Government Finance Review

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

Economic development strategies for a tough economy.(from the editor)
Every area of government is being affected by the current economic situation. I Jurisdictions are looking for effective strategies to address increasing vacancy rates, declining property values, and . . .

Virginia Beach program focuses on neighborhood revitalization.(News & Numbers)
The City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, strives to be a Community for a Lifetime. To this end, the City Council has added neighborhood revitalization as one of its key goals, based on the assumption t . . .

Correction.(News & Numbers)(Correction notice)
An article published in the December 2008 issue of Government Finance Review, "City Fiscal Conditions; by Chris Hoene and Michael A. Pagano, said the City of Fresno "could not obtain funding for a $ . . .

Economic trends.(News & Numbers)
Many people are paying more attention to economic trends than they did before the credit meltdown. Financing the Future News." Long-Term Financial Planning Resources, Notices, and Events--an electro . . .

Economic development: one city's response to difficult economic times.(Cover story)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Over the past six months, the world of economic development has been turned upside down. Vacancy rates are on the rise, property values are declining, and people are losing . . .

Capital program considerations in challenging times.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Governments across the country are tightening their budgeting belts. Since capital expenditures make up such a large part of the budget, the capital program is not immune to . . .

Operation NoVacancy: helps spur reinvestment in distressed commercial and industrial corridors.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This article is based on the case study application the City of Hickory, North Carolina, submitted to the Alliance for Innovation for its May 2009 Transforming Local Governm . . .

The case of the Capital Beltway: the use of federal innovative finance techniques in public-private partnerships.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Compared with the rest of the world, the United States has been relatively slow to use public-private partnership arrangements (P3s) in building, financing, and operating in . . .

Determining the co$t of vacancies in Baltimore.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As the number of home foreclosures rises nationwide, cities face mounting costs related to vacant and abandoned properties. Aside from subsidizing these costs through genera . . .

Better understanding the financial statement audit.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For most local governments, the annual financial statement audit is as much a part of the yearly round of public finance as the approval of the operating budget. Despite its . . .

Determining the real cost of growth and development and who should pay.(Best Practices)
Many communities throughout the United State have experienced unprecedented growth and development, creating a need for expanding and improving existing infrastructure and acquiring new infrastructu . . .

External performance reporting, Oregon style.([PM.sup.2] Connections: PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT & MANAGEMENT)
The Oregon Progress Board is unique in the way it publicly reports performance data. Other governments, including British Columbia, (1) Tasmania, (2) and South Australia (3) emulate aspects of Orego . . .

Getting onboard: integrating and engaging new employees.(Management & Careers)
Two dollars and 85 cents. That's how much change a brand-new government employee found in his desk on his first day on the job. How do we know this? Because this civil servant didn't have a computer . . .

Sports in the public-private arena: City of Toronto.(Solutions)
Over the past decade or two, many municipalities have entered into public-private partnerships (P3s) to provide sports and recreation facilities for their communities. Most of these projects have . . .

Accountability and transparency in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.(Federal Focus)
When signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), President Obama made clear that "every taxpayer dollar spent on our economic recovery must be subject to unprecedented levels of trans . . .

GASB invites views on pension accounting.(The Accounting Angle)
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), as a matter of policy, periodically reviews its authoritative guidance to determine whether it continues to meet the needs of users of state and l . . .

Explaining the doctrine of performance management.
The Dynamics of Performance Management: Constructing Information and Reform By Donald P. Moynihan Georgetown University Press 2008, 224 pages, $26.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The public sect . . .

Calendar.(Calendar)
[gfoa events] June Internet Training 10 The New Fund Balance Seattle, Washington Preconference Seminars 26 Fiscal First Aid: Budgeting Tactics for Bad Economic Times 26 . . .

Prudent privatization.(Commentary)
Too often, political rhetoric overshadows careful analysis. Local and state officials across the country now face urgent questions concerning how to fund infrastructure deficits and gaping budget . . .

Public-sector accounting.(Perspectives)
Accounting, auditing, and financial reporting provide the informational infrastructure for state and local government finance. Like its physical counterpart, this informational infrastructure is eas . . .

The economic stimulus bill: accessing the resources.(News & Numbers)
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides funding to both state and local governments through a series of grants and loans distributed by various federal agencies, or in the case of . . .

NCL city fiscal conditions survey reflects economic woes.(News & Numbers)
A recent survey by the National League of Cities (NCL) shows how cities are faring under current economic conditions. According to the survey, conducted in December 2008 and January 2009, 83 percent . . .

Economic trends.(News & Numbers)
Many people are paying more attention to economic trends than they did before the credit meltdown. Financing the Future News: Long-Term Financial Planning Resources, Notices, and Events--an electron . . .

Report addresses ways local governments can navigate the financial downturn.(News & Numbers)
The Alliance for Innovation and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) released a white paper aimed at helping local governments successfully work through the current economic d . . .

Electronic budget cuts costs.(News & Numbers)
British Columbia made its 2009 budget primarily available electronically, a cost-effective choice that also supports the province's commitment to be carbon-neutral by 2010. Most recipients receive . . .

Governance initiative.(News & Numbers)
The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at John E Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University will focus on studying and disseminating solutions to real-world governance pr . . .

Fund balance: new and improved.(Cover story)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There is probably no single item in a typical state or local government's financial statements that attracts more attention than fund balance. In February 2009, the Governme . . .

When leadership fails.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When the governing board of a governmental entity fails to carry out its oversight responsibilities, fraud or related problems can result. Most fraud is committed by basical . . .

The GASB turns 25: a retrospective.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill, in a November 1942 speech The Govern . . .

Capital confusion: 12 misunderstandings about Accounting for Capital Assets.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Many accounting and financial reporting issues affect some governments, but not others. Virtually all state and local governments, however, must confront the ongoing challen . . .

Identifying shortfalls: the importance of cash flow analysis in times of fiscal stress.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Local governments face increasing challenges to fiscal sustainability, making an effective methodology for forecasting and monitoring cash flow more important than ever. Cas . . .

Health-care cost containment strategies.(Best Practices)
High-quality health-care coverage has been a staple in the compensation of public sector employees for generations, and for many years, it was the justification for paying public employees less than . . .

Moving from reporting performance information to using it: Prince George's County, Maryland: Prince George's County, Maryland, i
Strategic plans and performance measures make a difference only if managers use them to make decisions. Simply reporting strategic plans and performance measures may lead to accountability, but rare . . .

Improving employee productivity and efficiency.(Management & Careers)
Twenty years ago, the Dallas County Tax Office turned itself into a laboratory to study what would happen if quality management principles were applied to help employees meet the organization's goal . . .

Geographic information systems: pinpointing lost revenues.(Solutions)
The proliferation of information now available creates exciting opportunities as well as challenges for tax auditors. The proverbial "shoe box" of accounting records has been digitized and is record . . .

President signs stimulus package.(Federal Focus)
President Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) (Public Law No. 111-5) into law on February 17, 2009. The goal of the legislation, according to the White House, . . .

New guidance on special revenue and capital projects funds.(The Accounting Angle)
In February 2009, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued GASB Statement No. 54,Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions. The new GASB standard deals primarily . . .

Examining the increasing level of federal debt.
I.O.U.S.A : One Nation. Under Stress. In Debt Film directed by Patrick Creadon distributed by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation 2008, rated PG Book by Addison Wiggin and Kate Incontrerr . . .

Calendar.(Calendar)
[gfoa events] May Salt Lake City, Utah 4 Accounting for Pensions and Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEB) 4 Accounting for Capital Assets 5 Preparing a CAFR 4 . . .

The promise of the millennial generation.(Commentary)
Millennials may be problematic, but consider their potential for radically improving government. With good reason, Tom Brokaw coined the term "the greatest generation," in his book of the same nam . . .

Getting the most from technology spending.(Editorial)
As the economic downturn makes it increasingly difficult to find money for projects, it becomes even more important for governments to get the most out of their technology spending. In many cases, t . . .

Awareness is key to defending against computer attacks.(News & Numbers)(Brief article)
Computer security is a real concern for state and local governments. Governments need to be aware that cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated--and increasingly harmful--according to a . . .

Edmonton to build eco-friendly recycling plant.(News & Numbers)
The City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, will work to build an eco-friendly paper and glass recycling plant, in partnership with a private-industry recycling company. The facility will allow the city . . .

Governments must plan for economic growth.(News & Numbers)
The current economic slowdown will come to an end, and states must be prepared by positioning their economies for growth over the next decade. Today's global, knowledge-based economy is rooted in in . . .

Picking winners: shrewd investing in IT assets through IT governance.(Cover story)
The current economic slowdown is making technology dollars dearer. A national survey conducted by the Public Technology Institute shows that 38 percent of local government information technology bud . . .

Low-cost tech solutions for small (and larger) governments.
Where does technology fit into a government's budget in this slowing economy? Technology purchases are sometimes an afterthought even in good times. But at the same time, the pressure to modernize c . . .

GIS as an enterprise municipal system.(geographic information system)
In the past two decades, geographic information system (GIS) technology has become much more powerful, while costs have declined. GIS has become a common business tool, and many basic GIS capabiliti . . .

Joint software selection project provides numerous benefits.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Two Texas cities recently turned a cooperative technology project into a real success story, not only saving money but also reaping additional benefits, both hoped for and u . . .

Big job, short timeframe: Missouri's IT consolidation.
With information technology (IT), consolidation can mean anything from forming a committee that oversees IT projects to centralizing hardware and application development. Some people use the word to . . .

Revenue Recovery Program: developing a governmental collections unit.(Best Practices)
At a time when economic situations are rapidly changing, governments are searching for better ways to do business. In Johnson County, Kansas, the Treasurer's Revenue Recovery Program--known as the C . . .