Handbook of Local Government Fiscal Health reinvigorates the debate surrounding the monitoring, reporting, assessing, and managing of local government fiscal stress, bankruptcy, and state takeovers. It provides both a solid conceptual basis for understanding the sources and causes behind local government fiscal stress and crisis, as well as tools for monitoring, reporting, and addressing such crises. Based on theoretical frameworks as well as empirical evidence and case studies, this book also addresses such issues as the impact of GASB 34 and GASB 45 on the assessment of policies that address fiscal stress and crisis. Ideal for students of Public Policy and Public Administration, Handbook of Local Government Fiscal Health seeks to both advance the state of the field in terms of research and frameworks around fiscal stress in local government as well as provide an assessment of the tools, monitoring practices, and state and local policies that are used to address situations of fiscal stress. Key Features: - Gathers current thinking and research on the topic for use by academics and students, and updates classic works on fiscal stress and fiscal distress by Terry Clark, Charles Levine, and others. - Serves as a desk reference for practitioners, especially now that the topic of fiscal health is again taking center stage. - Provides comprehensive coverage of the many environmental and organizational factors influencing fiscal health, as well as the full range of concerns and concepts relevant to defining and measuring fiscal health.
Fiscal health of local governments and municipalities has remained an important issue since the crises of the 1970s in places like New York, Philadelphia and Cleveland. More recently, the bankruptcy of Orange County California raised the possibility of a different type of financial failure than earlier ones. The beginning of the 21st century has witnessed two major economic bubbles including the dotcom and housing bubbles. These economic cycles combined with increasing health care, pension and other structural costs continue to challenge the fiscal viability of many jurisdictions. In particular, the economic and financial crisis of 2007-2008 is likely to result in potentially serious fiscal challenges for local jurisdictions.
Helisse Levine is assistant professor, Master of Public Administration Program, School of Business, Public Administration and Information Sciences at Long Island University, Brooklyn New York, where she teaches courses in public sector budgeting, healthcare financial management and research methods. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration from Rutgers University.Her research interests center on state and local government budgetary decision making, fiscal implications of economic cycles on sub-national governments, transparency in the municipal bond market, and the issue of gender in public administration. She has contributed to the Municipal Finance Journal, Administrative Theory & Praxis, and Gender in Management: an International Journal.
Co-Chair, State and Local Government Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan