Retrenchment and municipal service priorities: A view from the sunbelt

Abstract

In response to fiscal stress, Florida's small cities are adopting service‐delivery policies that will likely shift the burden on those who can scarcely afford it — the poor and elderly.

Fiscal Stress and Growth Management Effort in Wisconsin Cities, Villages, and Towns

“…Because of the significant differences in demographic characteristics among cities, villages, and towns, we include controls for population size and location in a metropolitan county. This strategy is consistent with studies cited earlier (e.g., Chicoine, Deller, and Walzer 1989;Mattson and Twogood 1991) that found a relationship between population size and the adoption of policies such as growth management. Location within a metropolitan county may also affect the disposition and ability of a municipality to engage in growth management.…”

“…That population size is positively related to growth management effort is consistent with the arguments of Mattson and Twogood (1991). Larger municipalities (apparently of any type) may be less "reactive" in their approach to policy making because of their greater professionalization, larger tax base, and less personalized politics.…”

“…The budgetary approach, probably the more common of the two, tends to focus on imbalances in municipal budgets. Consequently, studies examining how municipalities react to fiscal stress tend to look at revenue enhancement policies or "retrenchment" strategies (e.g., service cutbacks) (Mattson and Twogood 1991). Revenue enhancement policies are typically immediate, short-term objectives to raise revenue through means such as user fees or tax levies.…”

“…Similarly, Mattson and Twogood (1991) have argued that small municipalities tend to be "reactive" in their response to situations of fiscal stress. Small municipalities tend to have a less professional staff and a limited planning and management capacity because of their smaller economic base (1991,187).…”

Compliance reporting decisions in municipal audits: the impact of budget variance and employment sector

“…Various measures have been proposed to alert accountants, public administrators, and financial statement users of current or impending fiscal stress. Suggested measures have included credit default, insolvency, negative fund balances, negative cash flows, and particular patterns of revenue decline (Rosenberg and Stallings, 1978;Copeland and Ingram, 1983;Wallace, 1985;Apostolou, Giroux, and Welker, 1985;and Mattson and Twogood, 1991). Declining revenue is perhaps the most relevant of these measures in considering the Budget Act.…”