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I examine three recent cases where local governments changed their processes for selecting capital projects. The central question is whether these changes institutionalized a more “strategic” outlook in capital improvement planning and budgeting for these jurisdictions? The findings suggest that local governments can set capital priorities strategically, but that the process of implementing those reforms must be adaptable to changing political circumstances. These findings add to the limited literature on the political, administrative, and other challenges that local governments must confront when reforming their capital improvement planning and budgeting processes.

We examine the factors that associate with local government decisions to comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). GAAP non-compliance is surprisingly common among larger local governments, and that trend has important implications for public policy, financial management transparency, and government accountability. To examine the factors that drive GAAP compliance, we develop a conceptual framework based on the politico-economic perspective on accounting policy choice, and then test that model with data from a national survey of local government finance professionals. Our key contribution is that we incorporate accounting professionalism. The findings suggest that for many local governments the decision to adopt GAAP is a response to the pressures of professionalism rather than a rational response to political and economic motives.

Positive accounting theory suggests jurisdictions will meet their stakeholders’ financial information needs at the lowest possible cost, and current accounting policy will change if it does not accomplish that objective. This paper examines the breadth of stakeholders who are associated with accounting policy. We use multivariate methods to determine which among a group of potential users including taxpayers, interest groups, local government managers, the municipal credit market, and other governmental entities are correlated with accounting policy among municipal governments in Illinois. The results suggest one particular stakeholder - the municipal credit market - is an important determinant of the use of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The analysis shows that professionalism, history, and administrative capacity are also associated with a municipality’s accounting policy.

This research examines the relative influences of different forms of government on local governments' financial management. Specifically, it seeks to determine whether or not the impact of financial and environmental factors on the unreserved fund balance differs between an administrative form of government, such as the Unit system, and a political form of government, such as the Beat system of county governments in Mississippi. The purpose of this study is to explain further why governments maintain far more savings than are the recommended benchmarks. The findings suggest that savings behave differently under different financial environments. During times of resource abundance, Beat systems increase savings as per capita income, property tax, and other revenues increase. Beat systems decrease savings as the population, debt per capita, and intergovernmental revenues increase. Unit systems, however, increase savings as property tax, intergovernmental and other revenues increase, but decrease savings as per capita income, population, and debt per capita increase. During times of resource scarcity, majority-non-white counties spent savings at a much slower rate than did the majority-white counties.

This paper analyzes the impact of economic downturns on the revenue and expense sides of city financing for the period 2003 to 2009 using a convenience sample of the audited end of year financial reports for thirty midsized US cities. The analysis focuses on whether and how quickly and how extensively revenue and spending directions from past years are altered by recessions. A seven year series of Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) data serves to explore whether citiesʼ revenues and spending, especially the traditional property tax and core functions such as public safety and infrastructure withstood the brief 2001 and the persistent 2007 recessions? The findings point to consumption (spending) over stability (revenue minus expense) for the recession of 2007, particularly in 2008 and 2009.

This article summarizes findings of a survey designed to obtain perceptions of municipal finance officers in Massachusetts regarding stabilization fund management strategies. Responses indicate that stabilization funds have become embedded components of municipal revenue management strategies, that municipalities are reluctant to tap stabilization fund balances, and that chief financial officers perceive these balances to be important to bond ratings. Some finance officers report active use of stabilization funds, generally because their communities either rely on the stabilization fund to finance capital projects or because they are currently vulnerable to revenue emergencies. A small number of communities report that they rely on voters to override statutory property tax levy limits, while maintaining stabilization fund balances above the statewide median.