New Thread My Settings My Posts Search Forum Home   Articles of Interest  Leadership Articles of Interest  Budgeting: The ...  Budgeting: The Roadmap for Success for Any Law Enforcement Executive    7/2/2007 11:58:53 AM melmunn 19 posts Budgeting: The Roadmap for Success for Any Law Enforcement Executive  (N/A) Quote Reply Budgeting: The Roadmap for Success for Any Law Enforcement Executive By: Thomas Weitzel, Lieutenant, Riverside Police Department Executive Summary Budgeting is the roadmap for success for any potential law enforcement executive. This report outlines four basic budgets: (1) line item budgeting, (2) zero-based budgeting, (3) performance-based budgeting, and (4) the planning programming budgeting system. The budget process for the Village of Riverside is also discussed. The adopted budget is a contract between the unit of government and the police agency, and the police executive is responsible for the use of the funds that have been appropriated for the department’s use. Unfortunately, many police departments fail to seriously plan and utilize the results of planning (budgeting) in their daily operations. It should be remembered that budgeting is the primary management technique used to ensure that the department’s activities are achieved. Contained within this report is a recommendation for a budget process change for the village. Introduction The Village of Riverside was incorporated in 1869 and is headed by a village president. In addition, the village has six trustees who are elected village-wide and a village manager who runs the day-to-day operations. The fiscal year runs from January 1 to December 31. This was instituted this year. It used to run from May 1 to April 30. The planning and budgeting are the roadmap for success for law enforcement executives. Like all other organizations, police agencies will only grow and prosper with proper planning. The chief needs to look at where the department is, where it should be, and how it’s going to get there. Strategic planning should involve input from many different sources—department personnel, the village manager, elected officials, and the public. Within the police agency, all department members who wish to contribute should be included, from top to bottom, allowing them to buy into the future of the organization. The community’s support is also needed. In Riverside, the budget process is publicized and involves other members of the criminal justice system, business groups, clergy, homeowner associations, neighborhood groups, and other influential persons. The village uses a line item budget. In addition to the line item budget, the department has a Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) budget. The CIP budget is for long-range projects or capital improvements. It usually is a five-year projection. The total village budget is 6 million. The current police budget is 2.1 million. Due to severe budget constraints during this current budget year, the police department had to cut $468,125 from its total operating budget. This reflects a 22.3% cut in our budget. Line Item Budgeting The line item budget was first used in 1906, and emphasis is on control. It requires no special skills and focuses on resource consumption (spend the money). The main question of a line item budget is what is needed, and the cycle is for one year. Usually, a line item budget contains nine sections including transmittal sheets and justification packages. The advantages of a line item budget are as follows: • Adequate control • Ease of use • Excellent fit in government accounting • Representative participation The disadvantages are as follows: • Emphasis on inputs (money) and not outputs (efficiency) • Emphasis on group goals over those of the organization • Inadequate time available for planning • Tendency to pad line item budgets by managers The Budget Process The actual budget process in Riverside works as follows. The actual expenditures (line-items) for the current and previous years are the starting point for both the chief and the finance director/administrator. The chief has to justify any changes based on known cost increases, projected cost increases, and possible additional programs. In early May, the budget process begins; however, in reality, budgeting is a year-round process. The chief and his staff prepare a budget based on the above criteria. All department heads then meet in a budget workshop to discuss their individual budgets with the village manager and finance director. A perennial argument is whether or not to inflate the budget requests. The argument for an inflated budget is that the government entity (Village of Riverside) will cut the budget anyway, and by inflating the initial request, the chief will end up with the financing he or she wanted. The opposite argument is that an inflated budget destroys credibility with the village manager, finance director, and village board. The police chief in Riverside would argue that by being consistent and reasonable, sooner or later, the department would obtain what it needs. If the chief has a reputation for fair, accurate, consistent, and honest requests, it will pay off in the long run. If a chief is known to consistently inflate requests, then he or she can gain a reputation for not being serious in department requests, and the department may suffer more drastic cutbacks. Given that 90-95% of the police budget in Riverside is allocated for personnel expenses, there is not a lot of cushion for agency operational cost. The budget process has three major purposes. 1. Financial Control This is the traditional purpose of a budget. This sets actual dollars aside for various activities. The financial allocations also indicate dollar resources, which have been assigned to implement various legislative mandates. 2. Management Information This budget will provide an understanding of resources (e.g., financial, equipment, and personnel), which have been allocated to carry out legislative mandates. 3. Planning and Policy Implementation This budget will indicate the funds that have been allocated to carry out policies developed by legislation and provide a means of deciding whether enough resources have been allocated to various activities. The Riverside Police Department budget for fiscal year 2001 is 2.1 million. The line-item budget contains numerous categories, and some examples are as follows: • Salaries • Overtime • Holidays • Health and Life Insurance • Office Supplies • Uniform Allowance • Equipment Purchases • Training and Education • Vehicle Maintenance • Investigations • Crime Prevention • Patrol • School Safety Some line items were eliminated in the current budget due to mandated budget cutbacks. The budget is a controlling device/tool intended to assure that expenditures follow along the plan of operation and are made in accordance with the purpose for which the appropriations were allocated. The police department is headed by the chief of police, appointed annually by the village president with the advice and consent of the board of trustees. The department is currently staffed by one assistant chief of police, one operations lieutenant, four sergeants (three patrol, one detective sergeant), twelve patrolmen, one community service officer, four full-time communications personnel, four part-time communications personnel, six crossing guards, and one executive secretary to the chief of police. The police department is divided into six programs or cost centers to which expenditures for the budget are allocated. It includes administration, patrol, communications and records, training, crime prevention, investigations, school safety, and emergency response. The Village of Riverside uses the line item budget because the board feels it is the easiest and most straightforward of preparing their particular budget. The budget is presented to elected officials who prefer line item budgeting for its simple easy-to-read format. Performance-Based Budgeting Another type of budgeting process is the performance-based budget. This budget process was used in the 1900s, and the main emphasis on the budgets was results. It required analytical skills and focused completely on outputs. The cycle for this budget could be one to two years. The advantages of performance-based budgeting are as follows: • Focus is on results instead of money. • Job descriptions and task analysis are important. • Management is given a good picture of what they are doing. • Past history is not a factor. The disadvantages are as follows: • Complexity and time spent on budgeting • Subjectivity inevitable • Tasks not necessarily measurable • Adaptability to long-term projects not easily accomplished • Few agencies with the personnel or time to use this method Zero-Based Budgeting Zero-based budgeting is based on analysis of the effectiveness of individual programs and basing cost approval on the effectiveness and efficiency of that program. Additionally, zero-based budgeting requires each “program” to be developed from scratch and analyzed according to its impact on the entire operation; ineffective programs are not continued. The advantages of zero-based budgeting are as follows: • Integrates the planning, controlling, and operational decision-making functions • Allocates resources according to effectiveness and efficiency of programs and whether those programs meet departmental objectives • Drops programs that cannot be justified based on cost and effectiveness The disadvantages are as follows: • Requires highly technical skills to prepare and administer • Takes much money, time, training, and participation to begin • Results in a large amount of information to be reviewed by managers with limited time available • Takes three or more years to implement Planning Programming Budgeting System I do not personally agree with the line item budgeting process. While it is certainly the easiest way to prepare a budget, I believe a wise police administrator makes his or her budgeting a year-round endeavor and is ever watchful for the opportunity to make a suggestion and plant the seed for future projects, activities, departmental needs, and budget items. With this in mind, I would prefer to use the planning programming budgeting system. Program budgeting goes beyond line item budgeting and the narrow focus of carrying out specific tasks efficiently. As an example, the cost of a hostage situation causes direct cost impact to the patrol division and the investigation division; however, the cost to the other divisions, (i.e., administration and training) are more difficult to capture using the line item budget process. Planning programming budgeting system will capture the costs of the program or project and account for the resources from all other operations by program. Personnel services from all divisions in support of the program are then accounted for and attributed to that program. Managers are better able to determine costs and benefits of each program from the total department perspective. The planning programming budgeting system combines two management techniques. They are program forecasting and system analysis. Program forecasting involves focusing on goal-oriented programs rather than on expenditure objects and then projecting both inputs needed and outputs expected in the future. System analysis requires the study of outputs by means of quantitative methods and a model that allows policy makers the option of comparing alternative courses of action. The one major weakness in this type of budgeting is the rigidity, which in many cases has led to the abandonment of this type of budgeting system. Even taking this into consideration, I feel that the planning programming budget system is superior. I believe that its purpose is to provide accountability to the legislative branch by clearly establishing what accomplishments could be expected under the budget appropriation. The work plan itself would be included in the appropriation ordinance. Conclusion The complexity of modern police operations exceeds the ability of the police administrator to intuitively make all of the right decisions. A police administrator today must use his or her intuition in conjunction with a problem-solving methodology. The goal of having an effective and economical police organization is worthy of the best management concepts available. It is for this reason that I strongly support the planning programming budgeting system. This management concept is based upon two important principles of good management: (1) management by objective and (2) management by exception. Bibliography Aronson, J. R. (1996). Management policies in local government finance. Washington, DC: International City/County Management Association. Gaines, L. K., Southerland, M. D., & Angell, J. E. (1991). Police administration. New York: McGraw-Hill. Jurkanin, T. J., Hoover, L. T., Dowling, J. L., & Ahmad, J. (2001). Enduring, surviving, and thriving as a law enforcement executive. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher. Other Sources Consulted Riverside, Illinois Police Department Annual Report. (2002). Village of Riverside, Illinois. 2002 Budget. Riverside, Illinois Police Department Organizational Chart www.Riverside-Illinois.com Thomas Q. Weitzel, lieutenant and detective commander, currently heads the Riverside, Illinois Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit. He has been on the Riverside Police Department since September 1984. Before coming to Riverside, he served as a patrolman for the Chicago Zoological Park Police at the Brookfield Zoo. Lieutenant Weitzel has held various positions within the Riverside Police Department including crime prevention coordinator, evidence technician, public information officer (PIO), MCAT member (Major Crime Assistance Team), field training officer, and internal affairs supervisor. Lieutenant Weitzel holds a master’s degree in criminal social justice from Lewis University and is a graduate of the Illinois Law Enforcement Executive Institute’s Executive Management Program. He is also a graduate of the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety School of Staff and Command. He served as vice president of Class 115. Lieutenant Weitzel also holds certificates of graduation from The Institute of Police Technology and Management; the University of North Florida; the National Crime Prevention Institute in Louisville, Kentucky; and the Law Enforcement Executive Development Association (LEEDA) FBI. Additionally, Lieutenant Weitzel is a recent graduate of the Southwestern Law Enforcement Institute’s Center for Law Enforcement Ethics in Richardson, Texas. He is a nationally certified ethics instructor through the Southwest Legal Foundation. Lieutenant Weitzel is a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, Police Benevolent Association, Illinois Police Association, Northwestern University Alumni Association, International Association for Identification, and Illinois Crime Prevention Officers Association. He is currently vice-president of the Midwest Homicide Investigator’s Association and serves as the president of the West Suburban Detective’s Association in Cook County, Illinois.  Page 1 of 1   Articles of Interest  Leadership Articles of Interest  Budgeting: The ... Flat View Tree View Oldest To Newest Newest To Oldest