Another criterion for allocating some costs is the cost object's ability to bear the costs allocated to it. The city government of Houston, Texas, for example, distributes the costs of the city manager's office to other city departments-including the police department, fire department, library system, and others-based on the size of their budgets. The city's rationale is that larger departments should absorb a larger share of the costs. Organizations generally use the cause-and-effect criterion to allocate costs, followed by benefits received, and finally, and more rarely, by ability to bear.