AKEMASHITE OMEDETO! (Happy New Year!)
The financial year in Japan starts in April, so right now every Japanese local government is compiling next year’s budget. I will give a brief overview of the process of preparing local government budgets.
At first, the mayor outlines the objectives for next year’s budget either in September or October. Then, each section lays out plans for new projects, estimates the costs for all current and future projects while keeping in mind the mayor’s objectives, and submits a written request to the finance section in the beginning of November. Subsequent discussions between sections and the finance section commence and tend to get quite heated because every section wants funding for their projects while on the other hand, the finance section wants to reduce expenditures in light of limited revenue.
At the same time, the finance section calculates estimates for local tax revenue, local allocation tax and subsidies from both central and prefectural governments to set the total budget.
In January, the mayor decides what projects to adopt after listening to both sides. Of course, prior to this, the finance section would have already rejected many projects.
Preparing the budget is the mayor’s responsibility and assembly members cannot participate, they can only convey their parties’ requests. The budget bill is submitted to the coming session and the members will discuss it thoroughly in February and March. This is one of the features of the presidential system which is adopted in Japanese local governments.
Katsunori Kamibo
Director