INTERGRATED CASE STUDY
THE CITY OF YORBA LINDA
TERM CASE
Name : (Salima) Nyein Mon Oo
Matric : 0933294
Section : 3
Submitted to Prof Shamsul Nahar on 28th November, 2014
1. a) Does the city of Yorba Linda’s current budgeting process meet the goals set of it?
As mentioned in the case, Mr Simonian’s current budgeting process had three goals in mind, which collectively aimed serve as a platform for dialogue between members of the municipality in the setting of city policies and priorities. Whether he has managed to achieve each of these goals set forth, will be discussed as below:
Forum for discussion and understandable by members of the City Council
To a certain extent, it can be deduced that the members of the city council have understood the budget as they have approved the all or most previous budgets. It is mentioned in the case that, ‘for only the second time in city history, the budget was not unanimously approved’ , giving us the expression that the city council members have usually understood the budget rationales and figures laid out in the budget, enough to not raise any objections on any of the programs. Also, Budget format shown in the exhibit is also easily understandable even for accounting background.
However, one can challenge the assumptions above by inferring that the only basis for approving the budget without question for many years was the limited knowledge on public administration matters by the city council’s members. It is observed that none of the members are from a public administration background and thus, it is likely that they do not fully understand the complexities and objectives of public sector budgeting. The fact that Mr Gullixon did not vote in favour of the budget shows that he is aware of the inefficiencies in the allocation of the city’s funds, unlike the other members who approved without objection.
A healthy platform for discussion could not be established as Mr Simonian has failed to present the council