Government Finance Review articles from August 1995

Government Finance Review archives from August 1995

GFOA's strategic training plan: the end of the beginning. (Government Finance Officers Association)(Editorial)
August 1, 1995... As a result of the keen interest of the Executive Board, in April 1994 the President of the GFOA appointed a six-member task force to examine the association's training efforts and recommend a five-year plan for improving and expanding GFOA's...

Reengineering financial management: Pittsburgh's Unisource 2000 project.
August 1, 1995... In an effort to cope with persistent financial problems, the City of Pittsburgh has pursued process reengineering, using information technology to radically redesign budgeting and accounting systems. Throughout the country, major corporations...

The constituents are mad: just ask Florida's local government budget chiefs.
August 1, 1995... A survey of local government finance officials in Florida registers citizens' growing hostility toward their governments - particularly in school districts and where governments are in poor fiscal condition. Adding growing citizen hostility to...

Urban fiscal problems: coordinating actions among governments.
August 1, 1995... What factors contribute to the fiscal disparities between center cities and their suburbs? What metropolitan-area solutions are available? When most people think about the fiscal crisis of the cities, they often remember the near bankruptcy of...

Local government franchise agreements: will new technology bring new revenue sources?
August 1, 1995... Rapid developments in fiber optic technology and the growth of personal communication services present local governments with opportunities and challenges concerning the use of public rights-of-way. Each year utility and cable companies pay...

Making budget news fit to print: reflections from a survey of editors and budget officials.
August 1, 1995... Is an adversarial relationship the nature of the media business or can improved communications between city finance officials and editors/reporters better serve the public's right to know? "I know about the media in much the same way that a...

Public funds and public trust at the dawn of the 21st century. (remarks by US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt)(Transcript)
August 1, 1995... The following remarks were delivered by Chairman Levitt to a general session of more than 3,000 delegates to the GFOA Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 13, 1995. We've stood together on many important issues - preserving...

The year 2000 date crisis.
August 1, 1995... The year 2000 date change poses one of the most significant challenges ever faced by the information technology (IT) industry and will have enormous impact on business applications, packaged applications, and systems software. It creates a major...

Payments in lieu of taxes: a significant revenue source?(Panel Discussion)
August 1, 1995... History and local custom have helped determine the features of local government revenue structures in the various regions of the country. While reliance on the real property tax as the basic building block is the common denominator from shore to...

Talking to the GASB. (Governmental Accounting Standards Board)
August 1, 1995... The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) is responsible for establishing accounting and financial reporting standards for state and local governments. In setting standards, the GASB has a due process procedure that allows for comment at...

Defined contribution plans in the public sector.
August 1, 1995... Since the mid-1980s, 80 percent of newly established pension plans, primarily in the private sector, have been some form of defined contribution plan. While the vast majority of public-sector employees still participate in defined benefit plans,...

If you build it...: a cost-benefit analysis of tourism development.
August 1, 1995... Tourists - and the dollars they spend - can provide a boost to a community's local income and government revenues. Allowing communities to benefit from an area's natural and cultural attractions, tourism can be a viable economic development...

Improving the collection process.
August 1, 1995... In recent years, state and local governments have been under increasing pressure to streamline operations and maximize revenues without imposing additional taxes. As a result, state and local governments increasingly have begun to rely on more...

Freenets: cities open the electronic door. (includes sidebar)
August 1, 1995... From Chilliwack, British Columbia, to Key West, Florida, cities throughout the United States and Canada are providing government information on electronic networks, including home pages on the World Wide Web (see accompanying sidebar) and...

America's Gamble: Public School Finance and State Lotteries.
August 1, 1995... In their book America's Gamble, Thomas Jones, a professor of education at the University of Connecticut, and John Amalfitano, chairperson of special education at Toll Gate High School in Warwick, Rhode Island, analyze the impact of state...

Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation.
August 1, 1995... This book consists of 25 independent but loosely related chapters on various techniques utilized to evaluate complex social programs in the government or nonprofit sector. The chapters are organized into four sections, and each chapter has a...

The Environment Goes to Market: The Implementation of Economic Incentives for Pollution Control.
August 1, 1995... Government regulators are using economic incentives more and more in the area of environmental management, as one of the ways by which governments are "reinventing" themselves. In The Environment Goes To Market, the NAPA presents an analysis of...