Atuação do Poder Legislativo no processo de aprovação do orçamento público municipal

Abstract

The public budget is prepared by the Executive Branch and approved by the Legislative Branch, which is competent to debate the content of the budget bill and propose adjustments through amendments. Previous research results indicate that the budget bill has several inaccuracies, and the scenario has not improved over the years. This research, which aims to investigate which aspects councilors consider in the stage of discussion and approval of the municipal public budget, is supported by the Sociological Institutional Theory of Legitimation and was carried out through data collection through an electronic questionnaire. Respondents were councilors in the mandate between 2016 and 2020. Data were treated through quantitative analysis regarding the approach to the problem and descriptive regarding the objectives and with qualitative analysis of open questions. The aspects investigated as possible influencers on the performance of councilors are the following: difficulties in understanding the budgetary matter, previous experience; rigidity of the legal structure, alignment with the Executive and the mayor's discretion when executing the budget. It was concluded that councilors seek to be in contact with their bases by identifying what they demand through social networks and media, visits to the community and through press news. Public hearings are disregarded by most councilors due to the lack of popular. Although the deadline for budget analysis is considered sufficient, councilors complain about the time to prepare amendments and who is from the base votes on the budget, leaving the Executive with discretion to indicate the limits of budget alteration and the opening of credits. The councilors also believe that the good relationship with the Executive is important for having carried out their projects. In general, councilors are concerned with the total amount of the budget, seek to identify estimation errors, but do not pay attention to the liabilities. All these aspects contribute to the inaccuracy and changes identified in the budget.