Abstract:
In spite of collecting revenue from their jurisdictions, none of the county governments is
financially autonomous. They have to rely on the disbursements from the central government.
The general objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of budgetary controls on
service delivery in the County Government of Nakuru in Kenya. Of specific focus was the
influence of revenue maximization and performance adjustment on service delivery. A crosssectional
survey research design was adopted. All the 121 employees working with
accounts/finance department of Nakuru County Government comprised the accessible
population. Stratified random sampling technique was adopted to draw a sample of 66
respondents from the accessible population. This study used a self-administered, structured
questionnaire to collect data. A pilot study was conducted before carrying out the main study.
The collected data was analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences.
Data analysis captured both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the analysis
were presented in form of tables. The study revealed that budgetary controls influenced service
delivery in the County Government of Nakuru. Performance adjustments were found to be the
most important in influencing service delivery. The study inferred that the county government
has been striving to maximize revenue collection. Revenue maximization and performance
adjustments were concluded to be important parameters in improving service delivery. The study recommends that the county government ought to seal all loopholes that funds may be
lost while automating revenue collection. These county governments are further advised to be
flexible enough in order to adjust their budgets in the wake of unforeseeable macroeconomic
effects.
