Several decades of teaching in a Master of Public Administration program, where my students were typically employed in local, regional, and state government, have made two things evident. First, budgets are not clearly communicating community priorities—citizens and local legislators look at the reams of pages that comprise budgets and are hard pressed to discern what this document is trying to communicate. Second, it is neither obvious nor common sense just how staff should communicate the complexities of public budgets to a wide array of readers who vary significantly by age, education, and interest.

• Publication date: February 2023
• Author: Sandra Emerson