Government Finance Review articles from June 1996

Government Finance Review archives from June 1996

Public pension plans: excessive or equitable benefits?(Editorial)
June 1, 1996... Public pension funds are under attack in the popular press. In its March issue, Reader's Digest published an article, "America's New Privileged Class," portraying public pension retirees as receiving extraordinarily generous benefits. In it, as...

A utility financial policy: guiding forecasts of long-term capital financing needs.
June 1, 1996... In Kalamazoo, Michigan, the water and wastewater utilities are strengthening their financial performance at a minimal cost to customers through a formal utility financial policy. Publicly owned water systems and wastewater treatment facilities...

The Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities.
June 1, 1996... The recent reorganization of the regional planning agency for the Minneapolis-St. Paul area is working to achieve greater efficiencies by integrating planning and operations. The Twin Cities metropolitan area of Minnesota enjoys a high quality...

Economic impact on the State of Georgia of hosting the 1996 Olympic Games.(Cover Story)
June 1, 1996... By 1997, spending by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games is projected to have generated $2.6 billion of economic activity in Georgia, and spending by out-of-state visitors will have injected another $2.5 billion into the economy. The...

Electronic delivery of financial information.
June 1, 1996... Issues of technology standardization, security, and market participant coordination for the electronic filing of securities information. The amendments to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 15c2-12, which became effective in 1995,...

Control and audit considerations for electronic filing of regulatory information.
June 1, 1996... A study group of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants has developed a booklet to assist governments considering whether and how to integrate electronic filing into their operations. In the past year, electronic filing is becoming...

When and when not to use incentives to attract business or to retain existing business.
June 1, 1996... These guidelines for recognizing an effective incentive from an undesirable one are designed to assist public finance officers as they walk the fine line between offering a reasonable incentive to a new or relocating business and facing public...

Tax lien securitization: putting nonperforming assets to work.(Innovations in Debt Financing)
June 1, 1996... Uncollected tax receivables impose a burden on the finances of local governments. Local governments rely on tax receivables to pay for municipal services, including police, fire, transportation, and park services. Delinquent tax revenues detract...

Managing for results: advancing the art of performance measurement. (includes related article on Government Finance Officers Association's programs promoting performance measurement)(State of the Art)
June 1, 1996... In November 1995, more than 1,100 state and local officials attended a three-day conference on performance measurement coordinated by the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, the Texas Municipal League, and Texas...

Intelligent transportation infrastructure: a national goal. (Secretary of Transportation Federico F. Pena speech)(Forum)(Transcript)
June 1, 1996... Editor's note: The following article consists of excerpts of a speech delivered by Secretary of Transportation Pena at the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C., on January 10, 1996. This year marks an important milestone for our...

Federal tax restructuring: experts consider impacts on states and localities.(Federal Focus)
June 1, 1996... The United States Congress is considering several proposals to restructure the federal income tax system. These initiatives consist of eliminating the income tax and replacing it with a new federal retail sales tax; a value added tax; or a flat,...

Proposed new GASB standard for accounting and reporting for investments. (Governmental Accounting Standards Board)(Issues in Accounting)
June 1, 1996... In March 1996, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued an exposure draft of a proposed statement on Accounting and Financial Reporting for Certain Investments and for External Investment Pools. How would the proposed new GASB...

The 1995 PPCC survey of pension plans: a healthy report. (includes related articles on Public Pension Coordinating Council and on analysis of PPCC data)
June 1, 1996... Public-sector pension plans continued to improve their funded status in 1994 despite the downturn in financial markets, according to a 1995 survey of state and local government employee retirement systems conducted by the Public Pension...

Analyzing the costs of credit cards.(Money Management Matters)
June 1, 1996... Many governments are thinking of accepting credit cards or expanding the acceptance of credit cards but are concerned about absorbing credit card transaction fees. This article will explore four options a government may wish to consider when...

Managing records in e-mail systems. (Electronic Communication and Networks)
June 1, 1996... Editor's note: This article presents excerpts of a booklet - published by the New York State Archives and Records Administration - that provides guidelines for developing policies and establishing procedures for effective management of records...

The Reengineering Revolution: A Handbook.
June 1, 1996... The Reengineering Revolution gives readers the benefit of reengineering experiences of many organizations without having to endure these experiences themselves. The material has the potential to create trained and fit individuals who aspire to...

Activity-based Models for Cost Management Systems.
June 1, 1996... Activity-based costing (ABC) is one of the newest and most empowering financial tools in recent years. Ronald Lewis reviews the subject in a concise and easy-to-follow manner. He focuses on the manufacturing environment where ABC started;...

The Great Transition: Using the Seven Disciplines of Enterprise Engineering To Align People, Technology, and Strategy.
June 1, 1996... Exhortations by organizational visionaries have prescribed a sweeping set of changes that will cause "enterprises" to be fundamentally revamped. James Martin's book The Great Transition presents one of the best descriptions of the background,...