FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA, Dec 21, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –
CGI Group Inc.

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+0.59%

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, a leading provider of
information technology and business process services, today announced
that the State of Vermont’s Office of Budget and Management selected,
through a competitive evaluation process, CGI’s public sector
performance budgeting solution to replace its aging budget system and
integrate with the State’s existing enterprise resource planning
(ERP) platform.

Vermont sought a vendor partner that could provide a comprehensive
range of budgetary capabilities including budget development, revenue
planning, position and salary forecasting, and performance management
as well as statewide consolidation, adoption, and revision
capabilities. As part of CGI’s AMS Advantage ERP suite, the
performance budgeting solution offers flexible and configurable
budgeting functionality that meets the unique needs of the public
sector without time consuming and costly customizations. The open
architecture supports integration with Vermont’s existing ERP system
and allows for statewide reporting that is timely, accurate, and
reliable. Both U.S. State and Local as well as U.S. Federal clients
use CGI’s state-of-the-art budget tool to gain better visibility into
and control of their complex, multi-entity budgets.

“CGI has pioneered performance budgeting in the public sector and our
solution has a rich heritage of successful implementations,” said
Daniel Keene, Vice-President of CGI’s AMS Advantage program. “We are
proud to welcome the State as a new client in the CGI public sector
ERP user community and look forward to delivering a powerful
budgeting solution capable of supporting Vermont’s current and future
business needs.”

About CGI’s AMS Advantage

From states, cities, counties and school districts, CGI’s AMS
Advantage ERP solution works for government at all levels and has
helped public sector clients better serve 90+ million citizens.
Designed specifically for state and local government and available in
the cloud, the solution incorporates CGI’s 35 years of expertise and
experience in the public sector market. AMS Advantage helps
governments achieve the highest level of accountability while
enhancing services to their constituents through integrated
functionality, workflow and configurable processes. The result is
significantly increased efficiency, improved access to information
and reduced total cost of ownership.

About CGI

Founded in 1976, CGI Group Inc. is one of the largest independent
information technology and business process services firms in the
world. CGI and its affiliated companies employ approximately 31,000
professionals. CGI provides end-to-end IT and business process
services to clients worldwide from offices and centers of excellence
in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific. As at
September 30, 2011, CGI’s revenue was $4.3 billion and its order
backlog was $13.5 billion. CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A)
and the NYSE (GIB) and are included in both the Dow Jones
Sustainability Index and the FTSEXGood Index. Website:
www.cgi.com .

www.cgi.com/newsroom

Contacts:
Investors
Lorne Gorber
Senior Vice-President, Global Communications and
Investor Relations
lorne.gorber@cgi.com
514-841-3355

Media
Linda Odorisio
Vice-President, US Communications
linda.odorisio@cgi.com
703-267-8118

SOURCE: CGI Group Inc.

mailto:lorne.gorber@cgi.com
mailto:linda.odorisio@cgi.com

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Just in time for another budget-related showdown this week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has provided a user-friendly chart with highlights of federal borrowing, spending and debt.

The one-pager has just enough details to keep policy wonks pleased but not so much that eyes glaze over. It can be found here.

Congress is about to enter a busy week on the budget front as it prepares to pass a spending bill to keep the government running for the rest of the 2012 fiscal year and tries to find compromise over President Obamas proposal to extend a payroll tax holiday for 160 million American workers.

One part of the chart sure to capture attention: that bright yellow bar that shows public-held US debt at 67% of the nations gross domestic product for 2011, the highest level in the past 40 years.

Debt has been at record levels for a combination of reasons federal spending to prop up the economy during the recession, lower tax revenues because of the economic downturn. But such nuances often become lost in the heat of partisan battles such as those ahead.

GRAHAM A move that allowed some Alamance County department chiefs to handle their areas like small businesses started with the new fiscal year in July. The first report? Well, the reviews are mixed.

Not too bad, said County Manager Craig Honeycutt.

Not enough savings, said County Commissioner Tim Sutton.

I am pleased so far, said Honeycutt, who plans to discuss the first quarter of the new performance=based budgeting process with the Board of Commissioners on Monday. The departments seemed to have met most of their performance measures.

Six county departments initiated performance-based budgets this year. The departments emergency medical services, libraries, maintenance, social services, recreation and geographic information systems agreed to develop the new program for fiscal 2011-12

The performance-based budgeting plan, patterned after one already in place for Davidson County, would make county departments eligible to keep a portion of their savings after the fiscal 2012-13 is completed. This will give time for the county departments to evaluate and strengthen their goals and for the commissioners to develop a monetary policy on how the savings could be spent.

The participating departments will provide county management with information from their budgeting monthly. This information will be provided to the county commissioners on a quarterly basis for evaluation.

Honeycutt said Tuesday the performance-based budget plan would likely not create substantial cost savings for the county but would improve departments efficiencies.

supported the countys implementation of performance-base budgeting, but said he believes the early results show minimal savings for the county.

Performance-based budgeting has fallen flat, Sutton said this week. Where are all the savings?

Sutton said that the county department heads shouldnt be allowed to set their goals. Sutton said that county management should establish the goals instead for each department to follow.

During a 2009 visit, Sutton and Assistant County Manager Tim Burgess met with Davidson County officials to discuss the benefits of using a performance-based budgeting process, which Davidson County started during the 2001-2002 fiscal year.

According to officials, the program helped save Davidson County $7.1 million from 2004 through 2009. For fiscal 2009-10, Davidson County saved $1.6 million.

When it comes to issues involving money, all we ask for is transparency. Being inexpensive is great, but we’re reasonable and realistic, so we’ll settle for transparency.

It’s possible tuition might increase approximately 3 percent to meet inflation. The increase would mean undergraduate students would pay $8 more per credit hour. Resident students would be paying $261.60 per credit hour and non-resident students would be paying $708.70 per credit hour.

It’s frustrating to have to pay more money, but it’s even more frustrating when students enter as freshman expecting to pay a certain price only to watch that price increase.

Missouri should consider pushing the grandfather clause, which would guarantee students who enter the university, after agreeing to pay a certain amount, would graduate from the university paying the same amount. Tuition could increase, but only for incoming freshman.

Although the last thing we want to do is pay more money, we understand it is necessary for the university to find the funding it needs to function, but we want to know why exactly we have to pay more money and what the money will go toward.

The increase is a result of both inflation and cuts in state funding. Inflation we understand, but the cuts in state funding we don’t. Governor Jay Nixon said that college affordability is a top priority, but he doesn’t seem to be putting his words into action.

Nixon said if schools froze tuition rates he would increase funding to those schools, but it never came. In fact, the state cut university support by 8.1 percent when MU increased tuition beyond the inflation rate last year.

This is confusing given Nixon’s goal of increasing Missouri college-degree holders by 25 percent by 2020, a goal made more difficult if the cost of college is increasing.

So the university is being punished for doing what was asked of it, and students are paying for it — literally.

If students are paying for it, students should see the benefits. We ask that the money be put to good use, that professors who deserve raises get raises, and that the buildings that need renovation get that work done. We understand budgeting is a difficult task, and we’re not asking for a miracle, just a better job.

Strathcona County council wrapped up the 2012-2014 Budget and Business Plan Initiatives proceedings on Wednesday.

The final budget package will be presented to council on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Based on the discussions between council, county departments and administration, there is a recommended tax dollar increase of approximately 4.84 per cent for 2012. This is a preliminary figure and will not be finalized until discussions wrap up on Dec. 13.

The budget theme, as discussed on Tuesday, Nov. 15, reflects the countys responsibility for delivering quality services while preparing for sustainability. The implementation of the 2012-2014 Business Plan and 2012 Budget will commence both the Sustainability Platform and the Economic Sustainability Framework.

Business plans and budget requests presented by administrative departments are financial and organizational expressions of community-wide priorities.

Direction for the 2012 budget was presented to council on May 31. This direction advised investigation to provide opportunities for service levels using a projected tax dollar increase of less than 7.4 per cent, investigate franchise fees with a view to increase the natural gas franchise fee and potentially implement an electricity franchise fee, as well as explore using $4 million to leverage $50 million in new debt and explore implementing a one per cent infrastructure tax to leverage $20 million in new debt.

Key service drivers for the budget process are county frameworks, plans and strategies. Frameworks includes the Social Sustainability Framework, county plans include the Municipal Development Plan, while strategies include Everybody Gets to Play.

In addition, County Policies and Bylaws, such as the Public Engagement Policy and Land Use Bylaw act as service drivers.

Service drivers on the provincial level encompass various acts and regulations, such as the Traffic Safety Act and Alberta Building Codes. On the federal level, these acts and standards include the Pension Benefits Standards Act and Transport Canada Aviation Regulations.

The proposed 2012 municipal operating budget is $240.2 million, which represents the required resources for implementing councils strategic direction, maintaining county programming and service levels, as well as provide Business Plan Initiatives.

This operating budget takes into consideration a municipal price inflation (MPI) of approximately 3.5 per cent for 2012, which will amount to an estimated $6.6 million for county municipal operations. MPI represents increases to costs for county goods ,such as asphalt or gravel, and reflects the unstable global economy.

In order to maintain current service levels in the county, the 2012 operating budget requires a municipal property tax dollar increase of 5.03 per cent, which is equivalent to $8.2 million.

The recommended 2012 municipal capital budget is $107 million and has a continued focus on replacing existing capital infrastructure, which amounts to $41.5 million. This is a key component in maintaining programs and service levels.

The capital budget includes an investment in new priority capital infrastructure of $65.5 million, which is in response to an increased demand for services due to population growth.

Two million dollars in new debt for municipal operation is proposed to support priority capital infrastructure projects.

Strathcona Countys total debt projected for Dec. 31, 2012 is $201 million. This falls within the limit legislated by the provincial government.

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The forthcoming budget is at a critical time: the Nigerian economy is doing well but living dangerously. The dangers are not internal – the domestic economy is now being well-managed and has good prospects for growth. But in respect of both government revenue and the capacity to import, Nigeria has all its eggs in one basket: oil.

Ordinary Nigerian households and businesses are heavily dependent upon government spending and imports. And so they are dependent upon the world oil market. Unfortunately, the world oil market has proved to be spectacularly volatile. In the past three years alone the price of oil has ranged between $37 and $148. Had either of these prices persisted the consequences for the Nigerian economy would have been profound: the difference between famine and feast. So where is the world oil price heading?

In the short run the oil price is a barometer of the world economy. Oil is an efficient form of energy for transport and so the demand for oil tracks global trade and production. Unfortunately, prospects for the world economy have not been so uncertain for many decades. Disastrously, and without recent precedent, the sources of uncertainty lie at the core of the world economy. This is not a Latin American and Africa crisis, as in the 1980s, nor an Asian crisis, as in the 1990s; it is a crisis in Europe and America. While a degree of African gloating would be understandable, it has to be tempered by the realization of the consequences of an economic crisis at the core.

The European economies are teetering on the edge of what could be a deep and prolonged recession. The meltdown in Eurozone bond markets which started in August will not show up in the level of activity in the real economy until the 4th quarter of 2011. Nobody knows how bad this will be, but there is a lot of fear. Meanwhile, the baseline of 3rd quarter activity is dismal: across the entire European Union growth during the 3rd quarter was a mere 0.2 percent. Nor does America look much better. The budget deficit is alarming yet unaddressed, many households are already ‘under water’ with their mortgages while house prices continue to fall, and rising inequality is surely building political trouble. The accumulated over-indebtedness of both governments and households may take years to correct: Europe and America might repeat the prolonged stagnation that Japan has had ever since its analogous crisis of two decades ago. Confidence is being further eroded because these daunting problems are being handled by leaders and decision processes that are proving to be dysfunctional beyond parody.

So far, despite this mess, the demand for oil has held up thanks to growth in Asia. But ultimately, Asian growth is heavily dependent upon continued export growth to European and American markets. These were, indeed, the conditions prevailing at the onset of the 2008 crisis when the oil price crashed to $37. Thankfully, the oil price rapidly bounced back because in the OECD demand was revived by coordinated fiscal and monetary expansion, and in China demand was rebalanced from exports to the domestic economy. But it is unlikely that that can now be repeated. The OECD lacks the confidence for fiscal expansion, and China is in the midst of a property bubble which may already be bursting. In short, the demand for oil is now decidedly precarious.

This matters for Nigeria’s next budget. Nigerians can hope for the best, but should prepare for turbulent times. An optimistic budget that turned out to be unsustainable would plunge the country into chaotic and vicious forced reductions in public spending. Older Nigerians have lived through that sort of budgeting once; I doubt they wish to do so again.

There is a further reason for prudence: big oil revenues may not persist for more than a generation. Even before Nigeria’s oil is exhausted the long term world price may weaken because of developments in world supply. Until recently, energy economists were debating ‘peak oil’ – the idea that available world oil supplies were in terminal decline. Peak oil is now forgotten: new technologies – shale gas, fracking, tar sands and tight oil – have opened up vast new deposits. North America will soon be self-sufficient and will remain so through the century. Across Africa oil and gas are being discovered by the month. This is before we allow for the more exotic technologies: solar power, bio-fuels, and exploration at the poles and beneath the oceans.

If Nigeria were to persist with the policies of the past, using almost all the oil revenues only for current consumption, the present generation of leaders would find themselves in their old age, standing in the dock of history, condemned by their children. ‘What’, they would demand, ‘is there to show for the natural assets that you chose to deplete?’ Gradually, Nigerian public expenditure needs to shift from recurrent consumption to assets.

The case for caution in the forthcoming budget could scarcely be stronger. Prudence in spending on recurrent consumption may well turn out to be vital because of turmoil in the world economy: revenues may turn out to be much lower than hoped. But if, fortuitously, the world is spared recession, caution in consumption would have an equally valuable reward. The revenues not used on consumption would be the first step in the long march towards the assets that Nigeria so manifestly needs for a more prosperous future.

opinion

During the first half of 2011, the draft bill that is to determine how Kenyas new budget process will function was mired in obscurity.

Few people were talking about it, and fewer knew why it mattered. This was in contrast to other areas of reform, such as devolution, where civil society was energised and attentive.

Then, suddenly, the Public Financial Management (PFM) bill was making headlines.

Note: This story has been updated to include remarks by Board of Commissioenrs President Liz Rogan.

A late and very sizable infusion of business tax revenue for 2011 has officials in Lower Merion Township taking a new look at budgeting for 2012, including a possible rebate on next years tax bill.

In a memo to township commissioners attached to this weeks Finance Committee agenda, township manager Douglas Cleland reports that Lower Merion will receive a total $6.9 million in unexpected and unbudgeted business tax revenues in 2011, significantly increasing its forecasted end-of-year General Fund reserves.

The revenues are the result of the settlement of some disputed business tax obligations since the release of his Proposed 2012 Budget on Oct. 21, Cleland writes.

For discussion at a Finance Committee meeting scheduled for Dec. 7, he is recommending that the proposed budget be amended to recognize this estimated additional [General Fund] revenue.

Dec. 7, as it happens, is the same night the board is scheduled to hold the second of two public hearings on the proposed budget, with a vote on adoption of a new spending plan set for Dec. 21.

No property tax increase is proposed for 2012, following a 10.8-percent increase in 2011 that was the subject of prolonged and strenuous board and public debate this time last year.

Cleland could not immediately be reached for comment on the new information Monday.

According to Clelands memo, the added revenues impact the budget in two respects. First, the proposed 2012 undesignated beginning fund balance would increase from $10.6 million to $17.5 million. For 2011, that would mean that the township would end the year with a fund balance of 32.5 percent of expenditures, rather than the 19.7 percent previously estimated.

Second, the proposed 2012 fund balance would also increase, from $9.2 million to $16 million, or 28.9 percent of expenditures rather than 16.5 percent. Continued…

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Dear Dave,

I love your plan, but I think my husband is attached to eating out. Budgeting is very hard for him, and the cost of his fast food lunches is making it difficult for us. Hes also taken a salary cut recently, and Im working a part-time job to help us get by. Can you give him some tough love from a male perspective?

-Valerie

Dear Valerie,

It sounds to me like youve been way too nice. Youre acting like a mother dealing with little kid, and thats not a good way to relate to a husband. Plus, if you guys are having money problems, the only time either of you should see the inside of a restaurant is if youre working there!

A man has several jobs in life, and one of those is to take care of his wife and children. Youre wife shouldnt have to work so you can stuff your face with fast food. When you married him, you didnt want a little boy. You wanted a man. He needs to grow up and start acting like one!

That being said, my perspective probably wont help. Theres a saying that goes, Those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still. He needs a serious change of heart. You said you love my plan, right? Then sit down with this guy, and show him the numbers. Show him where all the money is going, and tell him its just plain wrong for him to eat out all the time while you have to work just to make ends meet.

People can do all kinds of things when theyre stressed out because of money problems. Im sure taking a cut in salary was a blow to his self-esteem. However, its time for a strong wake-up call when these behaviors start to have a negative impact on family and finances!

-Dave

Dear Dave,

Im a sophomore in college, and I earn about $1,500 a month at my job. My rent is $500 a month. I dont really have a credit history, but Ive saved $20,000, and Im thinking about using it as a down payment on a $140,000 home. Would this be a good idea?

-Gil

Dear Gil,

I wouldnt do it. I love the fact that youre working while youre in school. Saving that much money is fabulous, especially for someone whos not even 20 years old!

I almost did the same kind of thing when I was in college. I was into real estate, and I really wanted to test my wings and buy something. Looking back on it, though, Im glad I didnt. It would have been a huge mistake.

College can be a bumpy enough ride, even for the most responsible student. If you lost your job youd be in a real mess, and with your stated income you wouldnt have a lot of breathing room. Plus, the two years following graduation have the potential to be the most permanently life-changing period youll ever experience. You could move across the country for a new job, get married, or decide to attend graduate school. In any of these situations, a house would turn into an anchor around your neck.

Being a renter is a great thing while youre still in school. In the meantime, keep piling up cash until youre ready to settle down!

- Dave

For more financial help please visit daveramsey.com.

More than 100 people packed a Park Slope church last week to pitch ideas for future construction projects in their district in the first round of an American Idol-style contest for control over $1 million in taxpayer funds.

Councilman Brad Lander (DPark Slope) will hand out the capital money after a series of forums where his constituents determine how to spend the money in a grassroots experiment known as participatory budgeting.

Councilman Jumaane Williams (DFlatbush) and two other lawmakers who signed on to the initiative are holding similar conventions in the next few weeks to dispense with the remaining $3 to $5 million.

Residents who crowded into the Old First Reformed Church on Seventh Avenue on Oct. 5 were rife with suggestions of how to spend their cash money that Lander was elected to figure out, though he wants to invite the public back into the mist-shrouded process.

The ideas came fast and furious.