Biggest Challenges Faced By A Fiscal And Policy Analyst At City Of Seattle
The biggest challenge for Sarah, a Fiscal and Policy Analyst at the City of Seattle, is the inherently political nature of the work, dealing with "elected politicians" whose priorities shift with their terms. This leads to a frustrating cycle of repeatedly revisiting ideas, hindering long-term progress and making it difficult to "really make progress".
Politics, Policy Analysis, Public Service, Elected Officials, Long-Term Projects
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
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Sarah Burtner
Fiscal and Policy Analyst
City of Seattle
UCLA, 2014
Masters in Special Education and Teaching at CUNY Hunter College, Masters of Public Policy at UCLA
Economics
Government & Public Sector
Data and Analytics
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. The political nature of the role and working with elected officials who may have shifting priorities.
2. The challenge of maintaining long-term progress on policy initiatives due to frequent changes in elected officials.
3. The frustration of repeatedly revisiting the same policy ideas due to turnover among elected officials and their varying priorities.
Transcript
What is the biggest challenge in your role?
It can be really political, in every sense of the word, because it truly deals with politics and elected politicians. The most challenging part is that it is a very ephemeral piece of policymaking.
Real civil servants, like myself, are there for the long haul. However, the people we serve are not necessarily here the whole time. The nature of elected politics means that they can leave this role and then you serve someone else who has different priorities.
So, something that's difficult is seeing an idea that someone new gets elected with. If you've been here long enough, you realize that this is an idea that has been considered many times before. It almost feels like you just stop and start so much that you can't really make progress, and that can be pretty frustrating.