Budget - Essay Example

The City Budget Office has the overall authority in the drawing of the budget. This office is comprised of different people who play different roles in the preparation of the city’s budget. The City administrators and managers who have financial and budgetary oversight responsibilities, and the bureau staff responsible for the technical preparation and development of budget documents perform the tasks that are related to budget preparation (Scott et al 2013-14). The budget officer under the direction of the mayor draws necessary information to be included in the budget.

This is the preliminary stage and it involves information gathering about what is expected in the budget. This kind of information is mainly drawn from previous budgets. The requested budget is then submitted to the City Budget Office (CBO) for further consideration as it moves along the cycle. The CBO analysts will then review the submissions for completeness upon their receipt and the bureaus will be required to submit any missing documents there after (Scott et al2013-14). The bureaus then distribute the papers to different authorities including the mayor, the commissioners and the auditors.

The budget committee is the tasked with reviewing and revising the proposed budget before its formal adoption. The mayor with the help of the budget committee is responsible for approving the budget. However, the mayor can make some recommendations for change in the requested budget. After all the necessary changes have been made, the council votes to approve the budget. When approved, the council also votes to adopt it and it is signed by the mayor to show that it has been authenticated to guide operations of the local authority in its provision for different services.

According to Scott et al (2013), “the final step in the budget cycle is to file the budget and certify any necessary property