READING A BUDGET: This assignment involves learning to read and use the information in public budgets. As part of this assignment, you will need to retrieve a budget from a local government in South Florida. Most local governments post their budgets on the web. I think the City of Boca Raton does a great job with their budget, so you may want to use theirs. For the budget that you have selected, this assignment involves reading the budget and pulling out specific information.

Here are the questions you must answer: Read the introductory section and tell me about 2 or 3 major initiatives the city is going to undertake during the up-coming budget year. Typically, this is a letter from either the Mayor or City Manager. What are the various sources of Revenues for the General Fund? What are the various Expenditures for the General Fund? What is current millage rate? Choose one department within the budget and answer as best you can the following; What is the mission(s) of this department? What are the major programs carried out by this department? What is the percent increase in total requested expenditures over last year? What object of expenditure category is the most important; which is growing the fastest? Is this department growing faster or slower than the budget for the whole government?