1. (10 points) The role of the public in public administration continues to be deliberated and defined. Many local governments solicit public participation in their budget preparations and a few even involve citizens in budget implementations as well. Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a budgeting process where various stakeholders debate, prioritize, and monitor choices made about public expenditure (Mikesell, 2017). Answer the following questions:

1. Discuss the pros and cons of PB. Give examples.
2. Discuss the relationship between diverse citizen participation and budget outcomes. What management strategies would you recommend to a local government for an effective engagement of a diverse citizenry in its budget process?
3. How do you think the use of information and communication technology (ICT) such as social media and videoconferencing may influence the effectiveness of PB?

2. Refer to the Daycare case study in Module 7. It is now September of 2018, and the daycare center has been successfully operating for 8 months. The demand for daycare has been as strong as anticipated, with enrollment growing by 10 percent per month from Feb. to May and 5 percent per month since June 2018. There is also significant unmet demand. While most of the parameters used to construct the 2017 budget were correct, there are a few adjustments that must be made to personnel scheduling and other cost factors for 2019.

Budget Adjustments:

In 2018, the budget did not include coverage for a lunch hour for each employee. As a result, employees had to work during lunch, which violated union rules. In 2019, the staff will be provided a one-hour paid lunch (they still get paid for 8 hours/day), and the Director is considering using part-time work study college students to cover the lunch hours. The college students have to work at least 15 hours per week and will get paid at $10 per hour. Lunch hours are from 11 am to 2pm, and employees can be assigned to any lunch hour. (The objective is to schedule lunch hours for the staff to minimize staffing requirements.) Work study students do not attend the three-day training programs.

The personnel costs will rise to:

Wage: $21 per hour

Pension: 6.5%

Health insurance: $280 per month

All full-time employees, administrator and secretary, except work study students, receive fringe benefits. Assume the center opens 21 days every month in 2019.

Costs for food, supplies, equipment, and administrator and secretary salaries are expected to increase by an inflation rate of 5 percent during 2019.

Presently, the daycare center is housed in an old school that is not being used by the city. While the city agreed to provide free space and utilities the first year, the Mayor has said this will not be possible for 2019. The city is willing to lease the full facility and provide utilities for $4,000 per month.

In addition, the Union agreed to raise its contribution to $3.00 per child per day for the children of union members. The day care fee will also rise to $600 per month per child in 2019.

Answer the following questions:

1. (10 points) Develop a 2019 monthly budget with the aforementioned changes. Assume that the child/staff ratio will be maintained at 8:1. Also, determine the total and per child expenditures and balances (i.e., surplus or deficit) for each month from January to December 2019. Enrollment in the center could continue to grow by 5 percent per month as long as space is available.
   Use the baseline budget (Tab Q1) of the case study answer key 1 provided in Module 7. Modify the spreadsheet to incorporate the changes in 2019. Submit an Excel file.
   To help cover the center's deficit, the city is considering two revenue proposals. Evaluate the proposals:
2. (10 points) Proposal 1:
   Adopting a sliding scale fee based on annual family income. Assume that city employees can be grouped into three income classes:
   Low income (below $45,000): average $37,000/year
   Middle income ($45,000-65,000): average $58,000/year
   High income (above $65,000): average $72,000/year
   and that city workers are evenly divided between these income classes. The new fee structure requires that low income families pay $600 per month per child, middle income $650, and high income $700.
   Is this fee progressive, regressive, or proportional? Discuss the pros and cons of this fee (hint: refer to the principles of sound taxation discussed in class).
3. (10 points) Proposal 2:

Since the state start-up grant is gone, the city is considering subsidizing the day care center through property taxes, possibly $8,000 per month. Is this a good idea? Explain (hint: refer to the principles of sound taxation discussed in class).

Price: $18.09

Solution: The downloadable solution consists of 5 pages, 1309 words.
Deliverable: Word Document