Workshop helps local government officials plan budgets
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Local government officials struggling to make spending choices with limited resources will gain a better understanding of how to construct their 2007 budget at a Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service workshop.Local Government Budgeting: Making Sense of Form 4-B will be presented via videoconferencing from 1-3:30 p.m. (EDT) June 16 at 13 locations around the state. Larry DeBoer, a Purdue professor of agricultural economics and expert in local and state public policy, will lead the workshop. Purdue Extension educators will facilitate at each site.
"The budget process is more confusing than usual because of the big drop in local income tax revenues and confusion over property tax reassessment," DeBoer said.
DeBoer will help take the mystery out of Form 4-B by showing participants ways to arrange information so that it works more like a checking account. The 16-line state form summarizes expected spending, revenues and balances for each fund, and determines the property tax levy and tax rate for the coming year.
Participants will be able to work through exercises using budget data from the general fund of individual counties. Using actual data can help local governments make decisions about balances at the start of the year, revenues that come in, spending that goes out and balances at the end of the year.
"In some cases, it only takes one drawn-out court trial or snowstorm to wipe out budget reserves," said Scott Hutcheson, assistant program leader for Purdue Extension's Economic and Community Development program area.
The workshop can be viewed at the following Purdue Extension offices:
• Elkhart County — 17746 E CR 34, Goshen.
• Hamilton County — 2003 E. Pleasant St., Noblesville.
• Harrison County — 124 S. Mulberry St., Corydon.
• Henry County — 1201 Race St., New Castle.
• Knox County — Purdue Extension Southwest District office, 4367 N. Purdue Road, Vincennes.
• LaGrange County — 114 W. Michigan St., LaGrange.
• Lake County — 2293 N. Main St., Crown Point.
• LaPorte County — 2358 N. U.S. 35, LaPorte.
• Tippecanoe County — 3150 Sagamore Parkway South, Lafayette.
• Tipton County — 239 Ash St., Tipton.
• Vanderburgh County — 13301 Darmstadt Road, Evansville.
• Whitley County — 115 S. Line St., Columbia City.
• White County — 12 N 25 E, Reynolds.
Local government officials can register to attend at the site closest to them by contacting the Purdue Extension office in their home county or by calling (888) EXT-INFO. The registration deadline is June 14. The workshop, which is free to registrants, is being funded by a grant from the J. Carroll Bottum and J.B. "Heavy" Kohlmeyer Fund. The fund supports non-advocacy public policy education in Indiana so that the public can make informed decisions on critical issues.
The workshop is the first in a series of programs that will address local government issues, Hutcheson said.
"This type of programming is important for local government officials," he said. "We want to serve their needs."
An additional resource is the Department of Agricultural Economics' Indiana Local Government Web site. The site is designed to help both elected officials and citizens understand tax and budget issues.
Writer: Olivia Maddox, (765) 496-3207, maddoxol@purdue.edu
Sources: Larry DeBoer, (765) 494-4314, ldeboer@purdue.edu
Scott Hutcheson, (765) 494-7273, hutcheson@purdue.edu
Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Beth Forbes, forbes@purdue.edu
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