Government Finance Review articles from October 1999

Government Finance Review archives from October 1999

Federal Budget Cuts Threaten Access to Data.(US Commerce Dept, Bureau of Economic Analysis and Bureau of Labor Statistics face possible budget cuts)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... The U.S. Commerce Department, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Census Bureau all face significant budget cuts and spending freezes in light of congressional efforts to reduce the federal budget. According to...

Tobacco Bonds May Be Rated by Maturity.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Bonds backed by tobacco settlement payments could receive separate credit ratings for separate maturities, according to a senior director with Fitch IBCA Inc. Because it lessens the uncertainty, it is likely that tobacco bonds with shorter...

Banking Industry Consolidates Worldwide.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... While initially confined to the United States, mergers within the banking industry are now taking place in Western Europe and Japan. There may be economic factors that explain mergers, such as new information technology allowing for greater...

Is On-line Banking the Next Great Thing?(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 1999... Consumer use of on-line banking has increased very slowly, with a significant percentage of customers experimenting with the service and then opting to stop using it. In the aggregate, there are 6.3 million consumers who were banking on-line as...

State and Local Debt Issuance at Low Level.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 1999... In August, the total amount of long-term debt issued by state and local governments dropped to $14 billion. That is the lowest level of long-term issuance since February 1997. Following a peak of $30.9 billion in June 1998, long-term municipal...

Austin Conducts Internet-only Bond Sale.(Texas' first all-Internet competitive bond sale)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 1999... Austin, Texas, drew praise for its debt auction in the state's first all-Internet competitive bond sale. The all-Internet auction brought in more preliminary bids than ever before, and it received bid offers from firms that had previously never...

Public Desires Open Spaces.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... A recent poll of 800 registered voters showed concern for governments' efforts to protect land from development. The majority of those polled wanted their state and local governments to focus more attention on protecting parks and open spaces...

Americans Place Most Trust in Local Governments.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... In a survey conducted for the Council on Excellence in Government, 35 percent of respondents said they had a great deal of confidence in their local government. By contrast, only 21 percent said they were very confident in the federal...

Majority of Cities Ready for Y2K.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... In a nationwide survey of more than 400 small and large cities and towns, 92 percent said they will be completely ready for Year 2000 computer problems. Cities have set up strategic plans for Y2K, analyzed and repaired systems, and developed...

British Stock Index to Change.(FTSE 100 index to use free float rules)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Public fund investors--particularly pension fund managers--may be interested to learn that index investing is about to change in Britain. FTSE International, which manages the FTSE 100 index, has elected to issue new rules governing "free...

Small Counties Not Y2K-ready.
October 1, 1999... Ninety-four percent of counties with more than 50,000 people are handling the potential problems of Y2K, but only 55 percent of the smaller counties (less than 10,000 population) are ready, according to a National Association of Counties survey...

Lower Interest Rates, Higher Inflation Expected.(survey of professionals in bond industry)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 1999... A survey of professionals in the bond industry revealed that the bond market expects inflation to increase and interest rates to decline. Although inflation has remained consistently low over the past several years, most of the respondents (73...

The ABCs of Competitive Government: The Indianapolis Experience.
October 1, 1999... The mayor of America's twelfth largest city shows how activity-based costing worked wonders for municipal government. Indianapolis is the home of the greatest car race in the world--the Indianapolis 500, which features high-performance cars...

The Theory and Practice of Managed Competition.(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 1999... Managed competition can be an effective strategy for reducing costs and improving the quality of service delivery. The author presents the theoretical foundation and empirical evidence for this concept. The reinventing government movement...

Privatization of Fleet Management: The Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Experience.
October 1, 1999... This article describes how fleet management was successfully outsourced in the face of strong opposition in a politically charged environment. Allegheny County 734 sq. miles 128 minucipalities Population 1.3 million In...

Comprehensive Operational Review of City Government: Public- and Private-sector Cooperation in San Diego.
October 1, 1999... This article describes how the San Diego business community donated time and expertise to improve municipal efficiency and effectiveness. Like many other cities in the United States, San Diego did not take full advantage of the expertise...

The ABCs of the Electric Utility Industry.
October 1, 1999... As it is slowly deregulated, the electric utility industry will have to reengineer and adopt ABC/ARM accounting techniques to determine the real value of businesses. "You mean I won't have to buy from the local utility?" That is the...

Designing Customer Service Programs for Finance Departments: The Arapahoe County, Colorado, Experience.
October 1, 1999... This article describes an approach to institute customer service programs in finance departments. Governments are no longer just collecting taxes and building roads. In today's world, providing information has become an important role for...

Local Government Innovation in International Perspective: The Fiscal Austerity and Urban Innovation Project.(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 1999... This article describes a major study of local government finance across the world--the Fiscal Austerity and Urban Innovation Project. It discusses concrete results, redefinitions of classic problems, and policy implications. Launched in...

Internet Taxation: New Studies May Find Solutions.
October 1, 1999... With the passage of the Internet Tax Freedom Act in the fall of 1998, many observers believed that the debate between state and local governments and Internet merchants was over, and state and local government revenues were the losers. In fact,...

Government Funding of Social Programs Without Increasing Taxes.
October 1, 1999... In an era of government surpluses and tax rebates, taxpayers hold elected officials accountable for improved efficiencies in public services and development projects within existing tax bases. In turn, elected officials depend upon government...

Cost Containment for Health Care Benefits: A Formula for State and Local Governments.
October 1, 1999... Because most government entities struggle with health benefits inflation, appropriate cost-management strategies are essential in an era of growing demands on state and local budgets. This research describes a case study that public managers...

Fuel Tax Hijacking: How State Governments Are Responding.
October 1, 1999... In 1982, Congress more than doubled the federal gasoline tax and quadrupled the diesel tax to fund the Federal Highway Trust Fund, the source of monies that are distributed to the states for their federal road improvements. But despite the...

Connecting With Taxpayers: The Electronic Town Hall Meeting.
October 1, 1999... The City of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, has seen its population triple over the past 20 years. Fitchburg, now with more than 18,000 residents, is located immediately south of the state capital--Madison. In 1983, Fitchburg incorporated most of its...

Inside Game Outside Game: Winning Strategies for Saving Urban America.(Review)
October 1, 1999... Rusk, David Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press: (384 pp) Several years ago, David Rusk wrote a books, Cities Without Suburbs, which was, by his own admonition, a wake-up call to local governments in metropolitan regions...

Investing and Managing Trusts Under the New Prudent Investor Rule: A Guide for Trustees, Investment Advisors, and Lawyers.(Review)
October 1, 1999... Train, John and Melfe, Thomas Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press, 1999. (282 pages) Investing and Managing Trusts Under the New Prudent Investor Rule is a straightforward explanation of the complex, evolving legal environment...

"Index Funds and Stock Market Growth".(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Goetzmann William Massa Massimo The National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper #7033, August 1999. This research article examines the relationship between stock market activity and investor demands. Using...

"Mainstreaming Derivatives".(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Institutional Investor, August 1999, P. 160. How many public and private pension systems use derivatives as part of their investment portfolio? It turns out that nearly 43 percent of survey respondents use them in their retirement plans....

"From Messaging to Workflow--Public Agencies Take the Next Step".(Brief Article)(Abstract)
October 1, 1999... Berry Bob Park Ridge, IL: URISA News, July/August 1999, p. 1-3. This article provides an example of how public agencies and other non-profit organizations can increase efficiency and improve citizen access by utilizing leading...

The New Meaning of Quality in the Information Age.(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Prahalad, C.K. Krishnan, M.S. Harvard Business Review, September-October, 1999, PP. 109-118. How does a finance officer judge software quality? The authors point out that determining quality of police cars or other manufactured...

"Tax Increment Debt Financing: An Analysis of the Mainstreaming of a Fringe Sector".(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Johnson Craig L. Public Budgeting and Finance, Spring 1999, PP. 47-67. In recent years, the use of tax increment financing (TIFs) to fund infrastructure projects has increased substantially. Since 1945 when TIFs were first created...

"Competitive Bidding for Municipal Bonds: New Test of the Underwriter Search Hypothesis".(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Leonard Paul A. Municipal Finance Journal, Winter 1999, PP. 18-36. Although this article makes no claim as to whether negotiated or competitive bond sales are more efficient for all bond sales, it does argue that competitive sales...

"State Programs Support Community Efforts to Bolster Economy, Add Jobs".(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Solin Denver, CO: Colorado Municipalities, July-August 1999, PP. 20-22. David Economic development opportunities abound in Colorado, luring entrepreneurs, small businesses, and large firms to the state's appealing business...

GeoExchange in Federal Facilities.(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Washington, DC: Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium, Inc., 1999. (23 pp). In 1994 and 1999, President Clinton passed executive orders mandating substantial increases in energy efficiency and conservation measures at federal facilities. The...

Prison Privatization in Pennsylvania: The Case Study of Delaware County.(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Allegheny Institute for Public Policy, August 1999. Privatization is at the forefront of every discussion on increasing the cost efficiency of government. At the county level, the privatization of correctional facilities has become a major...

"The Local Impact of Electric Industry Restructuring".(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Berry, David Public Manager, July/August 1999, pp.18-21. Expecting that restructuring will lower power supply prices, a number of states are moving toward retail electric competition to replace regulated monopoly electrical service....

"What Does Government Cost? Begin With A-B-C".(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Ehrenberg, Jeff Austin, TX: Fiscal Notes, August 1999, pp. 5-6. This article discusses how government agencies can contain costs and reduce spending by adopting an activity-based costing system. Activity-based costing allows...

"Changing Forms of County Government: Effects on Revenue and Expenditure Policy".(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Morgan David R. Public Administration Review, July/August 1999, pp. 315-324. Kickham Kenneth Over the past several decades, there has been a significant increase in the reorganization of county governments in the United...

"Positive Changes Made to Local Road Assistance".(Maine's Local Road Assistance Program)(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Dufour Augusta, MA: Maine Townsman, July 1999, pp. 8-11. Kate This article focuses on the restructuring of Maine's Local Road Assistance Program (LRAP) which reimburses municipalities for maintaining and improving local road...

"State Budgets and the Business Cycle: Implications for the Federal Balanced Budget Amendment Debate".(Abstract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... McGranahan, Leslie Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Third Quarter 1999, pp. 2-17. This articles reviews proposals for a federal balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution, and compares it against...

"Focus on Pension Investments".
October 1, 1999... Employee Benefit Plan Review, August 1999, pp. 14-19. This article examines the important decisions pension administrators must make while overseeing pension investments. For example, many pension systems in the private and public sectors...

"Achievement Awards".
October 1, 1999... Public Risk, August 1999, PP. 23-31. This article presents the 1999 Public Risk Management Association Achievement Award winners. It recognizes winners in three categories: outstanding product, outstanding program, and outstanding pool...

Taxes and Other Revenues.
October 1, 1999... "Rethinking the Way Americans Pay for College" Kane, Thomas J. Santa Monica, CA: The Milken Institute Review, Third Quarter 1999, pp. 14-23. Every year, state and local governments contribute approximately $47 billion in operating...