“It’s the money you take in and the money you spend. That’s all a budget is.”
---Preston Trigg
Preston Trigg was back for a second time this semester, this time to educate us on budgets. He explained that the beginning of most budgets includes a lot of facts, usually like the number of employees or background information on the government entity or the city or county. It is usually a lengthy document. But don't be fooled on the extensive length of the document. That's usually used as a decoy. “Don’t rely on just the summary—sometimes it is what the agency wants you to report." Especially for journalists, we need to keep it simple for the reader. These documents are so long and detailed that it wont be hard to lose the readers attention.
Triggs educated us on the differences between revenues and expenses that are permitted in Florida and also explained fiscal’s years. I never knew budgets were on a different schedule then the rest of us. Budgets fiscal year runs from October 1st to September 30th every year. One thing Triggs mentioned over and over and even mentioned it the last time he was here was to follow the money. The budget is clearly one of the most important pats of a reporter’s job. It can lead to your stories. He mentioned an example featuring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If the Buccaneers raise their ticket prices, that's a story. Stadium attendance to these games is how the Glaziers make their revenue and if they raise the ticket price you can assume their hurting in money (even though they are in serious debt and have blacked out all the home games.) I feel this would be my strong point in journalism. My dad has been a financial advisor for over ten years. I know how to manage, handle, and acknowledge what a normal budget should look like
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