The Continuing Problem of Special Districts in American Government

Abstract

Due to fiscal constraints and demands for increased accountability, scholars and public officials are reviewing the structure and reporting practices of local governments. These efforts are often incomplete, however, because they bypass special districts, which now comprise over 40 percent of all local governments. The proliferation of special districts has the potential to increase government costs, redirect the allocation of scarce resources, remove debt and expenditure practices from the public eye, and reduce democratic controls over elected officials. This paper highlights some of the public interest concerns related to these entities to inform future, localized research. For decades, scholars have approached special districts from two opposing theoretical perspectives: institutional reform and public choice. Literature from these opposing perspectives is used to analyze special districts along three dimensions: efficiency and economy of operations, policy alignment and allocation of resources, and democratic accountability. This paper uses the U.S. Census Bureau definition of special districts, though alternative definitions are discussed. Efforts by four states (Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and New York) to improve local government, and their varying approaches to special districts, are reviewed, leading to the conclusion that the complex issues related to special districts must be resolved within state contexts.

Flypaper Effect: Sebelum Dan Sesudah Penerapan Standar Akuntansi Pemerintah Akrual

“…BD terdiri dari belanja modal, belanja operasi, belanja lain-lain tak terduga, serta transfer keluar. Belanja diartikan sebagai keseluruhan pengeluaran yang didanai oleh kas daerah dan berakibat berkurangnya saldo anggaran lebih pada periode anggaran (Killian, 2011). Fenomena flypaper effect dilihat dengan membandingkan kecendurangan peningkatan belanja daerah dengan dana transfer daripada peningkatan pertumbuhan PAD (Oktavia, 2014).…”

“…PAD sesuai Permendagri No. 21 tahun 2011 terdiri dari pajak daerah, retribusi daerah, hasil pengelolaan kekayaan daerah yang dipisahkan, dan lain-lain PAD yang sah (Killian, 2011). Fenomena flypaper effect pada setiap tahun dilihat dengan meng-gunakan analisis regresi multipel.…”

Dilema Akrualisasi Akuntansi dalam Pengelolaan Keuangan Daerah

“…Selain itu, Yuliani, Nadirsyah, & Bakar (2010) menemukan bahwa kualitas atau hasil laporan keuangan dari pemerintah Kota Banda Aceh dipengaruhi peran audit secara internal berbarengan dalam pemahaman akuntansi serta pendayagunaan sistem akuntansi dalam proses mengelola keuangan daerah. Hal tersebut juga didukung hasil penelitian Killian (2011) bahwa teknologi informasi berperan mempermudah pelak sanaan proses akuntansi pemerintahan menggunakan hardware atau software, adanya suatu aplikasi atau sistem yang terpadu sehingga mempermudah para personel untuk mencatat transaksi dan melaporkan keuangan pemerintah di SKPD dan SKPKD (tingkat konsolidasi).…”

“…Dalam hal peraturan, pemerintah seharusnya memeriksa peraturan yang dipakai atau perbedaan untuk menghindari kebingungan di level setingkat pemerintahan daerah (Pratama, 2012). Selain itu, pemerintah daerah seharusnya menyusun dan menetapkan rencana dan pengawasan implementasi SAP basis akrual secara periodik (Killian, 2011).…”

Citizen perceptions of general-purpose and special district governments: A comparative analysis

“…Government accountability is a growing concern, especially in the current climate where budget crises are forcing trade-offs and cutbacks in services, and where states such as Indiana, New York, and Ohio are working to streamline government and improve responsiveness. 1 Efforts to assess or improve accountability, however, have tended to focus on generalpurpose governments and to by-pass special districts (Killian, 2011). Our research fills a critical need by extending the investigation of accountability to special districts.…”