Only about $4.1 million of a $17.4 million district budget can absorb a county cut, and this PU550 Unit 3 budget analysis shows why, restriction by restriction, before choosing a reduction. Searches like "pu 550 unit 3 assignment example", "pu550 unit 3 sample" and "pu550 unit 3 example" land here.
What a finished PU550 Unit 3 budget analysis looks like
Seven pages carry two tables and the argument between them. The first restates the adopted budget by source, marking each line restricted, matched, fee-supported or flexible. Federal awards, 38 percent of revenue, are tied to named purposes and cap administrative cost. Two state grants require a local match of one dollar for every three, so cutting a matched program's local share forfeits state money as well. Fees may legally pay only for the service that generates them. What remains flexible is county money and a sliver of unrestricted fees, roughly $4.1 million. The second table tests three ways to absorb the $410,000: an across-the-board trim, dropping one of the Garrow satellite clinic's four open days, and holding four vacancies open. Each option carries its dollars saved and services lost.
How a PU550 Unit 3 example is structured
The analysis opens with the shortfall and the decision date, because a budget paper concerns a choice due at a particular board meeting. Restriction comes next and takes the most space, since the prompt in many sections is scored on finding where money cannot move. Each restriction type gets a paragraph naming its source: the federal award terms, the state match rule, the fee statute. With the flexible pool established, an options section compares three reductions on the same criteria of dollars, services, residents affected and reversibility. The matched-grant trap is worked as arithmetic: removing $60,000 of local match from the maternal home visiting grant would forfeit $180,000 of state funds. A recommendation follows, holding vacancies in two programs and trimming satellite hours, with its costs admitted. Its final paragraph records the assumptions the figures rest on.
The shortfall and the meeting date
Orrin's reduction, its share of the district's local funds and the board meeting at which a revised budget must pass open the paper. The size of the problem and the deadline are fixed before any table appears.
Four kinds of money
Each revenue line is tagged restricted, matched, fee-supported or flexible, beside the document that imposes the tag. Tagging turns a single total into the much smaller figure a director can actually move.
One local dollar, three state dollars
A worked example applies the home visiting grant's match rule. Removing $60,000 of county money from that program would forfeit $180,000 of state funding, so an apparent saving becomes a quarter-million-dollar reduction in service.
Three options on one set of criteria
An across-the-board trim, fewer satellite clinic days and held vacancies are each scored on savings, services affected, residents affected and whether the cut could be reversed next year. The table keeps the comparison even.
The recommendation and what it costs
Four held vacancies plus one fewer satellite day close the gap. The paper states plainly that Garrow residents lose clinic access because of a cut made in Orrin, and that the board should hear this before it votes.
Where marks go in PU550 Unit 3
Graders in budget units weigh why a line was cut above how the totals add up, and the heaviest loss falls on analyses that treat the whole budget as available. Proposing a 2.4 percent trim to every line ignores that federal lines cannot be trimmed to cover a county shortfall, and graders typically catch it at once. Missing the match requirement is the next costly error, because it turns a modest local saving into a larger loss of service. Options compared on savings alone, with no account of which residents lose which service, draw comment too. Strong papers classify every revenue line, show the flexible pool as a number, compare options on stated criteria, and admit the harm in the chosen one. Unlabeled fiscal years, and fees moved to programs they do not support, lose smaller amounts.
Get a PU550 Unit 3 example written to your instructions
If your PU550 section handed out a spending plan, send it; if not, name the agency whose budget the analysis will use. Include the Unit 3 instructions and rubric. The first custom sample costs nothing, takes 24-48h, and tags each revenue line by restriction before choosing a cut and admitting what that cut takes from residents.
PU550 Unit 3 questions, answered
Where can I find a real health department budget to analyze?
County and city budget books usually carry the health department as a department or fund, often with revenue by source. District and state agencies post adopted budgets or annual financial reports. Look for the revenue detail rather than the summary page, since the summary hides the restricted awards. If only a total is published, many sections accept a composite built from typical shares, labeled as one.
What is the difference between restricted and flexible funding?
Restricted money can be spent only on the purposes and activities its award or statute names, often with limits on administrative cost and reporting duties attached. Flexible money, usually local tax support, goes where the governing board directs. Many departments run mostly on restricted funds, which is why a cut to the flexible share lands harder than its percentage of the total suggests.
Should the analysis recommend raising revenue instead of cutting?
If the prompt allows it, a revenue option can sit beside the cuts, but it needs the same test: who approves it, how soon it could take effect and what it would raise. A fee increase requires a board vote and often a public hearing, so it rarely solves a shortfall due this fiscal year. Offering it as a longer-term option alongside a near-term cut usually reads as realistic.