Rethinking Budgeting: Defining the Problem

Following the financial stress caused by the pandemic, GFOA decided a new vision for governmental budgeting was needed. To that end, last year GFOA convened a Rethinking Budgeting working group composed of finance officers from jurisdictions small and large across the country, as well as a handful of academics to balance the perspectives of those charged with performing the functional tasks of budgeting as well as the leading edge ideas in public finance.

This webinar is part of a three part series to look at 1) defining the program, 2) using rolling strategic plans, and 3) rethinking public engagement. The premise of the first in this three-part webinar series is that local government planning and budgeting typically begins with the unspoken assumption that we already know the solutions to the issues our communities need government to address, we just need to find the resources for them. However, taking the time to understand the problem in more detail will help us find best possible solutions to root causes of the issues local communities are grappling with. In this webinar you will learn why it is critical to take the time to define the problem, principles for how to design a process for defining the problem, and learn about how local governments have done this in practice.

Who Will Benefit: CFO/Finance Director, Budget Manager, Department Director, Budget Analyst