budget question for local government?

Question

For localities like city agency who deal with contractors, can they have a lump-sum budget, I mean without detailed lines especially for salaries? what govern the budget requirement or standards?
I am asking that because a contractor has ask my employer, a local government, that they cancel the budget lines and have a lump sum budget and let the details at the end of the year. Is there any rule, directives that prevent that?

Answer 1

Generally, your state laws define what must be in your budget. As government is accountable to the public, the public will need access to this info and what will they see if they just get a lump figure with no info?

I doubt that is legal. Even if it were, I strongly advise against it. Even if the actual spending doesn't exactly fit what you budgeted, having the detail is much better. Besides, hasn't the contractor given the government this info? If not, I would NOT do business with this contractor. If you are going into an agreement with a contractor, you should know what they expect to be spending all this money on. This would be a HUGE BRIGHT ORANGE GLARING flag to even the most poorly schooled auditor and your local citizenry. At some point someone will ask what the hell did we spend so much money on that for? The government will have to say, well, that's what the contractor told us it would cost. Those are incredibly poor accounting practices.