Games

The Budget Table

Fund everything. You can't. Now choose.

Skill this builds: Calculate trade-offs in a public budget under fixed revenue and legally required minimums, and explain which service absorbed the cut.
About: About 10 minutes · Standards: C3, NCTM, CCSS · Plays offline

You have a fixed amount to spend per resident. Every category has a floor it cannot go below. Balance to the dollar. Then a shortfall hits, and you do it again.

Playing as

Your Beacon

Change

Modeled — not sourced

MODELED — NOT SOURCED. The city in this exercise is invented, and the dollar figures are a teaching model, not any real city's budget. The category structure and the fact that debt service and pension contributions are largely non-discretionary are real, and are sourced below.

Round 1 — the ordinary year

Round 1 of 2

Revenue came in as projected. Fund the year.

Revenue: $700 $ per resident

Allocated: $580

$120 unallocated

Public safety
Police, fire, EMS
Public safety allocation in dollars per resident
Minimum $150 — you are at the minimum
The largest line in most American municipal budgets. Contracts and staffing make it slow to change in either direction.
Streets & transit
Paving, signals, snow, buses
Streets & transit allocation in dollars per resident
Minimum $60 — you are at the minimum
Deferring maintenance saves money this year and costs more later — the most common quiet decision in local government.
Water & sewer
Treatment, mains, stormwater
Water & sewer allocation in dollars per resident
Minimum $90 — you are at the minimum
Much of this is federally mandated under the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act. Underfunding it is not merely unpopular; it is often illegal.
Parks & libraries
Programs, facilities, hours
Parks & libraries allocation in dollars per resident
Minimum $25 — you are at the minimum
Politically the easiest to cut, which is why it is cut first and most often.
Public health & human services
Clinics, inspections, homelessness response
Public health & human services allocation in dollars per resident
Minimum $40 — you are at the minimum
Often partly reimbursed by state and federal grants, which come with matching requirements.
Administration
Clerk, finance, IT, legal, elections
Administration allocation in dollars per resident
Minimum $35 — you are at the minimum
Cutting this polls well and produces late audits, failed IT, and legal exposure. It is the budget's plumbing.
Debt service
Bond principal and interest
Debt service allocation in dollars per resident
Minimum $85 — you are at the minimum
Contractually owed to bondholders. Skipping it is default: borrowing costs rise for a decade and the state may intervene.
Pension contribution
Retirement obligations already earned
Pension contribution allocation in dollars per resident
Minimum $95 — you are at the minimum
In many states this is set by statute or court order. Underfunding it is the most common way American cities got into long-term trouble.

The point

Two things worth taking away. First: a large share of any public budget is inherited obligation, not current choice. Second: every dollar is a statement of priority, and it is public — you can go read your own city's adopted budget tonight. Search your city's name plus 'adopted budget PDF.'