Guide to write Budget Requests

Scenario: You are chief of police for a midsized city of 75,000 residents. It is experiencing moderate rates of growth of between 3 and 5 percent per year, and its tax base is 60 percent residential or vacant land zoned residential, 30 percent commercial, and 10 percent industrial. One member of your city council perceives that crime in the downtown area is rising too rapidly, which is adversely affecting retail sales in this area of the city. However, data from your department do not support the council member’s perception. In fact, crime is lower in the downtown area than in other parts of the city. However, because of population growth, you have an urgent need to add three to five (3-5) new police officers. (You have not added a new officer or any support staff in the past six years.) You currently have 30 uniformed officers and 12 support staff.
Write a 3-4 page budget request to present to the city council for the hiring of three to five (3-5) new police officers. Address the following:
1. Include at least two (2) robust justifications for hiring new police officers. The justification should anticipate the key questions that the chief executive and council will likely ask.
1. If this request is the result of an increased workload, how quickly did the workload increase? Could the increased workload be covered by part-time employees or by shifting employees from another area?
2. How long have you known this need was developing? Was the manager previously briefed on the growing workload?
3. If the request is not funded, what impact will it have on the department? On citizens? (Hint: If your request is not funded this year, managers often look to see if a request is repeatedly put forward to gauge its urgency.)
2. Identify at least two (2) objections to hiring the new police officers that might be raised and explain how you would overcome them with facts and figures