Budget Questions and Responses — Town Departments The following links document the questions that were asked for specific departments. These departments were assigned to Cris Conti and myself. Town Clerk: Questions from the BFRB (click here). Human Services: Questions from the BFRB (click here). Fire Department: Questions from the BFRB (click here). Public Works: Questions…
Category: Fiscal Policy & Budgeting
Metrics and Drivers in Business and Government
Drivers and Metrics — Definition and Examples While previous accounting numbers and percentage comparisons are important, other data is needed. Specifically, metrics and other drivers of the budget process. What’s a driver? An example. If a company manufactures widgets. Each widget requires 3 hours of labor and $40 of materials. If the company is attempting…
Recap of Minutes (2022-24) — Fire Department
Analysis of Agenda Minutes Many people may believe that a budget process focuses the attention on the prospective (future) budget requests and recommendations. As in any organizational business, public or private, it is important to utilize institutional and historical knowledge as a foundation to analyze and review the future fiscal year budget. This facet is…
Camp Shepard — Now and in the Future
The Introduction A different type of blog article. For a change :-). I have never been to the Camp Shepard property. I have been a few meetings of the Committee to listen about their plans. This summer, someone wanted to meet with me to discuss some personal and career issues. They said, why don’t we…
Smithfield Budget Process — An Effective Process in Fact Finding, Transparency and Fiscal Management
The Chalkboard Foundation Transparency – Something transparent, especially a picture, design, or the like on glass or some translucent substance, made visible by light shining through from behind. (Dictionary.com) Great definition if you are working with physical components. However, how is transparency defined in a business context? According to Forbes, “Business transparency is the process…
A Vision and Plan for Shepard Park
A goal without a plan is a dream. — Mark Cuban A goal without a timeline is just a dream. — Robert Herjavec The Initiative Begins The Camp Shepard initiative has received a great deal of attention and public discussion before and after its purchase by the Town. There are so many positive benefits for…
Follow-Up Enrollment and Financial Analysis — Smithfield Public Schools
Smithfield Public Schools — Enrollment and Financial Analysis The previous post provided an introduction to the 19-year analysis of the Smithfield Public Schools Enrollment and Financial Analysis. You can review the previous post by clicking here. Here are some details and take-aways to note. Enrollment Analysis The analysis of total enrollment shows a decline of…
Enrollment and Financial Analysis — Smithfield Public Schools
Smithfield Public Schools — Enrollment and Financial Analysis After reading, reviewing and evaluating financial/budget proposals for several years, I decided to compile an analysis of enrollment associated with the Smithfield Public Schools. Introduction Originally, The analysis compiled enrollment data complied by RIDE for the October 1 census; which every educational institution (that receives Federal funds)…
Minimum Wage — Public Policy or Family Principles? Part II
This post is a continuation from Part I. If you wish to read the first post, click here. There are several columns in this report as follows: Analysis Data and Methodology Two data points were gathered from 1938 to 2021; Federal minimum wage and inflation rate (Consumer Price Index). The analysis was rather simple –…
Minimum Wage — Public Policy or Family Principles? Part I
There has been alot of political, economic and business conversations about the minimum wage as well as a new term, “Living Wage”. While this blog attempts to discuss local and State issues affecting the Town of Smithfield, I believed that this article would be interesting to place here. Introduction The first minimum wage was enacted…
