This report delves into the tactics or “games" used by participants in the budget process to secure more resources. The most common such game is "The Padding Play", where budget requestors inflate their needs. The report describes many other games budget officers encounter….and how to contain and even defeat these gameplay tactics. This can be done by creating a budget process and decision-making environment that is inhospitable to gameplay and by employing countermeasures against specific kinds of games.
Upcoming Webinar: Join us on January 30 as we discuss this report and hear how other practitioners navigated these budget games from both the finance director and city manager perspectives. Click here to register.
- Publication date: January 2025