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.     

Territorial reforms in Europe: effects on administrative performance and democratic participation

Territorial reform is the most radical and contested reorganisation of local government. A sound evaluation of the outcome of such reforms is hence an important step to ensure the legitimation of any decision on the subject. However, in our view the discourse on the subject appears to be one sided, focusing primarily on overall fiscal effects scrutinised by economists. The contribution of this paper is hence threefold: Firstly, we provide an overview off territorial reforms in Europe, with a special focus on Eastern Germany as a promising case for cross-country comparisons. Secondly, we provide an overview of the analytical classifications of these reforms and context factors to be considered in their evaluation. And thirdly, we analyse the literature on qualitative performance effects of these reforms. The results show that territorial reforms have a significant positive impact on functional performance, while the effects on participation and integration are indeed ambivalent. In doing so, we provide substantial arguments for a broader, more inclusive discussion on the success of territorial reforms.     

Senkt New Public Management die Verwaltungsausgaben in den Schweizer Kantonen? Eine empirische Analyse über zwei Dekaden

In light of the growing public spending in many regions of the world, this study scrutinizes relevant determinants of core public administration expenditure at the cantonal level in Switzerland, focusing particularly on New Public Management (NPM) reforms. The empirical study comprises all 26 cantons in the period from 1993 through 2014 and uses both cross‐sectional and longitudinal analytical methods. In addition to NPM, we control for various variables related to political parties, institutions, socioeconomics and culture. The results show no clear relationship between NPM reforms and expenditure, although such reforms were often intended to cut costs. Our explanation for this finding is that NPM as a concept is rather inconsistent. Various control variables are either positively or negatively related with expenditure. All in all, our findings suggest that public expenditure is still mostly determined by politics and can only be influenced by administrative reforms within certain narrow limits.     

对公安专科学校治安专业教学改革的思考

公安专科院校治安专业教学改革的目标是通过治安专业的教学改革，强化学生应用能力和实践技能的培养。治安专业专科教育具有不同于一般职业教育的显著特色，就是其综合性和实践性。治安专业教学在课程设主、教材、教法、教师队伍等方面存在一些问题，因此要从优化课程设置、重构治安教材、更新教学方法、提高教师队伍素质等方面进行教学改革。     

成市排水系统运行安全性分析

对邯郸市排水系统运行中存在的安全向题进行分析,提出了解决城市排水运行安全隐患的5条措施.     

“十一五“期间我国行政管理体制改革的基本问题

如果把我国全面的改革比喻为整个大脑的话,行政管理体制改革则处在“脑干”的部位。它既是其他一切改革的“根”,因而构成了整个改革的突破点和“抓手”,又是其他一切改革的汇总点和联结点,因而必须与其他改革综合、配套进行。     

Organising for mutual advantage: municipal associations in Bulgaria

Networks of local government support organisations (LGSOs) are critical to successful intergovernmental relations and effective local governance in democratic societies. Bulgaria had no such network of municipal associations when it began the transition from communist rule in the early 1990s. Using US and other external technical assistance, Bulgaria over the next decade overcame the impediments to collective action and established what appears to be an effective and sustainable system to back up its cities and towns. Important factors in mobilising support included a long‐term focus on institutional development, non‐partisanship, flexibility in implementation and a pragmatic orientation that focused on learning by doing. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

对市级党校社会培训跨越发展的理性思考

推动市级党校社会培训跨越发展是新形势下一项重要的现实课题。市级党校在开展社会培训时,不能把追求经济效益作为首要任务,而应把社会效益、围绕中心服务大局放在第一位,通过争取政策、建章立制、队伍建设、打造团队、转型增效、提炼精品、塑造品牌、深化合作等路径,推动社会培训实现跨越发展。     

吉林省城市公用事业发展存在的问题与对策

随着城市化速度的加快,城市容量的不断扩大,吉林省城市公用事业面临的挑战日益严峻,城市公用事业改革的难度也随着改革的进一步深化而日渐加大。本文在总结吉林省公用事业发展现状的基础上,分析了吉林省公用事业存在的问题,并提出了对策建议。     

Is a problem shared a problem halved? Shared services and municipal efficiency

It has long been argued that shared services represent an efficacious means of securing efficiencies for municipalities. Indeed, pressures from fiscal austerity, taxation limitations, and the specter of forced amalgamations have resulted in an increasing uptake of shared service arrangements. However, the extant evidence is rather inconclusive and is largely restricted to analyzing the nett efficiency outcomes for the specific service shared. We broaden this evidential base by examining the association between shared service production and the efficiency of entire municipalities. Our analysis, employing a 5‐year panel of data, suggests that shared services are associated with a statistically significant reduction in overall municipal efficiency. We conclude by explicating on the public policy implications arising from our prima facie surprising results.