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JUN 2 6 1990 TO: DATE: SUBJECT: Members of the Board of County Commissioners June 19, 1990 PRESENTATION OF 1990/91 BUDGET INFORMATION FROM: Joseph -A. Baird OMB Director DESCRIPTION AND CONDITIONS LOOK 80 F r tj In the past, the budget office has presented both a loose-leaf binder and a series of computer printouts to the Board and general public for use in the budget workshops and hearings. As counties grow in size however, it becomes increasingly unfeasible to compile large budget binders; we feel that Indian Rive County has also reached this point. In addition, a number of problems plague the current loose-leaf format: 1. Physical Handling - The binder housing the 1989/90 budget is over 5 inches thick, the maximum capacity for this size loose-leaf. It is likely that two 5 inch binders will be required for the 1990/91 budget. One 5 inch binder is already difficult enough to transport and use; two will be extremely cumbersome. 2. Duplication of Information - In the current set up there is duplication of financial information between the computer printout and the budget packets in the loose-leaf. Originally this was done because there was no programming in place to print narrative schedules, such as goals and objectives and expense justifications. As a result, a department's request could be understood better when a department's financial information was presented along with it's narrative in the same physical location, the loose-leaf. This year, however, narrative schedules have been added to the printouts, giving us the ability to present an entire department's budget on a standard printout instead of just the financial portion. 3. Time Consuming Preparation - The preparation of this book is an extremely time consuming, labor intensive process. Many hundreds of man hours are required to copy, align and punch pages, as well as to type headings, section dividers and supplementary information. This time could be better spent analyzing the budget. ANALYSIS Staff feels that the current method of presenting budgetary information to the Board (a combination of loose-leaf binder and computer printouts) is one that could stand some streamlining. Our proposal of using computer printouts for department presentations and a small binder or book for all other schedules has a number of advantages. Duplication of information is virtually eliminated. Department information, instead of being on a budget packet and a computer run, is available in one place. Agencies, Constitutional Officers, capital projects, supplementary schedules and narratives are still well addressed in a small binder. The greater physical ease of handling a computer run and a smaller supplementary binder, combined with more concise reporting, should expedite your review of this year's budget. Finally, freeing this department from the task of compiling a large book(s) will give us the time to analyze the budget, and to better assist the Board, the various departments and the general public during this critical time. 22