This exceptionally comprehensive and well-written book is designed as the primary textbook for a quarter or semester-long course in public budgeting and finance in an MPA program. Many currently available texts for this course suffer from a combination of defects that include a focus on federal and state budgeting, a lack of a theoretical governance framework, an omission of important topics, and typically a lack of exercises and datasets for student use. Budgeting for Local Governments and Communities solves all of these problems.