The City of Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the first to experiment with TBB, claimed it as the “budget of the future.” TBB is not as well-publicized as performance budgeting, zero-based budgeting, or priority-based budgeting. Nevertheless, the results can be profound. TBB helped Mono County eliminate the stress related to balancing the adopted budget and avoided excessive surpluses that are a sign of poor planning. They changed the budget process from departments A) jousting and posturing to preserve or increase their budgets to B) working together for the greater organizational good. This article explores target-based budgeting, its advantages and challenges, and how to use it to enhance your budget process.
- Publication date: April 2025
- Authors: Shayne Kavanagh, Janet Dutcher, and Drew Corbett