Walking the fiscal tightrope: local government budgeting and fiscal stress

This paper discusses the components of local government budget processes and their relationship to fiscal stress. While many cities and counties are suffering from stressful fiscal situations, leading in some cases to bankruptcy filings or other severe measures, their budgets have to be balanced, unlike the federal government and some state governments. Using survey data from a large number of jurisdictions, this paper shows how local governments have developed budget processes which respond to these changing fiscal situations. Governments use computers, collect and analyze many different types of information, and use budgetary information for other management purposes in order to improve productivity. Budget processes are providing good information to local government decision makers which is helping them respond constructively to the fiscal crises of the 1990s.     

Recrganizing fiscal assistance for criminal justice the justice system improvement act of 1979

Although reorganizing the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration had been repeatedly proposed in the past seven years, it was not until January 29,1979 that Senator Edward Kenndy (D-Mass.) introduced the "Justice System Improvement Act" designed to do just that. An examination of this bill, and a comparison of the present LEAA structure and function with that proposed in the Act illustrates that the legislation will serve to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of criminal justice fiscal assistance pro- grams. The suggested course is to separate the research and statistics components from purely assistance functions and giving LEAA the latter responsibility on an exclusive basis. Research and Statistics would be housed in their own individual organizational structures, but within the perview of the Department of Justice.

Two shortcomings, however, could serve to defeat the proposed bill. Although the legislation gives priority to fiscal assistance to state/local jurisdictions, there is no corresponding increase in financial commitment on the part of the Federal Government. In fact, the FY 1980 budget allocates LEAA its lowest funding level since 1972. At a time of growing concern over crime rates, this would certainly serve to soften the impact of the reorganization effort. In addition, maintaining the research function within the,Department of Justice could well prove prejudi- cial to research findings. The recommended course of action is to adopt the proposal which calls for an indepen-dent "National Institute of Justice, to be organized along similar lines as the National Science Foundation.     

Educating local government managers: a national survey of MPA programs

This article reports the findings of a national survey of masters degree programs in public administration. The goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness of efforts to educate local government managers. The findings suggest that programs with an overall focus on local government management or a specialized concentration are distinctly different from generalist programs. Furthermore, they indicate that internship programs may suffer from some serious shortcomings and that they may not offer an effective content supplement for generalist programs.     

Europe and local government

The Care in the Community initiative has resulted in a renewed interest in collaboration between local and health authorities. The focus of such collaboration is commonly on the transfer of long‐stay patients from psychiatric and mental handicap hospitals that are due to close, though the extent of local authority involvement in closure programmes varies considerably.

Joint planning typically involves a number of local authority departments: social services, housing, chief executives’ offices and legal services. It sometimes also involves education, recreation and leisure departments. Joint planning can be very time‐consuming and can call for considerable effort. It frequently gives rise to a good deal of conflict between the participating agencies. The pay‐offs, on the other hand, often appear to be small. Such plans as are finally implemented tend to be small‐scale: attempts at broader strategic planning almost invariably come to grief. The question then has to be asked, whether joint planning is worth all the effort. In the end, the primary justification for such planning has to lie in its ability to produce more appropriate services for service‐users.

This paper examines one local authority's experience of joint planning in relation to the closure of a large psychiatric hospital. Despite several setbacks, joint plans were eventually agreed and a number of former long‐stay patients were able to move into the community. The paper considers both the achievements and the shortcomings of the authority's collaboration with the health service.     

Local government fiscal reform: principles and options for the future

U.S. local governments in the 1980s were under increasing fiscal stress. The fiscal outlook is not particularly bright because of projected rapid growth of certain expenditures and the slow growth of most local revenue sources. Potentially major changes in fiscal responsibilities at the federal and state levels may call for local government fiscal reform in the future. This article uses a case study of Broome County, New York, to illustrate the difficulties local governments face and then suggests a series of revenue reforms that can enhance equity, efficiency, revenue productivity, and administrative simplicity.     

Decentralisation and recentralisation in the historical development of the local government system in zimbabwe

Local government as an institution constitutes one of the many resources at the disposal of central government for achieving certain ends. The local government system is therefore a means directly related to some perceived ends although in certain cases it can also be pursued as an end in itself. In many countries including Zimbabwe the ends of local government are often unclear and multidimensional including the promotion of local democracy and participation in national politics and development; providing structural framework for the provision of local services, promoting local administrative efficiency and in rather few cases, providing a framework for local economic development.

In many countries local government system is used to either strengthen a top-down hierarchical approach or a bottom-up or horizontal approach to administration and national economic development. Such goals of local government inevitably result in different types of philosophy, administrative theories and strategies, decentralisation models, organisational structures, centre-local relations and the nature of powers ceded to local government by central government. The main theme of this paper is that within the context of Zimbabwe, there has been a major discrepancy between the largely territorial goals or ends to be achieved by post colonial local government transformation and its continuing functional organisation inherited from colonialism. This contradiction is described in the title as decentralisation and recentralisation.     

Administrators and professionals in local government

This article evaluates the shift to an executive and scrutiny model in local government by assessing the changes at Devon County Council. Interviews were used to evaluate support for the changes and identify the key issues and problems. Most members had little enthusiasm for the reforms, support for the changes was dependent on the loyalty of Liberal Democrat backbenchers towards the leadership and central government's legislative agenda. The analysis revealed substantial problems with the operation of the reformed structure and suggested that the changes might fail to deliver the benefits expected by central government.     

Telematics,organization, and the local government mission

PRACTICAL CORPORATE PLANNING IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT, John Skitt (ed.), Intertext Publishing Ltd., 1975, pp. 201, £6.00.

EDUCATIONAL POLICY‐MAKING: A STUDY OF INTEREST GROUPS AND PARLIAMENT, Maurice Kogan, George Allen &; Unwin, 1975, £2.95.

INTRODUCING POLICY OR CORPORATE PLANNING INTO LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PA Management Consultants, 1975.     

French local government reform and urban planning

Early Retirement, Ann E. McGoldrick and Cary L. Cooper, Gower, 1988, £30.00.

The Reform of Local Government Finance in Britain, edited by Stephen J. Bailey and Ronan Paddison, pp. 223, Routledge, 1988, £27.50 (hardback).

Britain's Industrial Renaissance: The Development, Manufacture and Use of Information Technology, edited by Philip Blackburn and Richard Sharpe, Comedia, pp. 180, Routledge, £7.95.

Local Business Taxes in Britain and Germany, edited by Robert J. Bennett and Günter Krebs, pp. 344, Nomos Verlags Gesellschaft, Baden‐Baden, 1988, 87.00 DM.

Marketing in Local Government, Kieron Walsh, Longman, 1989, pp. 128, £8.95 (paperback).

Remaking Planning, The Politics of Urban Change in the Thatcher Years, Tim Brindley, Yvonne Rydin and Gerry Stoker, Unwin Hyman, 1989, pp. 197, £25.00 (hardback), £8.95 (paperback).

Needs Assessment in Post‐16 Education, Tim Packwood and Tim Whitaker, The Falmer Press, 1988, Basingstoke, pp. 233, £18.95 (hardback), £9.95 (paperback).

The State and the City, Ted Robert Gurr and Desmond King, Macmillan, 1987, pp. 242, £30 (hardback), £8.95 (paperback).

Faith in the City and Local Politics, R. Farnell, General Synod Office of the Church of England, 1988, available from Church House Bookshop, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3NZ, £1.00 (by post £1.30).

Managing Fire Services (Second edition), R. J. Coleman and J. A. Granito (eds), International City Management Association, 1988, pp. 528, $38.95.

Area Initiatives Evaluation Handbook, prepared by PIEDA Consultants for the Industry Department for Scotland and Scottish Development Agency, IDS Economics and Statistics Research Paper 16, 1988, pp. 61 plus appendices, £5.00.

Local Labour‐Market Policies in Britain and Germany, Anglo‐German Foundation, 17 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2LP 1988, pp. 134, £4.50 (paperback).

Land and Housing Policies in Europe and the USA: A Comparative Analysis, Graham Hallett (ed.), Routledge, 1988, pp. 215, £27.50 (hardback).

Town and Country Planning in Britain, J. B. Cullingworth, Unwin Hyman, 1988, pp. 408, Tenth edition, £10.95.

Basic Planning Law and Practice 1988, College of Law, 1988, pp. 127, £9.00.

Current Problems in Planning 1988, College of Law, 1988, pp. 94, £6.30.

Effective Planning Appeals, Hilaire McCoubrey, BSP Professional Books, 1988, pp. 147, £17.95 (hardback).

Reviews of United Kingdom Statistical Sources, Vol.XXIV: Local Government, J. M. Gillespie, Chapman &; Hall, 1988, pp. 342, £42.50 (hardback).

Performance Evaluation ‐ An Essential Management Tool, Christine Baker (Ed.), (ICMA), 1987, pp. 20, $21.00     

The agency perspective and the future of local government administration

Much of the recent political dialogue in the U. S. A. has included criticism of government bureaucracy.An especially significant response to this criticism was developed by Gary L. Wamsley and others in what has been c:alled the ‘Blacksburg Manifesto.’ They use the concept of the Agency Perspective to provide a basis for the legitimacy of a role in the governance process for public administration.

This essay explores the application of the concept of the Agency Perspective, which was developed primallly with reference to the national government, to local government and considers the implications of the Agency) Perspective for the future role of local government administration.

The essay concludes that the concept of the Agency Perspective fits local governments as well. If these arguments meet with widespread acceptance, this suggests a growing, more active role for public administration in U. S. local governments.