Get With the Program: Moving Away from Line-Item Budgets

The traditional local government budget is expressed in both departments and line items such as "salaries and wages," "materials and supplies," and "professional services." While these descriptions are often useful for monitoring spending and preparing financial reports, they often make it difficult for governments to have meaningful conversations about how best to spend its limited resources or to adjust levels of service to meet demand. One way to address these challenges is to adopt a program-based approach to budgeting.

Rather than organizing the budget around who provides the service, program-based budgeting communicates what an organization does (programs) and the value it can bring to the community (results). This session will feature speakers from local governments that have adopted a program-based approach and provide tips on how your government can "get with the program."