Less Than Half of Government Finance Professionals Believe Budget Process Effectively Builds Trust with Communities

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Nov 28, 2023, 11:00 ET

MADISON, Wis. and VANCOUVER, BC and CHICAGO, Nov. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Balancing Act from Polco, Envisio, and Euna Solutions today announced survey results showing that less than half of public sector finance professionals rated their current budget practices excellent or good for building trust with their communities. While most respondents gave excellent or good ratings to current budgeting practices, they gave lower ratings for building trust with stakeholders, incorporating resident priorities and involving residents in decision-making.

Conducted by Polco in partnership with the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), and with the close collaboration of Envisio and Euna Solutions, the survey investigated how local government finance leaders feel about current budgeting practices and their readiness to embrace modernized approaches. The multi-wave online and mailed survey sampled GFOA members, resulting in 285 completions. A high proportion of respondents represented GFOA Distinguished Budget Award Winners, causing results to reflect more innovative practices.

"We are in a critical time with building trust and transparency," said Michelle Kobayashi, Principal Research Strategist, Polco. "The more local governments can evolve these best practices in budgeting, the better equipped they'll be to build a bridge with residents, given that trust is low and they want us to do something different."

In May 2023, the companies released "A Roadmap to Real Collaboration in Government Budgeting," describing how software built purposely for local governments (municipalities, counties, school districts) can support GFOA's Rethinking Budgeting initiative. The collaboration has since been working on a readiness assessment, which will be released by the GFOA in the first quarter of 2024.

"The Rethinking Budgeting initiative is responsive to this pervasive feeling in the public that our institutions need updating," said Shayne Kavanagh, Senior Manager of Research, GFOA. "Our work with government technology companies is about bringing together a lot of divergent ideas into a coherent package that can be used by local governments to advance the way they do budgeting."

For the survey summary, visit RBLearning.net.

About Balancing Act from Polco, Envisio and Euna Solutions
Balancing Act from Polco gets residents involved in local government decision-making. Envisio provides the most widely used strategic planning and performance management solution in local government. Euna Solutions delivers cloud solutions that power public sector administration functions and financial operations.

Media Contact:
Stacey Hartmann
stacey@keetonpr.com

SOURCE Polco