We happened across several articles recently about budgets, overspending and fiscal prudence.

In private sector, zero-based budgeting is a widely endorsed way to do business.

One of the newly seated councillors has been investigating the borough’s spending and finances and has been asking Columbia stakeholders for their input. Columbia Spy posted this article, “Urgent messages on borough finances, missing records, $100K a year for Market House” exploring some of those expenses.

“Zero-based budgeting is smart for two reasons. First, this method forces you to be disciplined with your money, spending it, saving it, or investing it only in ways you have already specifically defined. Second, because you are budgeting every penny you earn, it is that much more difficult to splurge on unneeded items because there is no extra money lying around unaccounted for at the end of the month. Every dollar has its place. So, how do you build your own zero-based budget?” – from this article, “Zero-Based Budgeting To Erase Debt and Build Savings.

But this question asked by a handcrafted newsletter by The Context is worth reading: “Is zero-based budgeting right for Pa.?”

It is “A quick dive into the dark arts of budgets.”