−69一
Budgetary Processes and the Community
Chargein the LocalAuthorities of
England and Wales
−COnCernlng’thepreparationofthe1990−91budget−
Ichiroh Nishiyama＊
Contents
IIntroduction。ⅠⅠMethods of revenue budgetpreparation
IIIMethodsofcapitalbudgetpreparationlIVWhoprepares
the budget？Ⅴ．Changesin budgetary processes．ⅤⅠ”Effects
and collection ofthe Commlユnity Charge．ⅤⅠⅠRevisions of
the1990−91budgetⅤⅠⅠⅠConclusionsandsomeimplications
Appendix AThe ques七ionnaireh Appendix B〃 The table of
simple compilation of responses Appendix CThe cross−
tabulations broken down by seven analysIS Variables
I
This paperanalysesthebudgetaryPrOCeSSeSOflocalauthorities
inEngLlandandWalesandtheimpact of the Community Charg・e，
introducedin Apri11990，Onlocalauthority pr・ePar・ation of the
1990−91budgetlToachievethisIdevisedaquestionnaire，1）which
was mailed to theTreasurers and Directors of Finance of the449
＊ Proiessor of Public Finance，Faculty of Economics，KagaWa University， Takamatsu，Kagawa，Japan
一和一 A几れαJs q／且co7tOmよcS古弘dies，∬αgα∽αU花まuer5豆γ J99J
localauthoritiesin Eng1and andWales．
AsfarasIknow，thefirstresearchintothebudgetaryprocesses
oflocalauthorities since the reorganisation oflocalgOVernment
was carriedout by Dr．Greenwoodandhisgrouplnthelatterhalf
of the1970s．Dr．GreenWOOdsaid，“Theexperiencesoflocalauthor・−
ities from1974−80，then，indicate that traditionalincremental
arTangementS ar・einappropriate for the management Of sustained
fiscalpressure…The conclusionis that sustained fiscalpressure
promptsmovementstoar・elativelylessincr・ementalposition”2）I
do not think his conclusionis clear−Cut，because‘1essincremental
position，does not necessarily mean a new method of budget
preparation，SuChascorpOrateanalysISWhichisarationalmethod
In r・eality some authorities did not change reSOurCe allocation
mechanismsinsplteOf fiscalpressur・eByandlarge，thedominant
method of budget preparation was of‘incr・ementalism’which was
popularlyassociatedwiththefindingsofProfessorWildavsky」3）I
think one of thereasons why DrGreenwoodhadto draw such an
ambiguousconclusionisthathissamplewasnotlargeenOugh for
hisconclusion：inonepleCeOfresearch4〉twentyauthoritiesandin
2）Royston Greenwood，‘Changing PatternS Of Budgetingin English Local Government，PublicAdministration，Vol16，No2，Summer1983，p167
3）Pro王essor Wildavskysaid，“Budgetingisincremental，nOt COmprehensiveThe
beginnlngOf wisdom about an agency budgetis thatitisalmost never actively
reviewedasawholeeveryyearinthesenseofreCOnSideringthevalueoiallexistlng
programsascompared to allpossiblealternativesInstead，itis based onlast
year，sbudgetWithspecialattlentiongiventoanarrowrangeofincreasesordecreases
Thus themen who makethebudget are COnCernedwithrelatively smallincrements
toaneXistingbase”（Aaron Wildavsky，The Politics qf the BudgetarγProcess， Secondedition，BostonandToronto，1974，p15）
4）Greenwood，‘Changing Patterns oIBudgetingin English LocalGovernment’，
ee −〃−
another5）27authoritieswerechosenassampleandhe admittedin
hisformerstudythat theselectionwasbiased．6）
DrGreenwood saidin1979，“It was noted that theimposition
OffinancialreStraintshaspushedlocalauthoritiestowardsagreater
measure of ratiohar analysIS．”7）If his forecasts are corTeCt，
rational method of budg■et Pr・epar・ation would have been most
frequently adopted by local authorities under the Thatcher
governmentbywhichlocalg0Vernmenthasbeenfinancial1ysqueezed
Dr・．，GreenWOOd，however，has not yet published his findings
COnCernlng・the1980slbudget preparation
In1987，Learningjrom LocalA乙↓thority Bu（なeting（the PAC
study），8）edited by Professor EIcock and MrJordan，Studied the
budg・etaryPrOCedur・eSOf sixteenlocalauthoritiesin】∃ngland，Wales，
Scotland and NorthernIrelandMr”Jordan，it seems to me，
criticised Dr．Greenwood’s conclusion and said，“Our own studies
Certainly confirm theexistence of experimentswith various forms
of central capability but we also confirm that the experiments do
notappr・OaChthesynoptic，COmprehensiveactivityoffully‘corporate
5）RoystonGreenwood，CRHinings，StewartRansonandKieronWalsh，InPLLrSuit
扉Cqporα￡e月α￡よ0几αJ￡とγOrgα花王S（ユ￡よoJlαZ∂eひeZopme花とS立花￡九e Pos￡一月eorgα花isα￡わ几
Period，［19763，rnStituteof LocalGovernment Studies，University oiBirmingham p236；RoystonGreenwoodet al，‘IncrementalBudgeting and the Assumption of
Growth：TheExperienceoLLocalGovernment’，MauriceWrighted，Public＄pending DecisionsGrowlhandRestrainlinthe1970s，London，1980，pp35−36．41
6）Greenwood，‘Changing Patterns oiBudgetingin English LocalAuthorities，
凸止血∴射加ね祓由α￡わ几，p160
7）Royston Greenwood，‘The LocalAuthority Budgetary Process’．Timothy A Boothed，PlanTtingforⅣe拘reSocialPollcγandthe鋤enditureProcess．London
1979，p96
8）Thisbookis theproductofareSear・Chproject carried undertheau＄picesoit・he
Public Administration Committee oftheJointUniversityCouncilandsother・eSearCh
¶」守一 A′1花αJs q／βcoJlOmよc5孟弘d￡e5，∬αgα∽αび花加r5如 J99J
andrational，processesl”9）Hesaid agaln，“infewlocalauthorities
havethemovestorationalitybeensubstantial…”10）ThePACstudy
group undertook to r・eSearChthebudgetary PrOCeSSeS uSedbylocal
authoritiesin preparlng the1986−87budget by means of case
StudiesIt found that under preSSure Of financialr・eStraintincre− mentalism has keptits strength and r・emained the order of the
dayrll）Ithinktheircriticismis quite reasonable，glVen that Dr
Gr・eenWOOd’s forecasts havenot yet materialised，but thePACcase
Study has not been carTied out correCtly andimpeccably．They
admitted that their examples were not representative of all local
authorities and thesixteen cases wer・enOt a SamPle．In addition，
Iwonderwhethertheyunderstoodprecisely the current method of
budgetary PrOCeSSeS Oflocalauthorities”Irealised thatIhad to
Carry Out aCOmpletesurveyonlocalauthorities’budget−making
The PAC studygroup，On theotherhand，fullyconfirmed Dr
Greenwood’s findingS，thatis‘theso−CalledSpanishInquisition’．12）
Dr小Greenwoodsaidthatinpreparingbudgets，manylocalauthorities
adoptedprivateandinformalmeetingS between the centralpoliti−
Cian（s）and officers。“Often these meetings willinvoIve only the
leader，the treasurer and the chief executive officer・，althoughin
SOme authorities one ortw00ther・1eading politicians may attend
9）Howard EIcock and GrantJordan eds，Leaming fTOm LocalAuthoritγ
Budgeting，Aldershot，Hampshire，1987，p21 10）J∂よd，p22
11）See Howard EIcock，GrantJordan，Arthur Midwinter，Bu（なetingin L，OCal
GouernmentManagingtheMargins，Harlow，Essex，1989，p188
12）As far asIknow，DrGreenwood originally mentioneditinIn Pursuilqf
‥t・
． ー∴・‥
More frequentlyltis just the‘triumvirate”’．13）professor EIcock
said，“．，budgeting1SuSdallycontrolledbysmallnumbersofleading
politiciansand seniorofficers””14）Theseinformalgroupsareoften
knownby suchnames as’TheStar Chamber’，‘Sweat Shop’，‘The
Magnificent Severl’and so onIwant toexamineDrGreenw00d’s
hypothesis of the‘triumvirate’thr・Oughmy surVey
In1990it was widely reportedinJapanese newspapers and
Weekly and monthly magaZines thatin April1990the Community
Chargewasintroducedin place of the ratesin EnglandandWales，
and that oppositionmovementswereorganisedinLondonandother
Citiesり Somemovementsoper・atedviolentlylnSOmeareaS．Ithought
that aswellasexaminlngthefindingSmadebyDrh GreenW00dand
the PAC studygrOuP，this was the best opportunltytOdor・eSearCh
myself on the budgetary pr・OCeSSeS and theinfluence of the
Communlty Charge upon the budget−making oflocalauthorities
In April1990Ireceivedar・eSearChgrantfromtheJapaneseMinistr・y
Of Education and begantO draft my questionnaireHowever・，I
was not familiar with the current situation of local authority
budgetMmaking，and wanted to carry out pr・eliminary researchin
autumn1990MrKenneth Spencer，Director of theInstitute of
LocalGovernment Studies（INLOGOV），University of Birmingham，
13）Greenw00d，‘ChangingPatterrlS OL Budgetingin English LocalAuthorities’， Public Administration，p163 He analysed the‘spanishInquisition’in1979He Said，“thesemeetlngSarenOtCOnductedinavacuum：thechiefexecutive，thetreasurer，
andtheleader arelinked to wider reaches oithelocalauthority by virtue of their
membership of othersignificant groupsThus，thechieiexecutive andthetreasurer
meet their c011eag・ueS Onthemanagementteam’‥‘Theleader，meanWhile，i＄involved indiscussionswithhispartymembers”（Boothed，PlaTmi花gJorⅥ／e拘re，p86）If myinterpretationis correct，the‘SpanishInquisition’is a device for co−Ordinating
thecuts andbidsin budget−makingWith the penetrated routesinto members and
oificers一指− A花れαJs q／且co花0れよc S払d￡eぶ，∬αgα∽αび花立uer擁γ J99J
generOuSly allowed me to stay as a visitingSCholarin November
1990．While staylngatINLOGOV，DrAndreW Coulson，Mr．Nick
Devas，DrJohn Gibson，ProfessorJohn Stewart and DrPet声r
Watt，StaffmembersofINLOGOV，helpedmyreSearChandINLOGOV
eventual1ypr・0Vedthebestbaseformyr・eSearChonlocalgovernment
financein Eng1and。Professor Stewart gaVe me mOSt helpful
SuggeStions onimproving my draft questionnair・e and Dr。Watt
guided my study and co−Ordinated my researCh visits to sixlocal
authoritiesHe afterwardsintroduced Dr．Liz Mills，a SPeCialist
in survey design，at the Universlty Of Wales College of Cardiff，
who gave me comprehensive and detailed comments and advice in
COmPleting my questionnaire。InNovember1990，Carrylng Withme
my revised questionnaire，Imet Mr．Roy Williams，Deputy City
Treasurer，LiverpOOICity Council，MrBrian Aldred，Assistant
County Treasurer，MrDouglas Morgan，County Tre卑Surer，
Lancashir・e County Council，Mr．A”TGay，Chie董 Accountant
（FinancialManagement），Leeds City Council，MrDavid Laws，
Senior Assistant City Treasurer，York City Council，MrB，F
Kirkman，Assistant County Treasurer，North Yorkshire County
Council，Mr＼Mike Williams，Dir・eCtOr Of Finance（Accounting
Services），Birmingham City Council，allof whom were SO kindand
helpfulin talking fully aboutlocalauthority budget preparation
inreCentyearSandgavemevaluablecommentsonmyquestionnaire
ComingbacktoTakamatsu，Japan，inDecember1990，Icompleted
and printed the questionnaire and at the end ofJanuary1991it
WaS Sent tO alllocalauthoritiesin England and Wales．380
盲
・ ー∴￣・・
sometimes‘officers’hereafter）15）respondedfranklytomyquestion−
naire，in spite ofit being non−StatutOry reSearCh With only one
r・eminder16）the overallresponserate achieved was846％，Whichis
anastonishinglyhighpercentage1りIn addition，many Treasurers
Sent mePaPerS SuChnasbudgetbooksandbackgrOundpapers，Which
areexpensiveto sendby air mail．The detailed r・eSPOnSe rate by
type oflocalauthorityineach areais shownin Tablel。Ithink
a satisfactory response rateis achieved from alltypes oflocal
authority。Fir・St Of all，my Principaldebtis of course to the380
Treasurerswho completed the questionnaireinspite of the hectic
Tablel：Responserateby typeoflocalauthority
Number o董existlng Responding authorities authorities Number Percentage
Type o董localauthority
ENGLAND Counties
Greater London Area The City
Inner London Boroughs Outer London Boroughs Metropolitan Districts Shire District，S WALES Counties District，S 9 1 2 0 6 6 3 1 2 3 9 2 6 11 0 00 0 6 1 1 3 4 3 2 92 3 0 3 0 3 1 0 3 0 3 3 0 8 9 8 QU l・⊥ 7 2 3 5 ■D 7 6 8 8 380 84 6
15）The380reSpOndentsinclude129TreasurerS，Directors of Finance and ChieL Financial（Finance）Officers，the rest being Deputy or Assistant Treasurers or
Directors of Finance，Chiej Accountants，and s00n
16）Theremindersweresent outinearlyMarch1991
‥・−∵−・− い・．・． ．J∴・．・‥ ヾ‥．．．∴−．い ‥・二・・．・・．、． ．、∴一．’
periodof formlngthe1991−92budget and setting the Community
Charge18）To them，myWarmeSt thanks
InJapan，Professor・S Akihiro Fuiil，Shin−ichiInoue，Kaz†10
0hyabu，HiroakiSeto，YoshinoriYokoi，Miss Fumiko Nishio，Who
are colleagueS at KagaWa University，Professors Kazuo Tokue of
IbarakiUniversity and Makoto Yamada of Kagoshima Universlty
helpedmeindesignlngthequestionnaireandanalyslngtheresponses
Research assistance was provided by Miss Nishio who tabulated
responsesanddrew figureS tO this paper＼Miss Helen Korndorffer
and Mr David Shaw corrected and polished my clumsy English
Invariouswaysmanypeoplein Britain andJapan helped my
research and to allof themIam gTateful“However，the final
responsibilityfor thequestionnaireandanalysIS muStlie with me
Lastly，Iwillexplain briefly how to analyse the r・eSPOnSeS
First of all，Ihave compiled responses simplyand the reSulting
numbersandpercentageS19）are analysed according to each of the
questions Thencr・OSS−SeCtionalanalysISis attempted‖ Responses
havebeen broken down by seven analysISVariables，thatispopula−
tion，釦）populationdensity，21）standardSpendingAssessment（referred
18）A Manager oiAccounting Services wrote to me，“Your questionnaire came at thewrong time！！Ihaveto accept hiscriticismandapologisehimIfIcarry out
asecond research，Iwould select themost convenient time for therespondents
19）SeeAppendix B to thispaper
20）The380localauthoritiesaregrOupedinto four bandsaccording to population
5，100to75，000，75，000tolOO，000，100，000to275，000，and275，000tol，557，300（The CharteredInstitute of Public Finance and Accountancy（CIPFA），Finance and
Ge托erαJ5よαとまsfよcsJ99クー9J，July1990）
21）The380localauthoritiesarealsogroupedintofourbandsaccordingtopopulation
density：02to40personsperhectare，41tolOOper＄OnS，101t030Opersons，and 301tol152persons（ibid）
Budgetary Processes and the Communlty Charge
in the LocalAuthorities o董England and Wales ーア7−
to as‘S．S。A．，hereafter），乃）the Community Charge，23）net revenue
expenditure，糾）typeoflocalauthority，訪）and politicalcomposition・26）
The details of the cross−tabulations areindicatedin Appendix C
tothispaper．Inaddition，manyTreasurersmadevaluablecomments
inunderstandinglocalauthoritybudget−making，and those willbe
cited anonymously and in a shortened form appropriate to the
purposeconcemed．Iwant to reiterate that the main purpose of
my current Paperistounderstandascorrectlyandfullyaspossible
what the Treasurers want tO tellme on budget−making，nOt tO
write my hasty and precarious interpretation of the budgetary
PrOCeSSeS Oflocalauthorities
ⅠⅠ
InQuestionll，aSyOuCanSee，therearesevenpossibleanswers
These answers can be dividedinto two groups：the first group
22）The380localauthorities are grOupedinto董our bands according to Standard Spending Assessment：（￡m）1698t05000，5001tolO000，10001to200000，and
200001to769101（よゐ￡d）
23）The337localauthorities as chargingauthorities are groupedinto four bands
according totheamounto王theCommunityChargeasindicated on page5，ibid， thatisbetween￡150to308，￡308to348，￡348to388，and￡388to573
24）The380localauthorities aregrOupedintoiive bands according to the amount
oinetrevenueexpenditure：（￡’000）1，888to6，997，7，063to9，972，10，036to99，852，
105，360to291，554，and302，007to814，164（よぁまd）
25）In England，the341localauthorities are grouped as Counties，Inner London BoroughswhichincludeTheCity，Outer London BorOughs，Metropolitan Districts， and Shire Di＄trictsIn Wales，Of course，the39localauthorities are dividedinto
Counties and Districts
26）The380localauthoritiesare dividedinto壬ive groups：the Councils where the Conservative Partyisinthema〕Orlty，Wherethe LabourPartyisin the maiority， the other miscellaneous parties arein the majorlty，the so−CalledIndependentsin
themajority，andwherenoonepartyhasanoverallmajority（MunicわalYearbooh
一指− AJl几αgS q／茸co几OmまcS￡沈dよes，∬αgα∽αF花よびerSわ′ J99J
consistsofpurebudget−making methodsindicatingbasebudgeting，
programmebudgeting，ZerOrbase budgeting and target budgeting，
and thesecond gr・OuP，addreSSlng the period of budget Plannlng，
thatis medium−andlong−term budgeting＼’Before analyslngthe
responses，Ihaveto sayafewwords about Questionlr1WhenI
designed the draft of my questionnaireinJapan，Ithought that
themostpopularandfrequentmethodofr・eVenuebudgetpreparation
wasanincrementalone”AfterIcarTiedoutmypreliminaryresearch
inEnglandinNovember1990，however，Ifoundthat thesedaysso−
calledincrementalbudgetingis consider・ed old−fashionedinlocal
authorities andit was probably replaced by base budgetingand
target budgeting．，My current questionnaireis based upon that
researchinEngland．ConcerningQuestionl・1those four methods
werementionedasanswersandtwoanswersonthebudgetplanning
period were added．Ihave to say further that Question1・1was
asked on councils’overallbudget preparation，nOt Ondepartmental
budgets
ThereSultsofsimplecompilationof responsesonhowtoprepar．e
reVenuebudg・et areShowninFigurelAsisclear from Figurel，
theper・Centage On basebudgetingis an overwhelming9111％，and
thesecond，355％，COmeS fromtarget budgetingIfound that142
Treasurers ticked only‘Base budgeting’，thatis37“4％of the380
localauthorities which responded，andl14 ticked both‘Base
budgeting’and‘Target budgeting’，30‖0％of allr・eSPOnSeSlOf
course，Officers were asked to tick allanswers that applied．It
may be concluded that though both base budgetlng and target
budgeting areimportantmethods，theformeristhemostimportant
inpreparlngtherevenuebudget OflocalauthoritiesinEng1andand
Wales
慧鑑笠芸。慧笥誤設言霊慧e童謡悪路霊e
一円−Fig■．1：Methods of revenuebudget Preparation
Base budgeting
Programme budgeting
ZeIO−basebudge血g Targetbud紳ingMedium−termbudgetlng
IJOng−termbudgeting
OtheI0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100（％）
usefulinunderstanding thebudget preParationoflocalauthorities
Firstly，Iwillcitecommentsonbasebudgetingafter defining this
teI、m
Rough1yspeaking，the startlngPOlnt forbasebudgetingis the
determination of the base，Whichincludes allitems of acommitted
nature，and then subsequent consideration of other developments
which are uncommitted and the effect ofinflation2T）TyplCal
COmmentS On base budgetlngare：
“The revenue budgetis usua11y a continuation of existlng pOlicies
with options for growth or reduction considered as an appendix to
base budget”
“Revenue［budget］−We Start With a‘continuation’budgetandits
implications on community chargelevelsGrowthitems are then
included to bringthe cozhmunity charge to a politically acceptabユe
level”
27）CIPFA，BudgetaryProcesses（FinancialInformatior）ServiceVo14），London，
、∫ ．‥ ‥．‥・．・∴・．‥．∴−・、・・・■・．′、・ −．＝．−
InQuestionl‖1，Ithoughtthatthe‘Target’intargetbudgeting
wassetfor committees or departments to prepare their budgetS
AfterIread officers，comments，Ifoundthattwokindsof‘Targ9t’
wereindicated．The oneis on an overalltaヒget：
“withregardtomy ownCouncil，sbudgetary procedure，We prOduce，
in September of the year，a budget strategy・Which sets an overa11
target for the ensulng year，s Community Chargelevel Spending
Committees are，therefore，underinstructiontomaintainthei＝eVenue
budgets within the overallcashlimitsh
“An overallrevenue targetis determined by Committee followln
reportonavailableresources andtheeffectontheCitY’schargepayers
ofvarious spending optionsAllbudgetsarethenreviewed，including
thebase budget，in order to achieve the target”
Theotheris onthe departmentaltargets：
“Departmentaltargets are set to‘fit’available resources and the
Council，s financialpolicy whichis to maintain alow community
Charge
“A targetofnetsavlngSWaSg1VentO eaCh Committee”
“Targetsaresetfor committeesbyreferencetocurrentbaseestimates
and commitments andinflation’
Ithinkthesetargetsare determinedbythefinancedepartment
of acounciloritscommittee，thoughtheprocessoftargetdecision−
makinglS nOt nOW Clearto me
AsIsaidabove，thesecond frequent methodof revenuebudget
preparationisacombinationofbasebudgetlngandtargetbudgeting
‥：、！
‥・・
“AlthoughRevenuebudgetsareprojectedfrombases，theoveralltotal
isIeStrictedtotargetsgenerated fromincometo be raisedincluding
CentralGovernmentgrantand Community Charge
“BasebudgetTlethodsareapplied，butthebudgetofeachCommittee
issubjecttotargetThetargetsarederivedfromCentralGovernment
advised budget ceilingsh
If responses on Questionl．1are broken down by population
andSSA，aSSet OutinFigures2and3，thepercentageS On base
budgeting are almost the same，arOund90％，in each band of
populationandSSIAThepercentagesoftargetbudgeting，Onthe
other・hand，increasein proportion to theincreaSein population
andSSALThusitmaybeconcludedthatthemorethepopulation
andS息A．oflocalauthoritiesincreaSe，th9mOrethetargetbudgeting
is needed
Fig・2‥MethodsofrevenuebudgetPreParation
broken down by population
Base budgeting
Programme budgeting
Zero−basebudgeting
Target budgeting
Medium−termbudgeting
Long−termbudgetlng
Other0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100（％）
た詔51−750ぐ∝沿） 【ヨ750∬1000 厨1（氾0−2750 因2750−1，5573、＿ い．・∴．・−∴・・‥ ご、、．ご■・． ●・．・‥ ・−ご●ご●
IfIbreak the reSPOnSeS down by type oflocalauthorityin
England，aS Shownin Figure4，the percentage OfInner London
Fig・・3：MethodsofrevenuebudgetPreParation
brokendownby S．S．A．
Base budgeting
Programme budgeting
Zero−basebudgetlng
Target budgeting
Medium−termbudgeting
Long−termbudgetlng
OtheT 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100（％） 辺（￡m）16−50 田50−100 田100−2000 四2000−7691Fig・．4：MethodsofrevenuebudgetPreparationbroken
downbytypeoflocalauthorityinEngland
Basebudgetl喝Programme budgeting
Z即0−basebudgetlngTarget budgeting
Medium−termbudgeting
Long−termbudgetlng
Other 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100（％） 窃Counties 国InLondon モ謬OutLondonBudgetary Processes and the Community Char岳e
in the Local Authorities of England and Wales
−β3−Boroughs concerning basebudgetinglS muChless than authorities
in other areas：727％comes from Treasurers ofInner London，and
in other areaS mOrethan90％h Ontheotherhand，inInnerLondon
the number・Of authorities which adopted target budgeting1S muCh
biggerthanOthelL af｝eaS：90．，9％comes fromInnerLondon andless
than45％comes from otherareaS．This shows that as far as the
Inner London Boroughs are concerned，target budgeting1S a COre
method of revenue budget preparation
Ⅰwi11nowg1Vemy tWO COmmentS On Othermethodsofbudget−
makingFirstly，ZerO−basebudgeting・Althoughzero−basebudgetlng
meansreviewingbasebudgetfromscratch，theprocedur・eiscomplex
andislimited to the review of selected activitiesrather thanwhole
ones．29）Asis clear from the comments，the reviewin budget
PreParationislimited to a fewitems or a smallpercentage Of
expenditure andinsome authoritiesthe useof zer・0−basebudgeting
is at an experimentalstage
“Staffing，mainlY On ZerO−based budgeting
‘くZero−based budgetirlg On Salaries，1eased cars，COntraCtS and so on “Zero−based budgeting，aboutlO％ of budget headsIn essence，
incremental”
“The use ofZBB for revenue budgeting1S at an eXpeIimentalstage， butif successfulwillbe extended to allservices
Asis cユear from Figures2and3，the percentage Of zero−base
budgetingdecreasesininverse proportion to theincreasein
population andSSA
Secondly，incrementalbudgetingAsIsaidearlier，incremental
budgeting1S nOWnOt SO pOPular andis considered01d−fashioned，
・−し； い‥・∴・い・・・こ‥・−、ニ．・・∴∴−・、．−・−・‥‥・−・‥、 ∴・∴■
but nine officers actually mentioned it as the method by which
their councilspreparetheir budgetS
“Therevenue budgetis compiled mainly on anincrementalbasis”
“Anincrementalapproachisinevitably usedin spite ofincreaslng
financialconstraints”
“Traditionally the reuenue budget has been produced on an annual
incrementalbasis，．”
These officers who admitted an incremental budgeting had to tick
‘Base budgeting’，‘Target budgeting’，and‘Other’，because the
incrementalbudgetinglS nOt glVen aS an anSWer
Concernlngthe period of budget plannlng，Only one officer
mentioned‘Long−term budgetlng’，but allother officers ticked
‘Medium−term budgeting’．0ne officer said，“The County Council
has forfiveyearsbudgetedtoallowamodestprogrammeofservice
gTOWthto meet various preSSureS．”
If welook agaln at FigureS2，3and4，tWO features can be
noted‖OneisthatthepercentageOfmedium−termbudgetinglnCreaSeS
inproportiontotheincreaSein population and S．S．A‖ The other
is that medium−term budgetinglS mOre Often adopted by county
councilsinEnglandcompar・edwith otherareas：52．8％comes行om
countycouncilsandlessthan37％comesfr・Om Other areaS
After reading the comments of1520fficers，tWO reCent trends
can be distinguishedinlocalauthority budget−making．The first
is that morethan afew authorities ar・enOWChang1ngtheircurrent
method of r・eVenue budget pr・eParationh One Director・Of Finance
said，“Councilinprocessofr・eViewingWholesystem′”Oneauthority
wants to moveto target budgeting，anOtheris preParlngtOChange
to programme budgeting，the third oneis attemptingtO mOVe tO
ZerO−base budgetlng and so on
d
。
−お−
“The Councilis seeking to move to target budgetingin the case of
revenue budgets，and to programme budgetingln the case of capltal
budgetS；both methods ofbudgetpreparation being applied to short，
medium andlqngりfinancialplannlng
“In preparing the1991／92 Revenue Budget the City Councilhave
SOught to move away from base budgetlng tOWards programme
budgetlng WherebypolicyobjectivesaresetandtheCitYCouncildecide
Which policy objectives willbe glVen prlOrity’“Revenuebudgeting［is］movingtOWards zero−based budgeting”
“We arebeginning toincorporate the use of cost／benefit appraisal
technique utilizlng COmputer based modelin our capitaland revenuebudgeting．”
Irealisedthatoverthenextfewyearsmethodsoflocalauthority
budget pr・eParationin Eng1and andWales would change under the
pressures of financialsqueeze and controlexercised by the central
government，thoughIcannot predict which methodswi11become
POPularand predominantinthenext stage
Secondly，lookingat the comments g1Ven by Treasurers，they
feltthatbecauseOfchangeSOfgOVernmentpOlicyonlocalgovernment
iinance，it was difficult for them to providelonger−term budget
planning
“Budgeting beyond one yearis essential，but Governmentlegislation
Changes and failure to provide adequatelonger term guidelines make
the task almostimpossible”
“Constant changeSinlegislation，‘charge−CapPlng etC．makeslong−
term（and even medium−term）revenue andcapitalplanningdifficult’’
“Theintentionis to develop better forHWard plannlrig，but thisis
−β6− A花花αg8q／属co7107乃よcS餌dよes，∬αgα∽αF几まuer由γ J99J
mentsettlements−reVenue SuppOrtgrantand capitalguideline
“Longer term budgets are difficult because the Government gives no
firmindications for years beyond the next year Even with these
problemslonger term budgets areprepared when possible・
Theyalso said that when they prepared the budgetS，they were
largely dependent upon guidance and gr・antS glVen by central
government
“Theslnglemostimportantdeterminantnowinpreparingbothbudgets
is thelimitation setby thegOVernment（expenditure unit for revenue
purposesand creditapprovals forcapitalpurposes）h”
“The fundamentalconstraints by centralg0Vernment determine the
totalexpenditure on both capitaland revenue
“Budgets prepared as above，however，finalparameters and financial
resources depend upon government grant figures and overalltarget
borrowlnglimits etc”
It may be concluded that these days budget preparation of local
authoritiesis gTeatlyinfluenced by centralgovernment
ⅠⅠⅠ
In Questionl2，Treasurer・S Were aSked how they prePare the
capitalbudget，andtheresultsasasimplecompilationofreSpOnSeS
are set outinFigure5，As was donein the analysIS Of responses
toQuestionl‖1，SeVen anSWerS are dividedinto three grOuPS：the
first group consists of pur・e methods of capltalbudget−making
indicating base budgeting，PrOgramme budgeting and target
budgetlng，thesecondgroup，addreSSlngtheperiodofcapitalbudget
plannlng，thatis medium−andlong−term budgetlng，and thelast
d 。
Fig・．5‥MethodsofcapitalbudgetPreParation
−β7−Base budgeting
Programme budgeting
Targetbudgetlng・Medium−termbudgetlng
Long−termbudgeting
Annualrevi帥rS Other0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70（％）
oneshowlng aratherminorandtechnicalwaylnprepar1ngCapital
budget，thatisannualandregular・reViewsFir・StOfall，OnCaPital
budgetPreparation，426％comesfrombasebudgeting，Whichisthe
most frequent methodlOne officer made the comment，“Capital
budgetSareCOmPiledonthebasisofexistlngCOmmitmentstowhich
areaddednewschemesconsideredinthelight ofよvailable capital
resources（e．g＼，loanfinance，Capitalreceipts）l”When councils
prepar・etheircapitalbudgetS，they also use programme budgeting
and target budgeting∴ 295％comes from programme budgeting
and16，3％from target budgeting
“capitalbudget eSSentially programme budgetlng OVer a few years
again tailored tototallimit，Withregular reviews’
“Three−yearCapitalprogrammebased oncash targetS”Intending to
introducemedium term planning for rev．［sic］andcapitalfrom1992
一ββ− A花花αJs q／且coJ10J乃えcS￡αdよes，方αgα∽αび花よuerS勅 J99J
If responses on programme budgetingand target budgetlngare
broken down by population and SりSnA‖，aS Shownin Figures6and
7，thepercentagein the former decreasesininver・Se PrOPOrtion to
theincreasein population and SSA，and；On the contrary，the
PerCentagein thelatterincreasesin proportion to theincrease of
both variables
WhenIlook at the second grOuPin Figure5，the ma］Onty Of
localauthorities（60．0％）has adopted medium−term budgeting，As
ShowninFigure6，thepercentageOnmedium−termbudgetinglnCreaSeS
inproportiontotheincreaSeinpopulation．Someofficers，however，
COmmented that these dayslonger−term budgeting was difficult
because of centralgovernment controlofcapitalresourcesandlack
Oflong−term guidelines
FigL．6：Methods of capitalbudget preparation
broken down by population
Base budgeting Programme budgeting Target budgeting Medium−termbudgeting Long−termbudgetlng Annualreviews Other
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70（％）
四51−750ぐ（沿0） 匡≡ヨ750−1000 団1000−2750 囚2750−1，5573・・
、
∴・・−
Fig・．7：Methodsof capitalbudget preParation
broken down byS．S．A．
Base budgetlng
Programme budgeti?g
Target budgeting
Medium−termbudgeting
Long−termbudgeting
Annualreviews Other0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70（％）
辺（￡m）15−50 国50−100 田100−2000 囚2000｛7691“Because of the nat，ure Of Government controland the absence of
realisticlong term guidelinesthecapitalprogrammeisunderconstant
reVleW
“Long term capitalbudgets areimpossible because of stop−gO pOlicy
of centralgovernment”
“BecomlnglnCreaSlnglydifficulttopreparelonger−termCapitalbudgets
due to CentralGovernment controlover resources“CapitalcontroIs by CentralGovernment make even medium term
budgeting very difficult”
Iwillnowlook at the‘annualand regular reviews’on capltal
budget，Whichaccountedfor579％of reSPOnSeSinFigure5 That
methodispopularandisknownas‘ar011ing programme’
“The cqp乙talbudget has traditionally been produced as a five year
−・−ご・′ いこ・∴・∴‥．・・・∴ヾ・、・ ご∴．．・・こ−‥・・‥ ∴十・■
on a pr10ritY Choice basis according to the availability of capital
funds”
“capitalprogrammeisreviewedin detaileachyear butis subject to
continualreview on a scheme by scheme basis，
“capital［budget］：rOlling programmebased on continuousreview of
specific schemes and subjectto capltalexpenditurecontroIs”
If responses are broken down by type of local authority in
EnglandandWales，thereSultsareshownin FigllreS8and9In
England，On base budgeting 611％ comes from Outer London
Boroughs，On tar・get budgeting45”5％comes fromInner London
Boroughs，On medium−term budgeting6914％comes from County
Councils，and on annualreviews73．3％ comes from metropolitan
DistrictsIn Wales，On base budgeting 714％，On medium−term
budgeting 85“7％，and on annualreviews714％comesip ever−y
method from County Councils
Fig．8：Methods of capitalbudget preparationbroken
downby typeoflocalauthor・ityin Eng1and
Base budgeting Programme budgetlng Target budgeting Medium−termbudgetlng LongTtermbudgetlng Annualreviews Other
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80（％）
∈Z3Counties ∈ヨIn London 園Out London ∈忽Metro Districts 囚Shire Districtsd
。
−9ト
Fig．9：Methodsof capltalbudg・et Preparationbroken
down b与7type OflocalauthorityinWales
Base budgeting
Prograヱnmebud吋1喝Target budgeting
Medium−termbudgeting
Long−termbudgetlng
Annualreviews OtheT0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90（％）
EZヨWelsh Counties 6ヨWelsh Districts
Afterr・eadingOfficers’commentsoncapitalbudgeting，itbecame
apparent that the capitalbudgetis greatlyinfluenced these days
by centralgOVernment CaPitalguidelines
“Capitalbudget preparation greatlyinfluenced bylevels of annual
capitalguidelines（iecentralgovernmentassessmentof need）”
“Capitalschemes determined by PoliticalGroups having regard to
maximum sanctionlimits as prescribed by CentralGovernment一
eg，Loan sanction plus restricted use of capitalreceiptsIn recent
years the scope for newinvestmenthas been severely curtailedinline
with Government Policy oflimiting public sector expenditure and
grOWth”
“CapitalbudgetpreparedinlinewithGovernmentborrowingapPrOVals
as the Councilhas verylittle alternative capitalresources”
−ガー A花几αZs q／βco7107乃よcぶ払d￡eぶ，∬αgα∽αび几乙uer8よとγ J99J
These commentshaveindicated that agreatinfluence fromcentral
gOVemment has also been exercised upon the capitalbudget
PreParation oflocalauthorities
ⅠV
Aswesawintheintroduction to this paper，DrGreenwoodsaid
thatin thelocalauthorities of England and Wales，qulte a few
peoplewereinvoIvedin budg・et PreParation，in the form of a so−
called‘Triumvirate’，Which consists of Leader of the Council，Chief
Executive Officer・andTreasur・er．The purposein asking Question
2．1，WaStO aSCertainwhetherhisfindingswerecorTeCtinexplainlng
thekeymen forbudget−making”380TreasurerS ticked allanswers
that applied，and their189comments were made
Intheircommentssomeofficerssaidthatthebudgetpreparation
was a sort of corporateexercise and allwerekeyplayers
“The preparation of the budgetis seen as a corporate taskThe
accountants and managers dealing［sic］with the detailwhilst the
Chief Officer’s ManagementTeam，in conjunction with theLeader of
the Council，COnSider the overallbudgetin thelight of Central
GovernmentexpendituretargetsandtheCouncil’sserviceaspirations “Itis a corporate exercise−allare key players
“Treasurersetsguidelines，COmPilesbaseemployeebudgetsandcertain other‘centralbudgets’egloan chargesOther officerscompilenon−
employee and amend employee budgetsResubmitted to TreasuIer
d
。
−93−
Thoseoplnionsが）arereasonablefromthepointofviewoflocal
governmentofficerswhoaredoingdailybusinesswithmanypeople
inthe councils．However，from an analyticaland obiective polnt
ofview，Studying thebudgetaryprocessoflocalauthorities，Ihave
to ascertain who■th白key members and officersin the budgetary
processofthecouncilsarelAsimplecompilationoftheirr・eSPOnSeS
isindicatedinFigllrelO”Judgingfromthelevelof percentage of
responses，thehighestpercentage，992％，COmeS from Treasurers，
the second highest，75．0％，Chief Officers，and the third highest
percentages，between53％and56％，are Leaders of the Council
（53A％），Chair ofthePolicyandResourCeSCommittee（55”5％）and
Chief Executive Officers（56”1％）．It seems to me that nowadays
thefivesortsofkeypersonsaretheTreasurer，ChiefOfficer・，Chief
ExecutiveOfficer，Leader・Of the Council，and Chair of the Policy
and Resources Committee
Fig・・10：Keymember・Sandofficersinthebudg・etaryprOCeSS
Leader Chair o董P ＆RC Chair oIFSC Cl王O Treasurer Chie董Ofiicers Other 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100110（％）−94− A花花α∠s q／Eco几07乃よcぶ払dよes，方αgα∽αU花ま〃erぶよ￡γ J99J
AfterIread officers’comments on key players，Ifound an
officer who said that：
“The‘political’players are theLeader andChairmenoftheindividual
COmmittee The‘administrative’players are the Treasurer and
accountantin the Finance department，the Chief Officers and service
officersin service departments””
His commentis mostinter・eSting and suggeStive whenIanalysethe
keypersons．First of all，Ithinkwehaveto dividethe above five
peopleinto two groups，thatis the politicalplayers and adminis−
trative players
The politicalplayers ar・e，Of course，Leader and Chair of the
Policy and Resources Committee，Whose per・CentageSarealmostthe
Same．One of the features of politicalplayersis that they decide
OVeral1strategy Of budget preparation，targetS，finaldecis主on and
SO on
“PoliticiansinvoIvedin overallpolicy，nOt details
“Politiciansdecidetheoverallbudgetlevelandanydesiredreallocation
of resouJCeSThe politicalleadership of the Councilis consulted onimportant
issues，eghow much of the Council’s balanceis to be used；is the
totalbudget politically acceptable；is a certainitem of expenditure
VerylmpOrtant pOlitically？”
Insomecouncils，however，0VerallstrategylSalsojointlydecided
by bothpoliticians and officers
“The key playersin deciding the overallsize of the budget are the
Leader and Chief Executive，With advice from the Budget Officerh、
Other Chief Officers and Committee Chairmen play the key rolein誓芸d鑑aL芸c≡f認諾設是霊慧e綿雲法認農e −95−
individualservice budgetS，buthave onlylimitedinfluence over total
Spending．
“○verallstrategyislimited to the County Treasurer，Leader，andone
Or tWOleading−m9mbersChief Officers are closelyinvolved with
budget reports to theirindividualcommittees”
“Strategy determined between Leader，Chief Executive and Chief
FinancialOfficerwhichChiefOfficers［are］requiredtofollowBudgets
COmPiled by staff ofspending departments，aided by finance staff”
Asis generally known，there are quite anumber of councilsin
Which the Leader has the status of the Chair of the Policy and
Resources Committee‖ In my questionnaire，Idid not ask the
Officers toindicate whether Leader and theChairofthePolicyand
ResourcesCommitteewerethesameperson，but570fficersmentioned
that both positions were held by the same person。That means
that out of203authorities28．1％isinasituationwher・etheLeader
and the Chair are the same personIassume thatin a number
Oflocalauthoritiesin England and Wales the Leader has the
Predominantinfluencein budget PreParation because he or she has
the status of the Chair of the P01icy and Resources Committee as
well
“Leader glVeS OVera11guidance on the budget’’
“IJeader，in consultationwithChiefExecutiveandDirector ofFinance， determines targetstowhichChiefOfficersmustrespondsatisfactorily，
Or negOtiate’
“The strength of character of theLeader of the Councildominates
the‘political’elementoftheprocessHedirectsallpolicyevaluations
throug・h the Treasurer．−−り．ご ミ‥ −．・／こ−．、、．・．−‥．・・、∴●．・．・こ・こ・・．‥ ∴一∴
Concerning the chairmen of theindividualcommittee，Ihave
to say a few word息 379％comes from‘Other people’in Figure
lO．Ifweanalysether・eSPOnSeS Of‘Otherpeople’，theofficerswho
listed them ar・e136and400fficers，29”4％ofIrespondents，mentioned
the committee chairmen as a key member，for example，“All
Chairmen of Committees”，“Chairs of spending committees”，“Six
Chairmen of Services Committees”and so on Ithink that the
chairmen Of ser′Vice committees also play animportant r01ein the
budgetarypr・OCeSS抑
Iwillnowlook at the role of the Treasur・erAsIexpected，
theTreaSureris the key administratorin budget preparation and
in some councils has a far moreimportant r・01e than the Leader
orChief Executive“TIeaSurer［plays］by far the mostimportantpart”
“TheTreasurerisresponsibleforthebudgetHehasthemostinfluence
in whatisincluded or excluded”“The Treasureris the key player，aSSisted bY key peoplein his
department，uP tO the recommendation ofthe budget．TheChairman
of Finance Committee and Leader of the Councilhave the major
influence from that point on，1eading the Councilmembers to a
decision“The City Treasureris responsible for preparlng allthe Budgets and
the Leader of the Counciland the Chief Executive Officer are onlY
involved when the summary stageis reached”
If responses on Question211are broken down by population
density，net reVenueeXPenditure andtypeoflocalauthority，aSSet
30）PrOiessorEIcock said，“One consequenceof theparty controloilocalauthority
business has been to enhance the positions oithe Leader of the Counciland the
Budgetary Processes and the Community Charge
in the Local Authorities of England and Wales
−97−outin Figuresll，12，13and14，the percentageS COnCemlngthe
Treasurer arealmost the samein every Figure，thatis between
97．0％andlOO0％，Whatever kind ofindices are taken to evaluate
theimportance of theTreaSurer，the results are always the same，
showlng theunivdrsdlimportanCeOf theTreasurer as akeyplayer
in budget preparation一Looking at the percentagesin Figuresll
and12，Which ar・e reaChed by being′brokendownbypopulationand
net revenue expenditure，the percentageS COnCern1ng Leader and
Chair of the Policy and Resources Committeeincrease，rOughly
speaking，inproportiontotheincreaseinpopulationandnetrevenue
expenditure
The fourth key person，aS Shownin FigurelO，is the Chief
Officer．AsIasked the respondents tolist the post of Chief
Officers who were engagedin budget PreParation，192 officers
mentioned various nameS for Chief Officers which，Ithink，are
dividedinto eleven categOries．Firstly，al1ChiefOfficersarelisted，
Fig’．11：Keymembers and officersin thebudg・etary prOCeSS
broken down by population
LeadeT Chair of P ＆RC Chair oiFSC CEO Treasurer Chief Ol王icers OtheI0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100110（％）
四51−750（’000） ∈；ヨ750−1000 田1000−2750 四2750−1，5573−・・． い・い．い・∴、．・‥ ．、−∴ −．．∴．こ．・．・・‥・‥．‥ ∴ −．‥．
Fig．12：Keymembers and officersin thebudgetary PrOCeSS
brokendownbynet revenueexpenditure
Leader Chair oiP ＆RC ChaiIOiFSC CEO TIeaSurer Chief O董ficeTS Other0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100110（％）
囚（￡m）18−7。0 旺ヨ70−100 田100−1000 琶塾1000−3000 団3000≠8142Fig’．13：Keymembers and officersin thebudgetary PrOCeSS
broken downbytype oflocalauthorityin Eng■1and
LeadeT Chair of P＆RC Chair oiFSC CEO TreasuTer Chie董Officers OtheT
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100110（％）
∈詔Counties ∈；ヨInLondon 歪ヨOutLondonBudgetary Processes and the Community Charge
in the LocalAuthor1ties o壬Eng1and and Wales −99−
Fig・．14：Keymembersand officersinthebudg■etaryPrOCeSS
broken dowhbytype oflocalauthorityin Wales
LeadeT Chair oiP＆RC Chair o董FSC CEO TてeaSurer ChieiO董iiceIS Other
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100110（％）
巳召Welsh Counties 田Welsh Districtsforexample，“AllChief Officersof SpendingCommittees”or“All
departmentalchief officers”Secondly，theylisted them as the
Management Team，for example，“Management Team−COnSists
of Directors of：，Corporate Resour・CeS，Houslng and Health，
Development andAmenities，Direct Service Organisation，Economic
Development，”Hence，One tO eight Chief Officers arelisted and
one additionalitem whichis classified as‘Other responses’h The
percentageSOf eachcategoryareindicatedinTable2Ⅰ壬wethink
of theclasses‘allChief Officer・S’，‘Management Team’，and‘class
with fiveor moreChiefOfficers’except‘OtherreSpOnSeS’asalmost
the same，then50。0％of responses comes from councilsin which
almost allthe Chief Officers areinv01vedin budget preparation
askey players．Ⅰ，however，do not think that Chief Officers are
equalto the Tr・eaSurerin budget PreParation，because officers
commentedthat Chief Officers weremainlyinvolvedinpreparation
柵JOO− A花托αg−S q／gcor乙07乃まcSと比dまes，方αgα∽αⅤ花iuerぶわ′ J99J
Table2：The number of Chief OfficersinvoIvedin
budget preparation
Numbero董responsesandpercentage Number0lresponsesandperCentage
Five Chief O董ficers 15（78） Six Chie董Officers 6（31） Seven Chie董Officers 3（16）
EightChiefOfficers l（05）
Other responses 2（1．0） 57（297） 14（73） 8（42） 22（115） 40（208） 24（125） AllChie土Officers Management Team One Chief Officer Two Chie董0董fecers Three Chief O壬董icersFour Chie董 Of董icers Total 192（1000）
‘ “Treasurer compiles the budget，butallChiefOfficersofDepartments
areresponsiblefortheirownbudgetsandworkonthemincooperation
with the Treasurer
‘‘BudgetS areinitially prepared bY eaCh appropriate Chief Officers， then vetted and coordinated by Director of Finance。Priorities and
effects on ratepayers are then discussed with politicians
“AllChief Officers prepare their own budgetS under the control／
coordination of the TreasurerLookingat Figureslland12 agaln，the percentageS Of Chief
Officers decreaseininverseproportiontotheincreaseinpopulation
andnet revenueexpenditureIn otherwords，it may be said that
themore the population and net revenue expenditureincrease，the
moretheimportance of Chief Officers decreaSeS，andvicever’Sa
The perCentage Of Chief Executive Officer，aS Shownin Figure
lO，is almost the same as the Leader and the Chair of the Policy
and Resources Committee，However，the Chief Executive’s rolein
budget PreParationis difficult to definein a few words，because
he or she is on one occasion chairman of a management team and
Budgetary Processes and the Community Char苫e
in the Local Authorities of England and Wales
−JOノーOn anOther occasion anintermediar・ybetweentheTreasurer，Leader
and other senior politicians
“Chief Executive and Management teamin close consultation with
Leader of Councilare ma〕Orinfluences
“Chief Executive and Treasurer act as finalarbiters on budgets prior
to submission to elected members
“Although Director of Financeis responsible for budget preparation， Chief Executive and other Directors（Planning，Housing，Leisure and
TechnicalServices）have key rolesPolicv and Finance Committee
members make finaldecision”Having analysed officer・S’responses and comments，Ithinkthat
DrGreenwood’s hypothesis，Stating that budget preparationis
Carriedout bya‘Triumvirate’，isagoodandusefulideatoexplain
thesophisticatedsituationofbudgetpreparationinlocalauthorities
However，nOW that my survey has been carried out，it seems to
me that his hypothesis has to be reVised and amplified by more
than three playersFirstly，tWO kinds of key players，thatis
politicaland administrative ones，Can beindicatedSecondly，aS
farasthepoliticalplayers ar・eCOnCer・ned，POliticiansdecideoverall
Strategy andtheIJeaderis themostimportant personNumerous
councils have a Leader who occupies the Chair of the Policy and
Resources Committee”Thirdly，When welook at administrative
Staff，the Tr・eaSureris the mostimportant personinpreparlngthe
localauthority budget。Chief Officers，however，also play quite
animportant rolein budget preparationり We have to sayin
addition that the Chief Executive must be one of the key players
in the budgetary prOCeSS
Iwi11nowlook at Question22 Iasked Treasurers whether
ーJO2− A71花αgざq／βco710J花えぐS￡㍑dまeS，打αgα∽αり花加rぶまfγ J99J
apart fromstatutoryconsultationwithr・epreSentativesofcommerCe
andindustry
One officer ticked“No，We did not”，and said，“What are elect6d councillors for but this？”
Another officer also ticked“No，We did not’’，and said“Councillor
［sic］members of the Committees and Councilwho consider the
estimates are viewed as the representatives of the residentpopulation which elected them”
These comments are qulte reaSOnable because councillors are
electeddirectlybytheelectorateandintheorytheyhavetorePreSent
the oplnions and wishes of allthe electorate．Ithink，however，
thatthesedaysitisprobablylmPOSSibleforcouncillorstorepresent
every Wish oftheelectoratebecauseofthreer・eaSOnSbelowFirstly
election takes place ever・y four years，SeCOndly，thereis a sing1e−
member constituency，and thirdly，the turn−Out atlocalelections
is qultelow
On Question22，Iwanted toknow whether・the councils were
trylng tO COnSulttheopinionoftheresidents380TreaSurerSticked
either‘Yes’（16h6％）or‘No’（83h4％）
WhenIhavebrokendownreSpOnSeSbypopulationandpopulation
density，aSis clearfromFig11reS15and16，COunCilswhichconsulted
public oplnionincreasein proportion to theincreasein population
and population denslty．In the most densely populated areas the
percentage Of‘Yes’is420％andin the other areasitisless than
160％If responses arebroken down by type oflocalauthority，
as shownin Figures17and18，the highest percentage comes行om
Inner London Boroughs（45。5％）and thelowest percentage from
ShireDistricts（122％）InWales，CountyCouncilsdidnotconsult
localopinion at all，and63％comesfromDistricts．Whenresponses
−＼
∴．
Fig・．15：ConsultingOPlnlOnSOf residents
broken down by population
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100110（％）
【召51−750（’000） 圧；750−100OE田1∝）0−2750 閻2750−1，5573
Fig．16：ConsultingOPlnionsof residents
broken down by population density
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100（％）
∈辺02−40 ∈ヨ40−100
J99J ーJ∂4− A几花α∠βq／屈co710〝もよcS￡比dよe5，∬αgα∽αこわよue′5えとγ
Fig■．17：ConsultingOPlnions of residents broken down
by typeoflocalauthorityin England
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100（％）
E詔Counties 6SSIn London 血OutLondon
四Metro Districts 駈Shire Districts
Fig．18：Consulting・OPinions of residents broken down
by type oflocalauthorityin Wales
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100110（％）
Budgetary Processes and the Community Charge
in the LocalAuthorities o董England and Wales ーJJJ−
are broken down by politicalcomposition，aS Figurelgindicates，
thehighest percentage（262％）comesfromthecouncilsinwhich
theLabour Partyisin the m扇ority，and thelowest one（48％）
from theIndependents
Treasurers whoIE；aid‘Yes’are askedin Question23how they
consulted public opinion and how important the method was
Figure20indicatesthatthemostfrequentmethod（57．1％）isthr・Ough
trade unions by which means the councils consult probably the
opinionof theiremployeeunions．Thesecondhighestmethod（429
％）isbypublicmeeting，andthethird（381％）isconsultingpolitical
groups，The fourthis28．6％which comes from‘opinion survey’
If responses on the methods of consulting oplnionarebrokendown
by type oflocalauthoritiesin Eng1and，aS Set Outin Figure21，
conceming‘Throughtrade union’，92，3％，the highest percentage，
comes from County Councils Public meetings are most frequently
heldinOuterLondon Boroughs（71”4％），and p01iticalgr・OuPS are
Fig■．19：Consulting・OPinions of residents
br・Oken down by politicalcomposition
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100110（％）
・＝∴一−−・− ．い‥− ・∴∵・．・．・∴・．．‥∴・・・．こ・．．・ 一十・．■
Fig．20：Methods of consultingOPlnions of residents
Public meetings Opinion survey Local newspapers Political groups Political parties Trade unions Other0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70（％）
Fig．21：Methods of consulting・Opinions of residents broken
down by type oflocalauthorityin England
Public meetings Opinion survey Local newspapers Political groups Political parties TTade unions Other
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100（％）
匹召Counties 【ヨInl，Ondon 【遥OutLondon 団MetroDistricts 国Shire Districts
Budgetary Processes and the Communlty Charge
in the Local Authorities of England and Wales
騨∴叩7】consulted most ofteninInner London Boroughs（800％）“Inner
London Boroughs have consulted the oplnions of the residents by
meansofopinionsurVey（60。0％）Lookingatthelevelofimportance，
OfficersthinkthatconsultingpOliticalgroupsandpartiesisessential，
and oplnion survby岳and consultingtrIade unions areimportant
By andlarge，a Smallnumber oflocalauthorities consulted the
oplnionsoftheresidentswhentheypreparedthe1990b91budget・31）
VAsis genera11yknown，localgOVernment financein England
and Wales has changed dramatically since1990，because of the
introduction of the Community Charge，theUniformBusinessRate，
nng−fencing of the HousingRevenueAccount，COmPetitivetendering
andso on32）ThroughQuestions31and32，Iwantedtoknowthe
Situation of changesinlocalg○Vernment finance．FirSt，aSisclear
from Figure22，the380reSPOnSeS regarding to what extent the
1990−91budgetaryPr・OCeSS Changed，COmparedwiththeprocessfor
1989−90，WeredividedintothreegTOuPSWhichhavethetrichotomous
Share oflOO per・Centage，Fortunately124 Treasurers g｝aVe their
SpeCificcomments on changeSinthe1990−91budgetar・yPreParation
31）ProLessorEIcockadmits，“their［electorate’s］influenceonbudgetarypolicYis marginal”（EIcockandJordaneds，L，earningfyomLocalAulhoritγBu（なeling，P
249）
32）A DeputyTreasurerwrotetome，“AsIamsureyouareaware，theintroduction
Of the Community Charge has had a majorimpact upon the financing Oilocal
authorities，andthefactthatCommunityChargeWaSalsoaccompaniedbynumerous
Other piecesoilegislationasaffectinglocalauthoritiesンfor examplethenewcapital COntrOlregulations，thenew houslngfinancialreglme，ChangeSin revenue support grant，and other CentralGovernment capitaland revenue grants，has meant that finance ofiicers，1ikemyself，have undergonea culturalshock，andin many cases a
．− ‥ い・・、・・−∴・・・．・．、・・．ニー・∴ J・、．・．・・ ∴・∴’
Fig・．22：Levelof chang・einpreparlng■the1990−91budget
Changedalittle（432％）
Changed alot（271％）
andsomeexamplesareshownbelowFir・StOfall，297％ofresponses
agreed that there WaS nO Change When they prepared the budget
for1990，910fficerswho ticked‘No change commented； l
“TheIe WaS nO neCeSSlty tO Change the process of budgetPreParation，
other than to take account ofnewlegislation，SuChascapitalcontroIs
and housing rlngfenclng
“Although thelegalrequlrementS Changed for community charge and
capitalfinance，therealdecision−making processes wereunchanged”
“The budgetary process did notchange，buttheeffectsofGovernment
legislation affected very criticallY thefinaloutcome，andtheresulting
Community Charge
432％，the biggest percentage of responses，rePreSentS the
authorities which ticked‘Changed alittle’”Their comments are：
“preparation ofthedetailedbudgetchangedlittle［sic］Instead of
expresslngtherevenuerequired as a Ratein the pound，a PollTax
d
。
“The financialaspects of thebudgetprocessdidnotchangetOOmuCh
Themain changeswereinpresentingtheinformationtoMembersand
advislng them ofthe new system
“BudgetpreparLati9n（estimating the amount to be spent）did not
changealot−butthe financlng Ofthebudgetchangeddramatically
due to allthe pointsin Q32”
Asyoucandeducefromtheircomments，thereislittledifference
between‘Nochange，and‘Changedalittle，Asfarastheprocedure
ofbudgetpreparationisconcerned，Iimag1nethatabouttwothirds
oflocalauthorities have not changed budget PrePar・ation process
despiteofgreatChangeoflocalg0Vernmentfinancein1990
ThethirdcategOry，abigchangeOfbudgetprepar・ationbetween
1989and1990，is27．1％
“A completechangein the financlng Oflocalgovernment expenditure
created more public examination ofthe authority’s budget”
“The various changes madeit more difficult to estimate staffing
levels required to cope with Community Charge and the Business
Rate collectionIn addition the changes on Houslng finance had a
ma】OrimpactinfinancialtermsonboththeHouslngRevenueAccount
and the GeneralFund”
Iwillnow break down the380responses by type oflocal
authority」AsFigure23shows，theleastpercentageof‘Nochange’
comes from Boroughs of Outer London（11・1％）and theleast
per・CentageOf‘Changedalot，comesfromCountyCouncilsinEngland
（111％）50．0％ofbothCountyCouncilsandOuterLondonBoroughs
changedtheirbudgetary PrOCeSS alittle
On Question32，Treasurers who experienced any changein
−JJO− A乃花αgS q／gco7107乃￡c S￡㍑dまeS，好αgα∽αび几土びerぶ勅 J99J
these two years and they ticked allthat caused the changeAs
Set OutinFigure24，thebiggestreaSOnWaStheCommunityCharge，
Which showed850％andIrealisedwhat aseriousin董1uenceit h声d
had upon the1990−91budget Pr・eParation
Fig．．23：Levelof chang・einpreparlng・the1990−91budget
broken down by type oflocalauthorityin Eng1and
No change
Changedalot
Changedalittle
0 10 20 30 40 50 60（％）
E22Counties 団In London 隠OutLondon
笹MetroDistricts 国Shire DistrictsFig■．24：Reasons for chang・einpreparlngthe1990−91budget
Communitiy ChargeCommunityChargecapping Unilorm Business Rate RevenueSupportGrant Inilation Other controIs Other 60 80 100（％） 0 20 40
d
。
“Members were concerJledastotheoveralllevelofCommunityCharge
which had animpact on thelevelofgrowth allowed”
“The gearlng effect of the new financialsystem makes thelevelof
poll tax very sensitive to additional expenditure or to a poor grant
settlement Coupled with worries about non−payment Of communlty
charge，this provides stronglnCentives to try andkeepbudgetsaslow
as possible”AlthoughthepercentageOf Communlty Charge capplng，Which
shows16。5％，issmall，WehavetolookattheinfluenceofCommunity
Charge capping upon budget preparation of local authorities 21
authoritieswereaCtually cappedinApri11990，but440fficersticked
the Community ChargecapplngaS their・anSWer，thatis more than
twicethenumber of cappedauthor・ities．When welook at Figure
25，in which responses were broken down by thelevelof the
CommunltyCharge，aSfarasCommunltyChargecapplnglSCOnCerned，
Fig−．25：Reasonsforchang・einpreparlng・the1990N91budg・et
brokendownbythelevelof theCommunity Charg・e
Communitiy Charge CommunityChargecapplng Uniiorm Business Rate RevenueSupportGrant In董1ation OthercontroIs Other 0 20 40 60 80 100（％） 四￡150−308 団￡308−348 団￡3偽ぺ髄＝圏￡388−573
