How Budgeting Decisions Affect Public Safety Organizations

The Impact of Budgeting on Public Safety Organizations

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Background

Public safety organizations serve an important role. They carry out a variety of functions and activities geared towards emergency services. For instance, the fire services departments attend to fire-related emergencies. The activities of public safety organizations present a paradox because their need arises infrequently, yet these activities are vital. Considering the case of fire, fires may occur only once or twice in a month. In the absence of a fire department, dealing with the fire can prove to be problematic leading to catastrophic outcomes. The paradox inherent in safety organizations presents challenges when it comes to issues such as funding. Public safety departments tend to be a prime target for funding cuts. For example, according to Walters (2011), when most local authorities face declining revenues, they resort to targeting public safety organizations for funding cuts. One department that has particularly been targeted for funding cuts is the fire safety department.

Public safety organizations require funding to sustain their activities. Typically, funding for these organizations comes from state governments or the federal government. In the absence of these funds, these organizations are incapable of executing their activities. Consequently, activities that affect the revenues of state and federal governments or any other sources of funds for these organizations will also affect these organizations. One such activity is budgeting. The budgeting process of government entities determines the distribution of funds for various departments within the government, including safety departments.

Changes in budgeting systems will, therefore, affect the distribution of funds, as well as their availability for certain departments. For instance, a state government may decide to make a shift to a citizen-based budgeting system. Under such a system, citizens receive a greater role in the determination of fund utilization. Consequently, the budget decisions made align with the priorities of the citizens (Bilge, 2015). Alternatively, organizations may also rely on performance-based budgeting systems. Under such systems, expenditure is justified based on what is performance objectives (Shah, 2007). Finally, there is also zero-based budgeting, where the overall budgetary requirements are determined incrementally based on the requirements of each department. The chosen approach then affects the planning of these safety organizations.

 

Problem Statement

Public safety organizations carry out a variety of activities related to emergencies and the maintenance of public safety. To carry out their activities, these organizations need to have adequate funding. The challenge in securing funding for this organizations arises from a paradox inherent in their activities, whereby these activities are infrequently performed but have a vital essence. In times of declining revenues, most state governments have resorted to targeting emergency departments for funding cuts. Consequently, there is a need for public safety departments to identify alternative sources of funding.

 

 

Proposed Solution

Public safety organizations can deal with the revenue issue in several ways. One way is by adopting new approaches to budgeting, which will allow them to justify their resource and personnel needs. Alternatively, these organizations can also opt for new sources of revenues. One of the alternative sources of funding that public safety organizations can look to include public donations. Public safety organizations can secure funding by soliciting funds from the public. Such programs have become an increasingly common option for non-profit organizations, as well as for individuals seeking to attain certain goals. Such solicitation occurs through various platforms such as Kickstarter and Gofundme. Public safety organizations should look to create pages and establish themselves on these platforms. Such an approach can have numerous benefits for these organizations, which are outlined below.

 

 

Alternative Budgeting Approaches

Alternative budgeting approaches can provide a suitable way for public safety organizations to combat revenue shortages. As noted, different budgeting approaches emphasize different elements of activity performance. Thus, citizen-based budgeting focuses on the priority areas for citizens, while performance-based budgeting emphasizes the activities to be performed (Warren, 2013). The recommended budgeting approach for public safety organizations to improve their revenue position is a performance-based budgeting approach. Under this approach, the department or agency in question elaborates the manner in which it plans to utilize the funds it will receive or that it requires.

 

 

Advantages of performance-based budgeting

1. Facilitates the measurement of the performance of each department.
2. Facilitates better and long-term planning in these organizations
3. Better planning allows the safety organization to showcase its vision.
4. Increased transparency and accountability.
5. Abetter understanding amongst stakeholders such as the local government of the role of a safety department.
6. With an increased understanding amongst stakeholders, agencies or departments are then in a position to avoid cuts and can thus retain personnel.
7. Ultimately, performance-based budgeting allows for benchmarking of objectives, and for corrective action to be taken. Public safety agencies can then improve their position and performance.

Evidently, reviewing the budgeting approach has numerous benefits for public safety organizations.

 

 

Funding through the public

The other solution proposed here is for public funding through platforms such as Gofundme and Kickstarter. GoFundme is a platform that facilitates crowdfunding activities for various events, including challenging situations like accidents. Kickstarter, on the other hand, is also a crowdfunding platform that primarily focuses on creative activities. The crowdfunding status of these platforms means that contributions come from a large number of people each contributing a small amount. Each of these platforms provides an avenue through which public safety organizations can lobby the public to help them attain their goals.

 

 

Advantages of funding through crowdfunding

1. Public safety organizations will reduce their dependence on local authorities, and consequently, also reduce their vulnerability to dips in revenue and funding cuts.
2. Public safety organizations will gain increased autonomy and freedom to carry out their activities.
3. Public safety organizations will develop greater transparency and accountability in their activities.
4. These organizations can also implement better planning regimes.
5. These organizations can immediately raise more funds during times of crisis, enabling them to react faster to such incidents, by mobilizing support through these platforms.
6. Many non-profit organizations already rely on donations. Setting up a crowdfunding platform would allow these organizations to normalize and have a more consistent revenue base, while at the same time showcasing their activities and outcomes on a periodic basis.

 

 

Conclusion

Public safety organizations perform a vital role in ensuring public safety, through their activities which seek to mitigate the impact of emergencies. Public safety agencies are usually vested in local authorities, which exercise a great deal of control over these organizations. One uncertain outcome of this investment is a great level of reliance for funding. To increase their resistance to funding cuts by local authorities, public safety organizations should invest in performance-based budgeting, which allows these organizations to justify their expenditure to local authorities. Alternatively, these organizations should also pursue crowdfunding to break their dependency on local authorities.

 

References

Bilge, S. (2015). A New Approach in Public Budgeting: Citizens’ Budget. Journal of International Education and Leadership, 5(1), n1.

Shah, A. (Ed.). (2007). Budgeting and budgetary institutions. World Bank Publications.

Walters, J. (2011). Firefighters Feel the Squeeze of Shrinking Budgets. Retrieved from Governing: http://www.governing.com/topics/public-workforce/firefighters-feel-squeeze-shrinking-budgets.html

Warren, T. (2013). Creating a vision for your fire department. Retrieved from Fire Engineering: http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2013/03/creating-a-vision-for-your-fire-department.html