Rethinking Budgeting Workshops

Local governments have long relied on incremental, line item budgeting where last year’s budget becomes next year’s budget with changes around the margin. Though this form of budgeting has its advantages and can be useful under circumstances of stability, it also has important disadvantages. The primary disadvantage is that it causes local governments to be slow to adapt to changing conditions. The premise of the Rethinking Budgeting initiative is that the public finance profession has an opportunity to update local government budgeting practices to take advantage of new ways of thinking, new technologies, and to better meet the changing needs of communities. GFOA's Rethinking Budgeting Workshops help organizations realize what is possible and how they can take advantage of new research to replace their existing budget process with one focused on collaboration, effective decision making, budgeting best practices, and and a connection to community priorities.

GFOA will facilitate workshops for an organization's executive team, elected officials, budget staff, department directors, or other stakeholders involved in the budget process. Workshops include:

For questions about GFOA's Rethinking Budgeting Workshops or to schedule your session, please contact Katie Ludwig or complete the form below.