Traditional capital budgeting is well documented. Architects and engineers are seen as experts when arriving at an initial cost. After the cost is determined, the funding source must follow. In Dallas County, we have seen that it is too easy for elected officials to neglect capital expenditures when they are lumped generically into the General Fund. Realizing this tendency, Dallas County has created carve-outs of the tax rate.
Significant changes appear only as better estimates of the costs of the project are received.
As the end of the 20th century approaches, information and technology advancements are occurring at a breakneck pace. New PC operating systems reach the market place every eighteen months. The client-server environment has forced agencies to expensive new equipment such as servers, routers, and NT platforms. The telecommunications industry has similarly exploded and can bee seen nowhere more clearly than in wireless communications. The key point is that 5-year plans of information technology and telecommunications paint only the broadest strokes of the capital picture.