We should insist on zero-based budgeting. Start each year with a new budget with no connection to last year’s spending. For instance, a department may have built a new facility at a cost of ten million in the last fiscal year, but that $10M should not carry over into the next years budget. The maintenance and upkeep for the new building would be a budgeted item.
JimRed wrote: “We should insist on zero-based budgeting. Start each year with a new budget with no connection to last year’s spending.”
Depends upon the agency and upon the line item. For example, an agency that does many repeatable actions knows how many will be done and that can easily become an item based upon last years expenses.
In other cases, capital expenditures can be done the same way. Suppose you have 500 units that wear out. If you need to replace all 500 in five years, then you need to buy 100 per year.
Jimmy Carter tried that. I didn't work. I makes multi-year contracting risky for the government and the contractor. Think design and build construction. Think ship construction. Think any kind of large scale manufacturing of weapons systems.
Although it's infuriating to read about spending on luxury items and furniture, much of the late year spending occurs because that's when big contracts are let. The contracts come late because the procurement is late waiting for funds to become available that fiscal year. Continuing resolutions do not allow any new projects to begin, so the program managers wait.