Approach to Budget Approval of Local Legislature – Exemplifying Taoyuan County Council

• Main Authors: Wei-Kui Chen, 陳煒貴
• Other Authors: Dr. Shui-Ji Lin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/39754830972671039113

碩士 === 開南大學 === 公共事務管理學系碩士班 === 95 === Abstract Confronting the shortage of income, the increasing demands of people, and the limited amount of resources, local governments must be very careful in the distribution of income and expenditure, while the disputes from the local budget approvals never stop. The governmental budget report demonstrates the governmental policy address, on which the governmental politics centers, so the studies on the budget approval become necessary for democracies. Governmental budgets shall undergo the “preparation”, the “compilation”, the ”approval”, and the “implementation.” The approval is the responsibility of the legislative department, whereas the three other stages belong to the administrative department. The limited amount of resources results in the conflicts, negotiations, competitions, and compromises during the budget approval, a political process needing further researching. The local legislatures taking the best use of the examination power can influence the policy address and plans of the administrative departments and strengthen the supervision function of the local councils. So far, most councils or sub-committees lack the ability to conduct an in-depth, complete exploration into the total budget during the budget approval. Instead of comparing or reviewing the policy plans of all the departments and units or of giving concrete advice on improvement, the councils or sub-committees tend to raise political issues without anything to do with the budget. The study, looking into the budget approval, shall offer advice for the laws and regulations not applying to the current society so that the councils should conduct the reasonable approval and the local administrative departments should compile the reasonable budgets. That way, the resources with the limited amount shall be distributed for the most demanding purposes and the “money of the public” shall be appropriately spent on the public well-being. This study first reviews the related literature and theories about budgets. The result from the empirical analysis with the questionnaire survey and the in-depth interviews shall further confirm the important role of the total budget approval agenda for the councils and the role of the parties for the budget approval. The mechanism of solving the conflicts in the agenda with the negotiations among parties shall be accepted generally by the council members. Finally, the suggestions for the disadvantages found in the budget approval shall be provided. Key words: Local government, legislature, budget approval, council supervision, laws & regulations system, and empirical analysis.