Identifying and Coping with Fiscal Emergencies in Ohio Local Governments

Abstract

This study examines the reasons fiscal emergencies occur in Ohio local governments and the strategies that local governments use to recover. In Ohio, fiscal emergencies have regularly occurred predominantly at the local level. This study aims to reveal the internal process that both bring on and ameliorates fiscal emergencies. Previous studies failed to differentiate between fiscal stress and fiscal emergencies and did not include the role of the Ohio Fiscal Emergency Law in assisting local governments in restoring long term fiscal health. This study finds fiscal emergencies in Ohio were caused by: (1) the increased costs associated with unfunded state-mandated programs and, (2) major economical downturns brought on by local plant closings. Local governments were found to have responded in the short run by strategies such as targeted expenditure cuts and in the long run by increased the use of economic development.     

Absence of Vertical Linkages and the Quest for Decentralized Service Delivery in Pakistan: An Innovation under Constraints

Local Government Ordinance, 2001 aimed to create a service-orientated local government by devolving many public services from the provincial to local levels. However, in many cases, local governments either did not have the capacity to manage them or the services extended across different geographic jurisdictions. The new system also restructured the three sub-national levels but without any vertical hierarchical linkages between them, and asked them to coordinate public service provision between them. This article suggests different remedies, including developing vertical administrative linkages and the reconstitution of Zila Mushawarat Committee to undertake coordination functions at intra-district level.     

Demystifying Decentralization and Its Setback: Evidence From Thailand’s Decentralization Reform

This analysis explores the options for a conceptual framework to explicate the dynamics of decentralization reform in Thailand. The first section examines typological frameworks used in various social scientific fields to classify decentralization. Second, as a case in point, we analyze the decentralization reform process in Thailand, which officially began in the late 1990s. Then, the analysis examines theoretical and empirical works that attempt to explain the dynamics of decentralization in Thailand. We suggest historical institutionalism, along with the concepts of path dependence and critical junctures, as theoretical approaches to understand decentralization problems with an eye to political actors’ strategic interests, as well as political and institutional contexts that restrain their choices.     

The Correlates of Local Government Responsiveness Under Decentralization: Do Performance Ratings Matter in the Philippines?

To improve local service delivery under decentralization, performance ratings are often introduced. In this article, performance ratings and other correlates of the citizens’ assessment of the responsiveness of their local governments are investigated with a regression analysis of survey data collected during the pilot test of a performance rating scheme in 12 Philippine cities and municipalities in 2001–2003. The local governments in the eight sites where the ratings were announced are assessed less responsive by their own constituents than those in the four control areas by theirs. Possibly, the citizens exposed to the ratings expected better performances from their officials.     

Does the longer tenure of local government heads affect the performance of local governments? The Korean case

The relationship between the length of tenure of elected heads of local governments (HOLG) and performance of local governments remains ambiguous, with few empirical studies on it. Korea presents a compelling case in that it has limited HOLG to serve only three consecutive terms based on the untested belief that longer tenures have a negative effect on local governments. To address these gaps, this study applies the fixed effect panel model, using the Korean government data from 2008 to 2014. Our findings reveal a negative relationship between tenure length and efficiency, particularly among local governments demonstrating a low level of efficiency. The relationship between the length of tenure and integrity is also negative, especially among local governments with low levels of integrity. However, given that these relationships disappear when factors specific to local governments are controlled, our findings should be interpreted cautiously.     

Decentralized Recruitment and Selection in Thailand: Friend or Foe to Local Public Administration?

This article draws attention to the advantages and disadvantages derived from decentralized recruitment and selection for a form of local public administrative unit, the municipality. This was examined within the context of Thailand, a unitary transitional country where bureaucratization and centralization had been the norms in its public administrative system for centuries. It argues that local fiscal management and reformed local government structure would not be successful when executed by incompetent local civil servants. To summarize, recruitment and selection function as a “vacuum” and “filter” that organizations employ to obtain proficient and skilled human resources for their organizations. In Thailand at the local level, it appears that discussions of recruitment and selection functions barely disguise the inept procedures that occur in reality. These are grounded in actions looking towards recentralization, local-cronyism, and nepotism that have traditionally rooted and underpinned the Thai local administration in the area of personnel administration.     

Views of public health leaders in English local authorities – changing perspectives following the transfer of responsibilities from the National Health Service to local government

This paper reports on the findings of a research project that examined the changes to the public health system in England introduced in 2013. Drawing on case study research and two national surveys the findings explore the impact of organisational change on the composition and role of public health teams. Views and experiences were obtained from public health leaders involved in the transfer of staff and functions from the National Health Service in England to local authorities. National surveys at two points in time aimed to compare and contrast views on the evolving changes. The new organisational and managerial arrangements had enabled public health professionals to widen their work and influence, and public health skills and budgets were welcomed by those in local government. Initially, in some areas, directors of public health were less certain of the benefits of the transfer to local government compared to high levels of confidence expressed by elected members, but perspectives changed over time and moved closer together. National headline figures were found to mask high levels of turbulence and churn being experienced by individual authorities identified in the case study research, and the trend of reducing capacity through cuts to staff, budget and services was a cause for serious concern.     

Do Electoral Risks Moderate the Effect of Partisan and Electoral Cycles on Debt-Financed Local Spending?

Governments’ use of debt as a political instrument has been widely studied from the perspective of partisan and electoral cycles, mainly concerning central government. On the whole, previous studies have attempted to determine the effects of political ideology and the proximity of elections on the opportunistic use of public spending. The current study aims to broaden the scope of attention to the effect of partisan and electoral cycles on debt, by means of a broader consideration of the motives that lead politicians to take on a deficit and that are usually linked to the associated electoral risk. More particularly, we examine whether, during the electoral period, greater confidence in re-election can modify party behaviour concerning the use of public spending, and if so, whether the change is greater or smaller depending on the ruling party’s ideology. The results obtained show that local administrations need to incur debt, although politicians take on more liability than is appropriate to their demographic and economic characteristics, especially in an election year. It was also found that political stability favours a reduction in the public deficit, a pattern that is maintained in electoral periods. This effect was found to be independent of the partisan cycle.     

Financial Health in Australian Local Government: The Application of a Funding Assessment Model to Brisbane and Sydney City Councils

Local government financial viability measurement in an accrual budgeting environment poses complex challenges. Financial measures frequently generate conflicting results. A rating scale to assess financial management, constructed originally for South African municipalities (Dollery & Graves, 2009), represents a useful tool to analyze financial health trends. Applying a “Likert-like” scale to financial performance measures to assess “funding compliance”, the model in this article assists municipalities to avoid financial difficulties. To demonstrate the applicability of this model, we apply the model to the Brisbane City Council and the Sydney City Councils. Results show that the model represents a valuable aid to financial management decision-making.