Government Finance Review articles from October 1996

Government Finance Review archives from October 1996

Protecting public funds demands constant alertness.(Editorial)
October 1, 1996... Public investors have been heartened recently by three events that continue to emphasize the importance of suitability as a primary concern in the investment of public funds: the elimination of an onerous suitability provision from proposed...

A taxpayer service program: working with local business in Westminster, Colorado.
October 1, 1996... To increase compliance with city sales and use taxes, the City of Westminster consulted with local businesses to plan a project of tax law changes, education, and staff restructuring. Editor's note: Each year the Government Finance Officers...

Internal service fund functions: should they be required to compete with private vendors?
October 1, 1996... When total costs to the government are taken into account, how do ISF costs compare with outsourcing? Governmental organizations frequently elect to provide certain services on an in-house basis rather than utilize private vendors. For...

Graphic communications in a crisis.
October 1, 1996... Although it is easy to create graphs using computer spreadsheet programs, finance officers must remember to ask: Is this graph communicating the message effectively? Graphs have always been useful for communicating the meaning of data and...

Funding capital expenditures: how countries around the world do it. (includes related article on securities market terminology)
October 1, 1996... Subnational governments in Europe and Japan show more differences than similarities in borrowing practices compared to municipalities in the U.S. and Canada, but convergence may be underway. American municipalities are looking to global markets...

Establishing a Green Lights Revolving Fund in Houston. (Houston, Texas)
October 1, 1996... The City of Houston, Texas, has established a revolving fund to support selected departmental energy improvement projects whose energy savings will repay the initial project costs plus a fund-administration fee within 24 months. This article...

Trends in federal revenues.
October 1, 1996... The federal revenue share of gross domestic product (GDP), as shown in Exhibit 1, reached its peak in 1969, when the Congress enacted an income tax surcharge during the Vietnam War, and again in 1981 after several years of rapid inflation pushed...

Buses lead European small town revivals.
October 1, 1996... This article initially appeared in the June 1996 issue of Public Innovation Abroad, published by the International Center of the Academy for State and Local Government, and is reprinted with permission. The fact that even small towns with...

A financial condition index for Nova Scotia municipalities.
October 1, 1996... The importance and increasing demand for local government financial condition indicators is well evidenced by the many recent articles and studies devoted to the subject by practitioners and academics in North America and throughout the world. In...

Amendments to Single Audit become law.
October 1, 1996... President Clinton recently signed the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996, which modify certain provisions of the Single Audit Act of 1984. This article will describe briefly the background of the new legislation and how it will affect audits of...

On the Web: a wealth of government information. (World Wide Web)(includes Canadian government Web site addresses)
October 1, 1996... From federal ministries to the smallest towns, government offices in Canada are going on-line with World Wide Web home pages and services. While some governments are just beginning to merge onto the information highway, others offer a variety of...

Vital public pension provisions become law.
October 1, 1996... GFOA and many other public organizations have been working for nearly a decade to pass many necessary provisions for public pension plans, participants, and beneficiaries. On August 20, 1996, these provisions were finally signed into law as part...

Medical savings accounts: the critical factor in health care debate.
October 1, 1996... During the spring and summer of 1996, much of the congressional debate on the health care reform package centered on medical savings accounts (MSAs). Proponents view MSAs as a viable option to reduce national health care costs. Opponents contend...

Using the Internet in local government finance. (includes related article)
October 1, 1996... The Internet is a rapidly evolving set of communication resources. It includes a variety of free or comparatively inexpensive services including electronic mail (e-mail), mailing lists or discussion groups, audio and video conferencing and...

Weighing GIS benefits with financial analysis. (geographic information system)
October 1, 1996... This article is adapted from material that originally appeared in the July 1996 issue of GIS World and is reprinted with permission of GIS World Inc. One of the principal reasons many geographic information system (GIS) programs never get off...

Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government.
October 1, 1996... Reviewed by John H. Tuohy, finance director, Fauquier County, Virginia, Schools and Government and member of GFOA's Committee on Cash Management. Privatopia is a work which should stimulate, if not alarm, finance officers, planners, and...

Public Employee Privacy: A Legal and Practical Guide to Issues Affecting the Workplace.
October 1, 1996... Reviewed by Pete Rose, controller, Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, and member of GFOA's Committee on Governmental Budgeting and Management. Few managers in the public sector have the knowledge to understand the privacy rights of their...

The Irwin Guide to Using The Wall Street Journal, 5th ed.
October 1, 1996... Reviewed by Robert W. Dulaney, cash and debt administrator of the City of Dallas, Texas, and member of GFOA's Committee on Cash Management. As Michael B. Lehmann states in the preface, the objective of the book is to show the reader "how to...