Government Finance Review articles from December 2001

Government Finance Review archives from December 2001

New York City Grappling with Fiscal Aftermath of Attacks. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... * A report by the New York City Comptroller estimates that the September 11 terrorist attacks could cost the city's economy between $90 billion and $105 billion, including $1.3 billion in taxes and other revenues through fiscal year 2003. To...

SEC Urges Confidence in Municipal Bond Market. (News Briefs).(Securities Exchange Commission)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... * In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a letter to the municipal market urging participants to "step forward and support the integrity and strength...

State Fiscal Conditions Deteriorating. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... * A recently released report by the National Conference of State Legislatures confirmed what many officials already suspected: state revenues are much lower than projected as the national economy heads toward recession. Only months into the...

Federal Tax Cuts Adversely Affecting State Revenues. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... * The $1.35 trillion tax-cut bill signed into law by President Bush in June may have lined the pockets of taxpayers, hut it is expected to have the opposite effect on state treasuries. Since the 1920s, states have linked their estate tax...

Colorado Helping Retailers Calculate Sales Taxes. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... * The Colorado Department of Revenue recently launched an electronic system to help retailers determine the correct amount of sales tax to charge their customers. This has been complicated in the past by the overlapping taxing authority of the...

Remote Sales to Cost State and Local Governments $440 Billion. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... * Over the next 10 years, state and local governments will lose an estimated $440 billion in sales and use tax revenue, according to a study commissioned by the Institute for State Studies. Remote vendors, primarily catalog and e-commerce...

D.C. Regains Control of Finances. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... * The District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority officially relinquished control over district affairs and finances October 1, restoring self-governance privileges to the federal enclave. The financial...

Historic Bond Issue Uncertain. (New Briefs).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... * The California Public Utilities Commission's (PUC) rejection of a rate agreement with the state's Department of Water Resources (DWR) cast doubts on the future sale of $12.5 billion in power purchase revenue bonds. The state needs the...

Illinois Governments on Online Privacy. (New Briefs).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... * A recent survey by a public interest foundation found that government agencies in Illinois are indifferent to their citizens' online privacy. Unlike commercial Web sites, most Illinois municipalities do not post privacy policies on their Web...

Michigan Modernizes Municipal Finance Law. (New Briefs).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... * As of March 1, 2002, Michigan municipalities will have significantly more flexibility in issuing debt. Intended to streamline and modernize municipal finance, the Revised Municipal Finance Act (Act 34) authorizes the use of several new types...

Property Tax Hikes Not an Option for Strapped Governments. (New Briefs).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... * Property taxes are no more popular now than they were in 1978 when Proposition 13 was passed in California. Despite shrinking state and local government revenues, few politicians have been willing to tap into rising property values to...

Minnesota Comes to Terms with Striking Employees. (New Briefs).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... * The State of Minnesota reached a compromise with the two largest state employee unions following a two-week strike by some 23,000 state workers. The state agreed to 3.5 percent pay increases for each of the next two years for members of the...

Intergovernmental Cooperation ON ERP Systems: This article describes the joint procurement and implementation of an ERP solution by three Nebraska governments: Douglas County, the City of Omaha, and the Omaha/Douglas Public Building Commission.(enterprise resource planning)
December 1, 2001... Investment decisions related to financial management systems are shaped in part by the associated economies of scale. It is reasonable that small and mid-size governments spend less--and usually get less--on financial system packages, because...

Dashboards and Scorecards: Executive Information Systems for the Public Sector.
December 1, 2001... Web-based technologies are ushering in a new era of public management by disseminating information to key decision makers through portals known as executive information systems (EIS). This article describes the concept of EIS, identifies the...

Extensible Markup Language: A New Technology Tool for the Public Sector.(includes discussion of current Internet technology strengths and limitations)
December 1, 2001... XML is a new Internet technology tool that holds considerable promise for the public sector. This article explains what XML is and how it works, and discusses its use in seven governmental applications. Although technology changes are fast...

Power to the People: Implementing Constituent Relationship Management in the Public Sector.
December 1, 2001... Despite rising interest in constituent relationship management (CRM), few governments have implemented these systems. This article draws on the experience of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to provide a frame work for successful...

Strategic Planning for Technology Investments: A well-crafted technology plan can help governments maximize the value of their technology investments. This article outlines the factors to consider in developing an IT strategy.
December 1, 2001... The looming recession is putting downward pressure on the budgets of both governments and businesses everywhere. Although total IT spending in the United States has not yet declined, it is growing at a much slower rate than years past. (1)...

Online Advertising as an Alternative Revenue Source.
December 1, 2001... An emerging alternative to traditional revenue sources is paid advertising on government Web sites. Although the potential revenue from online advertising is significant, it also raises a host of legal, ethical, and administrative issues. This...

ERP Implementation: Managing the Final Preparation and Go-Live Stages. (State of the Art).(enterprise resource planning)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is a long and arduous process. The final phases of implementation, typically known as "final preparation" and "go-live," can be among the most stressful periods of the project. This...

What the Soft Market Means for Government IT Initiatives. (Fiscal and Economic Indicators).(information technology)
December 1, 2001... The information technology (IT) market has been on a downward trajectory for some time, and the events of September 11 have only served to exacerbate this trend. This soft market presents both opportunities and threats for government IT...

Financing Public Services in the New South Africa. (International Horizons).(adapted from article in)(La Follette Policy Report)
December 1, 2001... Editor's note: This article was adapted with permission of the La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was published originally in the La Follette Policy Report, Vol. 12, No. 1, Spring-Summer 2001. Around...

GFOA Graduates First Class of Certified Public Finance Officers. (Profiling GFOA).(Government Finance Officers Association)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... For the first rime since the program's inception, 192 individuals have been awarded the designation of Certified Public Finance Officer (CPFO). To earn this designation, candidates must demonstrate their knowledge of public finance by passing...

Book Reviews.(eCFO: Sustaining Value in the New Corporation)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Publications reviewed in this section are new acquisitions of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). Government Finance Review publishes with each citation the name and address of the publisher/distributor. Requests for copies...

Privatizing Education: Can the Marketplace Deliver Choice, Efficiency, Equity, and Social Cohesion? (Book Reviews).
December 1, 2001... Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2001 (372 pp) Reviewed by Patrice Sutton Burger, manager, GFOA Research and Consulting Center, Chicago, Illinois. Because of the importance of education in modern society, the quality of educational...

e-Government. (From the Library).(metropolitan Web sites)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... "Urban E-Government: An Assessment of City Government Web Sites" West, Darrell M. Inside Politics, September 2001, pp. West's team at Brown University evaluated the Web presence of the 70 largest metropolitan areas, which included...

Economic Development. (From the Library).(Winners and Losers in the Public Arena: The Economics of Professional Sports Stadiums)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... "Winners and Losers in the Public Arena: The Economics of Professional Sports Stadiums" Sachse, Jeffrey La Follette Policy Report, Spring-Summer 2001, pp. 11-15 Of the 30 major league baseball stadiums standing today, 24 (80...

Environmental Finance. (From the Library).(New Ways to Pay for Property Development)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... "New Ways to Pay for Property Redevelopment" Singer, Molly Public Management, September 2001, pp. 17-20 There are an estimated 500,000 parcels of contaminated property sites, or brownfields, in the United States. A January 1998...

Performance Measurement. (From the Library).("Performance-Comparison Projects in Local Government:)(Participants' Perspectives")(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... "Performance-Comparison Projects in Local Government: Participants' Perspectives" Ammons, David N.; Coe, Charles; and Lombardo, Michael Public Administration Review, January/February 2001, pp. 100-110 As in the private sector,...

Public Pensions and Employee Benefits. (From the Library).(The ABCs of Portability)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... "The ABCs of Portability" Kittower, Diane Governing, September 2001, pp. 58-60 The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 liberalized laws governing the portability of retirement assets for public employees. As...

Taxes and Other Revenues. (From the Library).(Does the Local-Option Sales Tax Provide)(Property Tax Relief? The Georgia Case")(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... "Does the Local-Option Sales Tax Provide Property Tax Relief? The Georgia Case" Jung, Changhoon Public Budgeting and Finance, Spring 2001, pp. 73-86 Since the 1960s, two-thirds of the states have liberalized their laws to allow...

Nationwide Sales Tax Holiday: A 'Cockamamie' Idea. (Commentary).(Brief Article)(Column)
December 1, 2001... Just when the country ought to be getting serious about its economic security, along comes the proposal that Washington decree a 10-day national sales tax holiday. States and localities, promised later federal payback, would be free to...

Fairfax County Settles Contract Dispute with AMS. (New Briefs).(American Management Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... * Fairfax County, Virginia, recently received the first $2 million of an estimated $8 million contract settlement with American Management Systems Inc., the software giant headquartered within the county's borders. The county hired AMS five...