Government Finance Review articles from June 1995

Government Finance Review archives from June 1995

Public Private competition in the city of Phoenix, Arizona.
June 1, 1995... Whether the private or the public sector is selected, the competitive bidding process is a means to improve performance and enhance customer satisfaction. There are very few beliefs or expectations more widely held than that government, in...

Privatization tips and traps: illustrations from the DC Village Nursing Home Initiative. (Washington, DC)
June 1, 1995... Analysis of a failed attempt at a modified divestiture highlights the importance of an open and inclusive process that keeps all parties informed at every step of the way. Much has been written about successful privatization initiatives but...

The Allegheny Regional Asset District: communities thinking and acting like a region. (Allegheny County, Pennsylvania)
June 1, 1995... In 1994, a governmental structure was launched in Allegheny County designed to fund the regional assets of southwestern Pennsylvania and to institute a long-overdue tax restructuring for the local governments within Allegheny County, including...

What T+3 settlement means for municipal bond market participants. (settlement cycle for securities trading)
June 1, 1995... Shortening the settlement cycle for municipal securities transactions presents some unique challenges but not any insurmountable obstacles. On June 7, 1995, a dramatic change will occur in U.S. securities markets. On that date, the standard...

Municipal debt adjustment under the bankruptcy court.
June 1, 1995... The rights and powers of the debtor, the state, the court, and the creditors in a chapter 9 case in bankruptcy court. Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code (the "Code") provides a mechanism for eligible governmental entities to restructure debt....

FinanceNet: the finance officers' site on the Internet.
June 1, 1995... Currently, all electronic highways lead to the Internet. Millions of people are already on-line, and the number is growing so rapidly that the statistics are outdated even before they are published. Most, if not all, proprietary networks such as...

Using Mun-Ease for debt management in Puerto Rico. (municipal bond manager software from Government Finance Officers Association)
June 1, 1995... In public finance circles, Puerto Rico is known as one of the largest and most sophisticated tax-exempt bond issuers in the country. To manage the indebtedness of the Commonwealth and other entities of the central government, the Government...

GFOA's popular reporting awards program: revised and improved. (Government Finance Officers Association)
June 1, 1995... Most public finance officers are familiar with the comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR), but not so widely understood is the concept of the popular report, which differs from the CAFR in many respects. The CAFR includes detailed financial...

Broker dealer contracts: caveats and pitfalls. (securities contracts)
June 1, 1995... Public investment officials may find some unfamiliar or unclear language in future broker/dealer contracts when they review them carefully. Some brokerage firms have amended their standard contracts to include language that dilutes safeguards for...

Teleconference on rightsizing: a training report card.
June 1, 1995... In February 1995, the GFOA presented a nationwide interactive "Town Meeting via Satellite" in conjunction with the City of Charlotte, North Carolina. Titled "Dialogue on Rightsizing" and based on the December 1994 article in Government Finance...

A Minnesota consortium finds benefits in sharing. (sharing of local government resources)
June 1, 1995... When members of a community agree to pool some of their resources for the common good, they likely will get back more than what they put in. A group of Minnesota cities and government agencies have been reaping the benefits of sharing for more...

A five-year financial model for municipal decision making and resource allocation.
June 1, 1995... Increasingly, Michigan's municipalities are embracing the concept of financial modeling. Typically, this involves the creation of an automated multiyear budget model which can be used to estimate or forecast the future years' finances of the...

Fair Labor Standards Act: public sector liability.
June 1, 1995... At an alarming rate, federal courts are holding state and local governments liable for back overtime pay to many of their management-level employees. These executive, administrative, and professional employees, often earning between $40,000 and...

The Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program: a reviewer's experience. (includes related article)
June 1, 1995... The GFOA's Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is dedicated to improving governmental budgeting by evaluating operating budgets against a list of mandatory and general criteria. Similar to the Certificate of Achievement for...

Federal officials examine state and local government investment practices.
June 1, 1995... As state and local government officials tried to make sense of events following the revelations that Orange, County, California, had pursued a risky investment strategy and suffered huge investment losses, federal officials also became curious....

The Federal Budget: Politics, Policy, Process.
June 1, 1995... Reviewed by GFOA member Philip M. Dearborn, director of intergovernmental finance at the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. This is a book that has been sorely needed. It provides a comprehensive explanation of the...

Reporting on Environmental Performance.
June 1, 1995... Reviewed by Robert Bachand, director of finance and treasurer for the City of Sherbrooke, Quebec, and member of GFOA's Executive Board. Organizations of all types and sizes, including local governments, crown corporations, and all other types...

The Urban West: Managing Growth and Decline.
June 1, 1995... Reviewed by Debra Forte, assistant city manager for the City of Lubbock, Texas, and member of GFOA's Executive Board. This text is a timely piece for cities. The authors focus on urban cities in the western United States, and discussions are...