spark. (2017). Create your own infographics for free with Adobe Spark.
Canva. (n.d.). Free infographic maker.
For your assignment:
Create an infographic using a free tool such as Snappa, Visme, PikToChart, Venngage, Microsoft Word’s SmartArt, or any other tool you choose.
Start by outlining the topic of your infographic in order to guide your research.
Focus your infographic on budget decision-making for your selected government agency ( Buffalo City NY). It needs to make a clear point. It should be more like a story—with a beginning, middle, and end—rather than a random collection of facts.
Research the types of layouts/templates typically used for infographics to find the best chart for presenting your information.
Use credible sources for your data.
Make sure all information you include is relevant to your main point.
When designing your infographic, use easy-to-read colors and fonts. Consider incorporating icons, color-coding, images, or bulleted lists. But don’t make it cluttered!
Identify the mandates of the OMB and CBO.
Compare and contrast the procedures and responsibilities of the OMB and the CBO.
Determine, in your evaluation, how these federal offices affect your selected governmental entity.
Length: Infographic and 2 to 3-page evaluation, not including title and reference pages
Budget Decision-Making In Buffalo City
Budget decision-making is an essential process at Buffalo city, New York and other cities in the United States; it enables the city to determine its annual operating plan. As averred by Carlee (2008), budgeting decision-making helps local governments determine who gets what services, how much they get and who pays. As one of the second-largest cities in New York, Buffalo city is obligated to collect revenue and plan its expenditure, while providing multiple services to its residents, which can only be achieved through appropriate budget decision-making. For buffalo city to attain optimal budget decision-making, it utilizes a participatory budgeting process consisting of budget development, adoption and implementation, which is somewhat influenced by federal offices such as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Buffalo city’s budgeting process is participatory with three primary steps; budget development, adoption and implementation. As the literature suggests, participatory budgeting is a process of direct democracy in which the local government involves the population in discussing and defining the public budget and policies (Cabannes, 2015). Notably, Buffalo city’s local government involves its residents or representatives in decision-making regarding the budgeting process.
Besides the public’s involvement in budget decision-making, federal offices such as the CBO and OMB exert their powers on Buffalo city’s budgeting. Scholars consider CBO as the authoritative source of information on budgeting and economy (Joyce, 2015). In essence, CBO analyzes the United States’ economy for Congress and other local authorities. Besides analyzing the economy, CBO also evaluates policy changes through its cost estimating function (Joyce, 2015). This function is mainly based on assessing the costs of a legislative change from a neutral lens. As Joyce (2015) argued, proponents of legislative changes often view ideas from a somewhat optimistic lens while CBO is more sceptical. Therefore, CBO exerts its power on Buffalo city’s budgeting by analyzing the legislative changes and proposed budgets and determining their effect on the economy.
Furthermore, OMB also influences the Buffalo city’s budgeting. Like CBO, OMB reviews regulations and uses the budget as a tool for controlling agencies (Pasachoff, 2016). For example, when the executive agencies in Buffalo city draft a legislative proposal, they are transmitted to the OMB, which reviews the proposals to assess its compatibility with the President of the United States’ vision. Upon review, the OMB may favour or object the passage of the budget proposal.
As can be seen from this evaluation, CBO and OMB exert their power on Buffalo city’s budgeting process; however, their influence and independence vary significantly. For example, CBO is more inclined to serve Congress, and it acts as a nonpartisan organization, although its autonomy is somewhat limited. Therefore, CBO acts as a neutral organization, and its review of Buffalo city’s budgeting is more likely to be unbiased because of the former’s independence and sceptic approach towards legislative changes. Conversely, the OMB is a surrogate for the administration policies (Krause & Douglas, 2006). Therefore, the office serves under the President of the United States to ensure that the latter’s vision is implemented in the government branches (Krause & Douglas, 2006). This information suggests that unlike CBO, OMB may be biased in its influence on Buffalo city’s budgeting because of its lack of autonomy. In essence, CBO’s influence on Buffalo city’s budgeting is likely neutral and unbiased compared to OMB.
In summary, Buffalo city’s participatory budgeting is influenced by CBO and OMB. On the one hand, the OMB reviews the city’s budget proposal to assess its compatibility with the President’s vision. On the other hand, the CBO analyzes Buffalo’s city budget proposal to determine its effect on the economy.
References
Cabannes, Y. (2015). The impact of participatory budgeting on basic services: municipal practices and evidence from the field. Environment and Urbanization, 27(1), 257-284. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0956247815572297
Carlee, R. (2008). Budgeting for local governments in the United States: Deciding who gets what, how much, and who pays? BPA Studies. https://www.bpastudies.org/bpastudies/article/view/73/151
Joyce, P. (2015). The congressional budget office at middle age. Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings, Working Paper #9, 1-30. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/PJ_WorkingPaper9_Feb11_Final.pdf
Krause, G.A., & Douglas, J.W. (2006). Does agency competition improve the quality of policy analysis? Evidence from OMB and CBO fiscal projections. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 25(1), 53-74. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.20156
Pasachoff, E. (2016). The president’s budget as a source of agency policy control. The Yale Law Journal, 125(8), 2182-2555. https://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/the-presidents-budget-as-a-source-of-agency-policy-control
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
