Product Description
Abstract
You have recently been appointed by the mayor to serve an interim appointment as a city councilor for your hometown of Jackson City. This is a very challenging time for Jackson City. The city is currently projecting a $25 million deficit for the coming year. However, the mayor has publicly pledged that she will balance the budget. In order to do so, the mayor asked the city manager’s office to conduct an analysis of current revenues and expenditures, and put forth some proposals for reducing the deficit. Last week, the city manager presented the mayor with a slate of nine possible actions that could each reduce the deficit by $5 million.
For political reasons, the mayor is taking a hands-off approach to the specific details of the budget cuts. She has simply passed the city manager’s slate of options onto the city council, and ordered the council to create a deficit reduction package from those options that would close the $25 million gap. Given her public commitment to balancing the budget, the mayor is refusing to accept anything less than a $25 million reduction. If the city council cannot reach such an agreement, the mayor plans to close all city offices and cease all payments by the city treasurer’s office. Agreement is reached by majority vote.
This product includes General Instructions for Facilitators. There is a teaching note available for this product.
Learning Objectives
To explore the impact of process on multiparty decision making.
Subjects Covered
Facilitation Simulation; Multiparty Negotiations; City Government
Setting
Geographic: United States
Industry: City Government
Hard Copy
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Additional Information
Multiparty Negotiation, Group Decision Making, and Teams
Copyright Information
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