National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting.

• Author: Esser, Jeffrey L.
• Position: Editorial

The National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting (Council) was established in 1995 by eight associations of state and local government, including the GFOA, and charged with developing recommended practices in the area of state and local budgeting. The Council is an unprecedented cooperative undertaking on the part of associations representing elected officials and the professional managers of local and state governments to jointly make a comprehensive assessment of the current practice of state and local budgeting. The goals of the Council are 1) to educate government decision makers about the potential of budget systems to serve as a sophisticated tool for the planning, analysis, and management of their community's resources; 2) to help them assess their own budget and resource-allocation systems; and 3) to provide them with a set of good budget practices that they can look to as a model.

The Council's work will aid GFOA members in a variety of ways. First, as a body that includes elected officials and top-level managers as well as finance professionals, academicians, and members of the public and the media, the Council will provide an authoritative voice of support for budgeting reforms or innovations. The examples and illustrations that will accompany the Council's practice statements will give members immediate, detailed guidance in the implementation of recommended practices. The Council's recommendations also will become convenient reference points for ongoing discussions and exchanges of best practices.

This national advisory council was created at the recommendation of two precursor bodies: a national symposium hosted by GFOA in January 1993, and an interorganizational task force, which concluded its work in December 1993. The symposium and task force members found that too little information on effective budgeting practices exists and that an effort to identify and share recommended practices in budgeting was needed, leading GFOA and other associations to create the Council. Other associations participating in the Council are the Association of School Business Officials International, Council of State Governments, International City/County Management Association, National Association of Counties, National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), National League of Cities, and U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM). The Council is chaired by USCM representative Mayor Paul R. Soglin of the City of Madison, Wisconsin, who is...