Local fiscal administration should provide a structure for choosing policies and for identifying trade-offs in the use of government resources. Resources are limited, opportunities for provision of useful government services are broad, and the budget process should provide a structure for ensuring that resources are allocated to the uses of greatest importance for the citizenry. Because not all worthwhile services will be affordable with the resources available, the fiscal process needs to include a balanced system for making choices from among the several alternative uses of those resources. The choices will emerge largely from political deliberations, not scientific analysis, so the process must be structured to allow as much open identification of alter- natives and trade-offs and flexibility for response as possible to improve the chances that broad citizen interests will have bearing on the final choices. Local budgeting provides the greatest opportunity for obtaining direct citizen input into the allocation of these resources, because the decision process is closest to the people and input can be obtained at relatively low cost. Citizens need not travel to a distant capital to be heard by lawmakers in budget deliberations or to hire professional representation to communicate their interests. The poten- tial for citizen participation and for transparency of both decision-making and service results for the citizenry are greatest at the local level.