Reference no: EM132177625

Julio is the new Finance Director of a large, urban city in the Midwest. As a graduate of a MPA program, possessing over 20 years of experience in municipal public finance, he is both educated and experienced. He has held progressively more sophisticated and important positions in a number of similar municipal agencies and has always been bothered by the lack of citizen participation in the local budgeting process. He feels as most of his peers in similar roles in government do not value and have not sufficiently solicited citizen feedback in the important budgetary and financial affairs of their respective cities. Even though complex in nature, Julio desires to substantively engage and involve citizens in the decision making and resource allocation process. However, he has struggled with 1) explaining and communicating this technical information in an understandable way, 2) engaging citizens in a manner that is convenient to them, 3) synthesizing and integrating their feedback, 4) utilizing that feedback and information to justify and inform his decisions and the decisions of his large agency, and 5) articulating to his boss—the mayor—why this feedback and plan is important to his and the mayor’s success. How should Julio proceed to address these issues? What should be his basic plan? How can he better engage and involve citizens in the budgeting and financial management process of his city to produce better outcomes and results? Be creative, specific, and realistic and address the above questions in no fewer than 500 words.