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BUDGET ANALYSIS: CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

by

Amber Young, Wanda Bibb, Sherri Diaz, and Warren Metcalf

A Paper Submitted to
Dr. Tammy Esteves
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
PA6650: Governmental Budget and Financial Management
Term 2, 2022

Troy University
Online Campus
December 1, 2022
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Background

Charleston, South Carolina, was founded in 1670 and is famous for its cobblestone

streets, historic homes, and rich history, making it a popular tourist destination. Additionally, the

city boasts the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America, the Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge, and

one of the United States' oldest golf clubs opened in 1787 (6 Facts You Didn't Know About

Charleston, 2018). Besides tourism, Charleston supports the shipping, aerospace, and

information technology industries. This diverse economy has allowed the city to recover from

the significant hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (City of Charleston Approved

Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

Charleston's government is organized under the mayor-council construct. John J.

Tecklenburg is the elected Mayor of Charleston and has served full-time for four years. The city

is divided into 12 districts, each with one part-time representative on the city council. Each

member is elected for four years, and their terms are staggered, like the U.S. Senate. While

Mayor Tecklenburg cannot veto motions, he can vote like other council members. City council

meetings occur once every two weeks of the year except during the summer when they meet half

as often (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

As of July 1, 2021, Charleston's population is estimated to be over 151,000, with a

population density of 1,309 people per square mile (United States Census Bureau, 2021). The

Census Bureau (2021) estimates that the city's population is growing at a modest 0.7% annually,

and its racial composition is 74.1% White and 19.6% Black. The average household income is

$76,500 annually, and the city's poverty rate is 12% (United States Census Bureau, 2021). The

average home value is $369,500 with a cost of leasing, and the average rent is $1,400 per month

(United States Census Bureau, 2021).

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Finally, Charleston's living cost is comparable to the rest of the nation. The most

significant difference in costs is the price of utilities, which is 18% higher in Charleston than the

national average. Housing costs in Charleston are 1% higher than the national average, while

transportation, grocery, and healthcare costs are 5-6% lower (Cost of Living in Charleston, SC,

n.d.).

Budget Process

Charleston's fiscal year begins on January 1 and ends on December 31. Each year, the

budget details which services the city plans to provide and the resources required. The city's

budget process takes a bottom-up approach, allowing each department to develop its budget

tailored to its unique circumstances. (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital

Improvement Plan, 2021).

According to the City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan

(2021), there are four phases to the annual budget process. The first phase, Preparation, primarily

focuses on assessing financial needs, reviewing the mayor's priorities, and submitting department

budgets to the Budget and Management Department. The second phase, Integration, consolidates

and prioritizes the various department budget requests. The Budget and Management Department

almost exclusively handles phase two. It reduces all the demands, analyzes current-year

spending, passes budget recommendations to city management, and reviews requests with the

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to prioritize them. Public hearings are held, providing the first

opportunity for citizen input into the budget (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital

Improvement Plan, 2021).

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Phase three, Presentation and Passage, focuses on drafting and approving the following

year's budget for execution. The CFO works with the Ad Hoc Advisory Budget Committee to

finalize the budget and submit it to the mayor for approval. Once the mayor approves, a public

hearing is held where the city council reviews it before agreeing. Next are three public readings

of the budget ordinance before the city council's final budget vote (City of Charleston Approved

Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). Finally, phase 4, execution, focuses on

implementing the adopted budget beginning on January 1 each year. (City of Charleston

Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

The procedures for generating revenue and expenditure projections for the budget follow

similar processes. First, each department calculates its projected revenues and expenditures,

detailing its methodology, assumptions, and justifications for any variances from the current

budget (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). The Budget

and Management Department reviews these projections, considering trends, forecasts, applicable

laws and ordinances, and data from outside sources such as the state government or neighboring

localities. The Budget and Management Department will request additional data from the other

departments before finalizing the projections with the CFO and sending them back to the

departments for review (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan,

2021).

Suppose any new programs are being proposed, whether revenues or expenditures; they

must undergo a special evaluation before approval. "New programs are evaluated separate and

apart from the baseline budget and are graded based on relevance to the City's mission,

cost/benefit, efficiency, effectiveness, need, and potential for a positive outcome" (City of

Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021, p. 52). Recommendations are
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made to the Ad Hoc Budget Advisory Committee and Mayor, who vote on whether to include

the new program in the budget (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement

Plan, 2021).

Any time expenditures from the General Fund are expected to be more than the approved

budget allocates, the city must amend the budget (City of Charleston Approved Budget &

Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). The first step in the amendment process is for the Mayor and

CFO to review the expected excess and identify new funding sources to correct the overage.

Second, the plan is presented to the city council, which reviews, approves, or denies the

proposed amendment. Third, once approved, the amendment must be presented at least twice

during public hearings and voted on publicly by the city council for adoption. Finally, once

adopted, the amendment is incorporated into the current budget for execution (City of Charleston

Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

Executive Summary

Key Executive Proposals and Goals 

Charleston's operating budget comprises the General Fund and six initiative capitals (City

of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). In this paper, special

revenue funds are also presented. Municipal lodging taxes, state lodging taxes, fees for

stormwater utilities, and a hospitality fee fund (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital

Improvement Plan, 2021). The critical executive proposals are listed as the urgencies for 2022

funding. They are within the Budget Message section of the document and include a

compensation alteration for personnel, assets to substitute self-contained breathing apparatuses

(SCBA) for the fire emergency services, critical conservation of amenities, restructured
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information technology (IT) substructures, and capital equipment acquisitions (City of

Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). 

Pay Plan Adjustment for Employees 

An adjustment to a payment plan is "any increase or decrease in an employee's rate of

basic pay where there is no change in the duties or responsibilities of the employee's position"

(United States. Office of Personnel Management, 1995). The city's FY22 projects to increase the

income for Public Officials and special pay allowances in hopes of bolstering the 26% vacancy

rate the town currently has. This low retention rate stemmed from inadequate recruiting related

to political factors such as the need for more flexibility to compete with private companies that

offer remote work and workplace autonomy (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital

Improvement Plan, 2021). Additionally, the city recognized that failure to include a cost-of-

living allowance (COLA) in the FY21 budget significantly impaired its competitive ability to

hire new employees. Due to these factors, the city made pay plan adjustments, such as adding

COLA, their number one priority for the FY22 budget. 

Purchase of Replacement SCBA for the Fire Department 

The second priority of Charleston's FY22 budget was the replacement of the Fire

Department's SCBAs, which are necessary for battling fires, responding to dangerous chemicals,

and other situations (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

The current SCBA units will only protect for a short time due to their expiration proximity;

therefore, the estimated cost of this purchase is $2,615,237 (City of Charleston Approved Budget

& Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). 

Critical Maintenance/Repair for City Facilities 

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The document states that there has been a maintenance backlog since 2008, when the

Great Recession took place (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan,

2021). Due to this factor, in combination with requirements for social distancing and

interruptions to the supply chain that occurred during the recent pandemic, this backlog was

further pushed (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). The

top "long-range priority" for maintenance and repair for the FY22 budget is listed owing to

persistent worries about flooding and increasing sea levels, wastewater, and drainage systems

(City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). Additionally, the city

conducted an exhaustive maintenance analysis in 2018, identifying the city parking garages'

repair needs now and in the long run. As a result, the city prioritized net parking assets of

$4,108,800 to fund the delayed maintenance from 2021 and another $3,844,300 for major repairs

needed in several parking structures and the maintenance of parking meter equipment (City of

Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). 

IT Infrastructure Update 

Many shortcomings were made apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in

budget allocations for technological infrastructure upgrades being prioritized for the FY22

budget. The city recognized the need for more laptops to host virtual meetings. Moreover, most

desktop computers do not have the necessary cameras or microphones; therefore, the city is also

upgrading these. The budget document noted that the city plans to use funds to ensure all office

equipment is refreshed and maintained to provide workers with the means to operate efficiently

(City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). 

Capital Equipment Purchases 

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Capital equipment is defined as an "article of nonexpendable, tangible property with a

useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more per unit" (Capital

Equipment, n.d.). The City of Charleston's noted that the previous year's capital equipment

purchases were furloughed due to social and political factors like the COVID-19 pandemic. As

such, the city requires upgrades to its police pursuit vehicles due to their "relatively short life"

(City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021, p. 22). Additionally,

the document noted that in 2023 Charleston would have a new fire station opening, which

requires the appropriation of a new "fire apparatus" to service this firehouse (City of Charleston

Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021, p. 22). 

Financial Analysis

This financial analysis of Charleston's annual budget will analyze the city's projected

revenues and expenditures, compare them with the current actual totals, and discuss the policy

implications that result from the city's budget decisions. Contrary to the federal government's

fiscal year, Charleston's fiscal year lines up with the calendar year – January 1 – December 31.

For Fiscal Year 2022, Charleston has an annual budget of $298.74 million, financed by revenues

totaling $300.67 million, giving the city a projected surplus (City of Charleston Approved

Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

The city's budget is split into six categories: The General Fund, Enterprise Funds, and

four tax funds. The General Fund covers operating expenses and general expenditures. The

Enterprise Funds are city programs that collect fees to sustain themselves, such as city parking.

Finally, the four special tax funds are the Hospitality Fee Fund, Municipal Accommodations Tax

Fund, the State Accommodations Tax Fund, and the Stormwater Utility Fee Fund. The first three

funds are tourism oriented and are kept in separate funds to help shield the city's General Fund
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from unexpected events, such as COVID-19, that reduce tourism and thus income. The

Stormwater Utility Fund is used exclusively to maintain the city's drainage system (City of

Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

Revenues 

  Most of Charleston's projected $300.67 million in revenue comes from property taxes,

licenses, and enterprise funds. Property taxes are the city's single largest revenue source, totaling

$101.18 million, which amounts to 33.7% of the city's total revenue and 46.8% of the General

Fund (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). The city

charges a property tax of $77.30 per $1,000 assessed value. Due to South Carolina's Local

Option Sales Tax (LOST), this tax rate is 63% lower than thirty years ago and continues to

decline. LOST revenue is collected by the state and redistributed back to the municipalities and

has two portions: the Rollback Fund and the Revenue Fund. As required by law, the Rollback

Fund is applied as a tax credit towards property tax and is the driving factor in reducing property

tax rates throughout the state. Additionally, since 2021, Charleston has elected to use the

Revenue Fund as an additional tax credit, further reducing the effective tax rate to $74.30 per

$1,000 without a loss in revenue (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement

Plan, 2021).

Charleston's second most significant revenue source is license fees (City of Charleston

Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). Licenses fees are almost exclusively

derived from businesses and are projected in 2022 to total $39.66 million, 13.2% of the total

budget, and 18.4% of the General Fund. According to the 2022 city budget, license fees are

calculated from a base rate plus a portion of a business's gross income from the previous year

(City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). The COVID-19
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pandemic has significantly reduced the revenue from these fees over the past couple of years.

2021 saw the most significant decrease since lockdowns heavily affected businesses in 2020. The

2022 budget predicted a slow recovery, but actual data shows that revenues may have returned to

normal as the city collected $43.65 million in license fees in 2022, $4.93 million more than

projected and $2.56 million more than in 2020 (City of Charleston SC, 2022; City of Charleston

Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

Charleston's third largest revenue source comes from Enterprise Funds at $37.75 million.

Enterprise funds are city programs that operate like business enterprises. The funds charge users

a fee for goods and services to help pay for the program. Charleston has six Enterprise funds:

Parking, City Market, Municipal Golf Course, Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Ballpark, Old Slave Mart

Museum, and Angel Oak (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan,

2021). The Enterprise Funds projection for 2022 is $37.75 million, of which over 80% is

projected to come from parking fees (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital

Improvement Plan, 2021). As of September 2022, the Enterprise fund totals are on track to bring

in a revenue of 20% over the projected amounts (City of Charleston SC, 2022). Any surplus

resulting from the general fund is used to offset any deficits in the general fund (City of

Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

Another area of interest in Charleston's total revenue is revenue that comes via

intergovernmental transfers. For 2022, the city predicts $42.31 million, or 14.1% of the total

budget, to go from the state and federal levels. The state of South Carolina is the most significant

contributor to the intergovernmental transfers, providing $36.74 million to the city's revenues

(City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). These funds come

from the state's Local Government Fund (LGF) and the State Accommodations Tax (e.g., The
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LOST program). The program is a local sales tax collected by the state and distributed back to

municipalities based on the location of sales and the area's population as a percentage of the

state's population. Charleston projects a total of $26.86 million in LOST revenue. The LGF is a

state revenue-sharing program launched to bring $2.96 million to the city.

Lastly, the State Accommodations Tax is a 2% statewide tax added to lodging costs

projected to supply the city with $6.92 million in revenues (City of Charleston Approved Budget

& Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). As of September 2022, the city is projecting an end-of-year

surplus of nearly 25% of the revenue coming from the state (City of Charleston, SC, 2022).

Gains from the federal government are much smaller at $5.58 million and only come from one

program: the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Passed in 2021, ARPA provided cities with

emergency funding due to lost funding from COVID-19. The municipality must document how

the funds are spent, and only specific categories of expenditures are authorized (City of

Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). According to the November

budget meeting, the city had already received all these funds for the year (City of Charleston SC,

2022).

Expenditures 

For 2022, the City of Charleston projects to spend $298.74 million, giving the city a

projected surplus of $1.93 million (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement

Plan, 2021). The city's three most significant expenditures are public safety, general government,

and Enterprise Funds. Public safety is the city's top spending item by a large margin and is

clearly stated in the budget as the city's top priority. Public safety accounts for $107.66 million in

spending, which translates to 36% of the total budget, 48.3% of the General Fund, and $686.29

per capita (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). Public
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Safety primarily comprises police and fire department spending. Still, it includes other categories

such as public safety information technology, traffic and transportation, and inspections (City of

Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). As of September 2022, the

city's public safety spending is mostly on track, marginally under budget.

Charleston's emphasis and spending on public safety stand in direct contrast to its public

assistance. There is currently zero funding available for public service, and there has been none

since the COVID-19 pandemic 2020. The city's budget mentions that the public assistance fund

may receive funding in the future, but there are no plans to do so now (City of Charleston

Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). Charleston is a popular tourist

destination, so the city will likely focus on ensuring that tourists, who supply much of the city's

income, continue to feel welcome and safe to visit. Nonetheless, the lack of any public assistance

funding is surprising to see.

The city's second most considerable expenditure comes from the General Government

Fund at $62.58 million, split into two parts. The first part is the $52.2 million allocated for

government expenditures in 2022. The second part is an additional $10.36 million resulting from

2021 vacancy savings and savings from services not performed due to the COVID-19 pandemic

(City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). Nearly half of the

general government expenses go towards general operating costs, while another quarter goes

towards personnel. The rest is divided between benefits, capital outlay, and cost of living

adjustments (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). At the

city's November 1st budget meeting, it needed to be clarified how total general government

expenses compared to the projected cost. Still, the fund may be running under budget due to

savings from vacancies running higher than expected (City of Charleston SC, 2022). Charleston's
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third largest expenditure is the Enterprise Fund. The Enterprise Fund is expected to cost $31.41

million in 2022, so if costs and revenues go as expected, the city's enterprises will be wholly paid

for with a $6.34 million surplus. The city plans to use 100% of that surplus to cover its planned

deficit within the General Fund (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement

Plan, 2021). Like the Enterprise Fund's revenues, the predicted expenditures are expected to

come primarily from parking facilities, nearly 80%, with the remaining split up in various

amounts among the other five funds. It will likely not be known until the end of 2022 how the

actual Enterprise Fund expenditures compare to the expected expenditures. However, trend data

shows these figures tend to come in several million dollars under budget (City of Charleston

Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

Looking at expenditures by department, a pattern emerges from Charleston's planned

expenditures. Each department's most extensive line item in the budget is personnel. The largest

department, the police department, allocates 61% of its budget for personnel. Likewise, the

minor department, Housing and Community Development, commits 70% towards personnel

(City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). The city plans to

spend two-thirds of its General Fund on personnel and benefits, showing that staffing is often the

most considerable expense in running a government (City of Charleston Approved Budget &

Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

Opportunities for Citizen Engagement

Charleston's FY22 budget document contained a segment titled Citizens. In this section,

the paper discusses the city's commitment to ensuring its citizens are pleased with its customer

service. The city created an open network that allows citizens to express concerns and input

requests, enabling them to follow up with how the city deals with these. Additionally, the city
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has a call center for criticisms or inquiries from residents and connects locals to city-related

assistance and data; once a citizen provides an inquiry, the city routes the information to the

correct department for processing. For civic engagement and customer service, Charleston

launched Citibot in July 2020 (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement

Plan, 2021). The system serves as a tool for civic participation through interactive text messaging

services, which improve the city's responsiveness. Another system the city implemented is

Recreation Online, which allows citizens to register for services, pay for programs, or reserve

facilities online (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

Additionally, Charleston's Open Data portal provides a public platform for exploring map data

powered by the geographic information system (GIS)-driven maps (City of Charleston Approved

Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). This system includes maps of the municipality's

borders, recreational areas, law enforcement agencies, fire stations, neighborhood council

boundaries, granted permits, and drainage canals (City of Charleston Approved Budget &

Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

Although not formally annotated in the document, these methods may be how the city

uses citizen input in the budget. However, since Charleston does not use participatory budgeting,

nothing concrete suggests this. Moreover, there needs to be a guide for budgetary interpretation.

However, the budget is written in a manner that makes it easy to decipher and navigate. Sections

use everyday language and provide supporting details such as graphs, bar charts, and flow charts,

so they are written in a way that the average citizen can understand. The document contains a

city profile that indicates the various infrastructures and their value to the city (City of

Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). This section helps citizens to

understand the importance of culture and history and how they make revenue and expenditures.
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Additionally, each section concludes with a synopsis that provides an added breakdown to assist

with understanding the verbiage (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement

Plan, 2021). 

Budget Analysis GFOA Distinguished Budget Award

The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA, 2022) provides several award

programs recognizing excellence in government finance. Their Distinguished Budget

Presentation Awards Program (Budget Awards Program) was established in 1984. The purpose

of the Budget Awards Program was to guide state and local governments to develop budget

documents of outstanding quality that align with the guidelines established by the National

Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting and best budgeting practices. (GFOA, 2022).

The Budget Awards Program has recognized over 1,800 government entities, including school

districts, cities, counties, and states, for their transparency in the budget process. To win this

award, budget documents must meet all established criteria. They should be able to be used as a

high-quality communication tool, financial plan, operations guide, and policy document (GFOA,

2022).

For 22 years straight, the GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Award has been

presented to the City of Charleston. The city has submitted its 2022 budget to GFOA for this

year's consideration (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021).

The following is an analysis of the city's 2022 budget based on select criteria of the GFOA's

Budget Awards Program. The presented budget must include a table of contents to locate

information quickly. The table of contents for the municipal budget states that every page

digitally links to the associated information source (GFOA, 2022,). This feature makes it easy to
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jump between budget sections, which is essential, as the budget book is 449 pages long with

eleven teams (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). 

The Budget Awards Program also requires that the budget contains information on

strategic goals and how those goals were developed. The document must also provide

information on action plans or strategies to achieve these goals. This information should be

provided in a "statement of organization-wide, strategic goals and strategies that address long-

term concerns and issues" (GFOA, 2022, p. 1). The city's budget document meets all these

requirements. 

Priorities and issues must be addressed in a budget message articulating these points for

the upcoming year. Citizens, physical places, public safety, quality services, and regional

partnerships are listed as priorities in the city's budget message. It also discusses some of the

issues faced during the previous years and the steps taken to address them, such as working with

the state and the Army Corps of Engineers to combat future flooding events (City of Charleston

Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). GFOA's criteria also expect a budget

overview where significant budgetary items and trends are discussed. The city's budget overview

is provided in a "Budget-at-a-Glance" format, and the city's one-page organizational chart shows

all city departments, judges, and elected officials as subordinate to the citizens of Charleston

(City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). 

The program criteria for GFOA stipulate that an overview regarding the entity's financial

resource allocation must be written or displayed, and the city has provided both and included

descriptions of each significant fund. Funds dedicated to tourism-related capital improvements or

other special projects are indicated in the budget materials (GFOA, 2022; City of Charleston

Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). 

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The GFOA awardees must "include a coherent statement of entity-wide long-term

financial policies" (GFOA, 2022, p. 3) in their budget document. Regarding financial policies,

"the city-maintained AAA/Aaa ratings from both Standard & Poor's (AAA) and Moody's (Aaa)

rating agencies" (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021, p.

148) with Standard & Poor's comment that the city has "good financial policies and practices"

(City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021, p. 80). The city's

financial policy section is titled Financial and Management Policies. It covers auditing and

internal control, budgetary, revenue, and expenditure policies (City of Charleston Approved

Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). 

GFOA award-winning budget documents must "include the process for preparing,

reviewing, adopting, and amending the budget" (GFOA, 2022, p. 3). They must also provide a

summary of revenues and expenditures to show an overview of the comprehensive resources

budgeted by the organization (GFOA, 2022, p. 3). The city's budget document includes a

description of these procedures and is supplemented by a budget calendar and information on

how public input is provided. The revenue section of the city's budget includes budget

assumptions, trends, and projections, and the expenditure section of the budget is detailed by

governmental function and fund. Also had is a comparison of three years' worth of expenditures

(City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). 

A personnel summary table is provided in the city's document. It displays a three-year

view of budgeted positions by department and a bulleted list of notable changes in staffing at

nine different departments. The city's budget book includes a section with the fourteen General

Fund departments. Information on each department's organizational structure, responsibilities,

and performance measures are included, as well as "a three-year comparison of personnel
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expense, fringe benefit expense, operating, and capital expense as well as per capita cost" (City

of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021, p. 6) The number of full-

time employees is also listed for each department. The city's position summary schedule and

departmental and program descriptions far exceed the GFOA requirements in this section. 

Budget documents must include unbiased development methods toward quantified

ambitions and intentions (GFOA, 2022). The city's budget includes performance data for each

department, and the "performance measures align with the department's goals and objectives"

(GFOA, 2022, p. 6). The measures primarily focus on outputs, showing results and

accomplishments instead of inputs such as dollars spent, and meet the required criteria. One of

the most critical criteria of GFOA's Budget Awards Program is that the budget is manageable for

the public to understand and use. It should include relevant detail and provide legible text, tables,

and graphs. The city's budget has met this requirement by submitting an attractive, well-

organized, and adequate budget communicating information to readers.

Conclusion

According to Fisher and Nice (2021), creating a financial plan in the present day is

complex, and an extensive local government with numerous duties would require a lot of

initiatives. Thus, it is difficult to understand each of them reasonably. The budget book of the

City of Charleston does an exemplary job of clarifying these programs and areas of responsibility

for the public, as noted by the city's 22-year history of receiving the Distinguished Budget

Presentation Award.

Public budgets are expected to do many things, such as setting goals and priorities,

linking goals to actions, promoting accountability, and promoting efficiency and effectiveness,
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all while keeping the process manageable (Fisher & Nice, 2021). The city's budget makes clear

the region's goals and priorities. It also links destinations to actions by listing priorities and steps

taken to address those priorities. Accountability in this budget is displayed in many ways.

Departmental listings of goals and actual outcomes are one example of this. The city's budget

presentation speaks to efficiency and effectiveness in its design, with hyperlinked pages in the

table of contents allowing readers to navigate easily. Finally, the easy-to-digest format, the plain

language, and the meticulously organized document help keep the budget process manageable

and understandable.

The city's budget message states that the Mayor, Council, and City Staff take the budget

process and presentation very seriously each year. The statement expresses a strong desire to

highlight the city's values, meet the needs of a diverse population, and demonstrate good

stewardship of public funds (City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan,

2021). The city believes that the budget will guide the continued process of making Charleston,

South Carolina, a more secure place, welcoming and attractive to reside in, work in, and explore

(City of Charleston Approved Budget & Capital Improvement Plan, 2021). These goals and

values are displayed throughout the budget document.

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Cost of Living in Charleston, SC | PayScale. (n.d.). https://www.payscale.com/cost-of-living-

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Fisher, P., & Nice, D. (2021). Public budgeting (3rd ed.). Birkdale Publishers.

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award

6 Facts You Didn't Know About Charleston. (2018). Explore Charleston

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