Budgeting for Local Governments and Communities is designed as the primary textbook for a quarter or semester-long course in public budgeting and finance in an MPA program.Many currently available texts for this course suffer from a combination of defects that include a focus on federal and state budgeting, a lack of a theoretical governance framework, an omission of important topics, and typically a lack of exercises and datasets for student use. Budgeting for Local Governments and Communities solves all of these problems.The book is exceptionally comprehensive and well written, and represents the efforts of veteran authors with both teaching and real-world experience.

Part 1 General Concepts of Local Public Budgeting; Part 1A Teaching Case A Case of Drastically Falling Nonprofit Revenues; Chapter 1 Local Public Budgeting and the Challenges of Decentralized Governance; Chapter 2 Local Public Budgeting and Democratic Theory; Chapter 3 The Multiple Purposes of Public Budgeting; Chapter 4 Budget Actors; Chapter 5 The Budget Cycle; Part 2 Revenues and Budgeting; Part 2A Teaching Case Commissioners Request Recommendations on a Public Safety Services Levy; Chapter 6 Obtaining Governmental Revenues; Chapter 7 Forecasting Governmenal Revenues; Chapter 8 Polity Revenues and Governance Decisions; Chapter 9 Budget Funds Organize the Public Budget; Chapter 10 Budget Planning; Part 3 Expenditure Formats for Decision and Control; Part 3A Teaching Case A New Mayor Mandates Performance-Based Budgeting; Part 3B Part III Introduction Expenditure Formats for Decision and Control; Chapter 11 Line-Item (Object Code) Budgeting; Chapter 12 Planning, Programming, Budgeting System (PPBS) Format; Chapter 13 Performance Budgeting; Chapter 14 Public-Sector Innovation and Zero-Base Budgeting; Part 3C Part III Summary The Comparative Strengths of Budgeting Formats and Their Contributions to Democratic Governance; Part 4 Executive Priorities, Budget Adoption, and Implementation; Part 4A Teaching Case Negotiations with City Unions Threaten To Disrupt The Budget Process; Part 4B Teaching Case County Board Consideration of A Capital Project That Could Jeopardize The County Credit Rating; Chapter 15 Executive Budget Preparation and Legislative Body Approval; Chapter 16 Capital Budgeting and Financing; Chapter 17 Budget Execution; Chapter 18 Audit and Performance Evaluation, Martha Scott; Chapter 19 Local Budgeting for the Common Good;