Saving Local Government: Financial Sustainability in a Challenging World

ISBN-13: 9789811643316 / Angielski / Twarda / 2022

Joseph Drew

Spis treści

Part I Triage

Chapter 1: Triage for Local Government

This Chapter examines how to ascertain which local governments need saving. Specifically I consider both solvency risk, and sustainability risk with reference to key performance monitoring theory and concepts. Moreover, I also consider the risks involved with performance monitoring, including heresthetic responses and the need for hermeneutic interpretation of data.

Chapter 2: Some Important Theories of Local Government

In this Chapter I cover the key theories employed throughout the remainder of the book: Aristotle’s epistemology (aitia), fiscal equivalence, the decentralisation theorem, the principle of subsidiarity, the principle of double effect, Leviathan theories, and sortition.

Chapter 3: How Will We Know Success?

In this Chapter I introduce the policy success frameworks of Bovens and t’Hart (2016), and McConnell (2010). I also extend the framework in innovative ways to include (i) the epistemology of Aristotle (based on Posterior Analytics) and (ii) a moral success lens (based on subsidiarity).

Part II: Local Government First Aide

Chapter 4: First Aide

Addressing cash flow problems, stress tests, political engagement, staff engagement, community engagement. The importance of experts truly having both demonstrable expertise and trust. Community forums, community juries, and sortition are all discussed in this chapter also.

Part III: The Treatment of Chronic Local Government Conditions

Chapter 5: Saving Local Government through Amalgamation and Co-operative Arrangements

This chapter provides a frank assessment of the efficacy of both amalgamation and co-operative arrangements drawing on the most recent theoretical and empirical work in this field, for which the author is a widely acknowledged international expert

Chapter 6: Saving Local Government through De-Amalgamation

This chapter investigates the costs, practicality and heresthetic of saving local government through de-amalgamation – a topic not hitherto discussed in scholarly books. I draw extensively on my first-hand experience working for a small rural local government community to provide realistic and practical advice, founded on sound theory.

Chapter 7: Saving Local Government through Reform of Political Institutions

This Chapter looks at the oft-neglected association between political institutions and financial sustainability. Specifically I consider: (i) directly elected Mayors, (ii) number of Councillors, (iii) the use of sortition chambers, (iv) the effect of restricting Councillor powers, (v) the need for compulsory review of programs (and criteria for review).

Chapter 8: Planning to Save Local Government

This Chapter examines long term financial plans, integrated planning, community planning, budgets and budget updates, automatic stabilisers, rainy day funds, plain language term reports prior to elections, central audit, audit committees, balanced budget legislation, and debt ceilings. 

Chapter 9: Saving Local Government – A Moral Perspective

This chapter draws on the principle of subsidiarity as well as Aristotelian thought regarding the purpose of government to present a moral perspective on saving local government. I also cover how to charge fees equitably, as well as taxation regimes (including moral taxation limitation institutions) consistent with the natural law tradition. 

Chapter 10: Saving Local Government with Subsidium

Here I cover: (i) how local governments should provide grants to community groups, and (ii) intergovernmental grants (disaggregated for HFE and VFI objectives respectively). I emphasise the importance of providing help without creating a dependency trap or fiscal illusion. 

Chapter 11: Can We Really Save Local Government?

In this conclusion I make a pragmatic reflection on the probability of saving local government, along with a warning for what will occur if we are not successful. 

O autorze

Joseph Drew is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Local Government in the Institute for Public Policy & Governance at the University of Technology Sydney and adjunct Professor at the Department of Business Administration, Tokyo Metropolitan University. His research interests focus on public finance, performance measurement, local government structural reform, natural law philosophy and governance. Previously he worked in executive positions in the retail banking sector. His work has been recognised in the 2004 Australian College of Educators awards and he is the recipient of the University Medal (Griffith University, 2003) and the D H Drummond award (University of New England, 2014). Recent publications have appeared in Public Administration, Local Government Studies, Public Money & Management, Public Administration Quarterly, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, the Australian Journal of Public Administration, and Policy & Politics. He has consulted with numerous Victorian, Tasmanian, South Australian and New South Wales councils on accounting, finance and economic matters. Joseph has also been called as an expert witness for multiple Australian State and Federal Government Upper House inquiries into local public finance, as well as working on a number of projects of national significance abroad. His new book – Reforming Local Government – BECAME available from Springer IN September 2020. Joseph serves on the Editorial Board of Australia’s highest ranked public administration journal – the Australian Journal of Public Administration.

Blurb

This book focuses squarely on the problem of saving local government in the context of extraordinary financial challenges being faced across the globe. Saving Local Government is written principally for practitioners and employs a ‘conversational’ tone which makes complex theory both engaging and accessible. It augments world-best scholarship with Professor Joseph Drew’s extensive practical experience in guiding local governments away from the brink of financial insolvency. It is thus a ‘must read’ for local government executives, Mayors, Councillors and the regulators that oversee the sector.

In Saving Local Government Professor Drew also makes a number of important contributions to address significant gaps in the scholarly literature. In particular, the book includes extensive treatment of de-amalgamation, applied natural law philosophy, Aristotelian epistemology for evaluating public policy success, as well as alternatives to financial administration. The work is therefore also compelling reading for scholars.