Efficiency Measurement in the Local Public Sector: Econometric and Mathematical Programming Frontier Techniques

Local government in advanced economies is undergoing a period of rapid reform aimed at enhancing its efficiency and effectiveness. Accordingly, the definition, measurement and improvement of organisational performance is crucial. Despite the importance of efficiency measurement in local government it is only relatively recently that econometric and mathematical frontier techniques have been applied to local public services. This paper attempts to provide a synoptic survey of the comparatively few empirical analyses of efficiency measurement in local government. We examine both the measurement of inefficiency in local public services and the determinants of local public sector efficiency. The implications of efficiency measurement for practitioners in local government are examined by way of conclusion.

The valuation of market information from livestock selling complexes

The efficient operation of livestock markets is contingent upon producers accessing relevant market information which assists adjustment to production and distribution. This article provides an analysis of the value of market information gleaned by producers attending public livestock auctions. The article uses the Travel Cost Method to quantify the value of this information and notes the limitations of applying the Travel Cost Method in this context.Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries,

Water rights: a comparison of the impacts of urban and irrigation reforms in Australia

Although there has been a policy thrust towards making all Australians more cognisant of the relative scarcity of water resources, the approach adopted for urban dwellers differs markedly from that applied to irrigators. These differences are examined from a property-rights perspective focussing primarily on the institutional hierarchies in the Victorian water sector. The analysis reveals significant attenuation of urban dwellers’ rights, presumably on the basis of the information deficiencies that circumscribe urban water use. Alternative policy options are then proposed, which might alleviate some of these information deficiencies and simultaneously address the efficiency losses that attend the present arrangements.consumer demand, institutional economics, water management and policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Regulation versus pricing in urban water policy: the case of the Australian National Water Initiative

The Australian National Water Initiative (NWI) builds on the foundations of earlier water reforms, attempts to correct earlier errors in both policy and its implementation, and seeks to better define some of the policy aims with the benefit of hindsight. However, despite the deliberate effort to improve on earlier reforms, the NWI still embodies a significant economic paradox. Although policymakers have shown their faith in the market insofar as allocating water between competing agricultural interests is concerned, they have not shown the same degree of faith in the ability of urban users to respond to price signals. This paper attempts to shed at least some light on this question by examining the responses of a number of State governments across Australia to the NWI. The paper specifically explores the rationale for non-price regulation in the urban context but challenges the long-term viability of this approach.water reform, urban water, water market, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Water Buy-Back in Australia: Political, Technical and Allocative Challenges

State and Federal governments are increasingly reliant on the re-purchase of water access rights as a vehicle for bringing ‘over-allocation’ in the Murray- Darling Basin into check. Not surprisingly, this has attracted criticism from several quarters, usually on the basis that such mechanisms produce unnecessary hardship for rural communities. Set against this are the views of many economists who have bemoaned the modest endeavours of governments to actively use water markets and the ongoing proclivity of agencies to instead embark on public projects under the guise of water use efficiency (see, for example Watson 2008). This paper focuses specifically on water buyback and traces recent policy episodes in this context. The paper also offers details of alternative market instruments which have the potential to improve on the current, relatively fragmented arrangements. We use contemporary examples to test the efficacy of alternative buyback instruments in the hope of informing policy formulation.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

REVIEW NOTE: Local Government Reform and Local Government Finance

The multi-faceted problem of local government finance has attracted increasing attention in the new millennium. The reasons for the renewed interest in this thorny question are comparatively straightforward. In the first place, for the past two decades all public sector institutions have been profoundly affected by the twin revolutions simultaneously sweeping the world – the globalization of the international economy and the information revolution wrought by the computer age – and local government is no exception. Not only have these inexorable forces had dramatic implications for the structure of government as a whole, and relationships between the different tiers of government, but also for service provision and public finance, including local public finance. Secondly, substantially heightened demands on local government, together with limited access to adequate funding, have seen the genesis of a deepening crisis in the financial sustainability of local government entities

Water markets as a vehicle for water reform: the case of New South Wales

Water reform in NSW is being undertaken using an adaptive approach in recognition of the uncertainty and imperfect knowledge embodied in the riverine environment. However, the reform process also relies, in part, on the ability of markets for tradable water entitlements to develop and thereby assist in allocating scarce water resources to their highest value use. This article explores impediments to the formation of efficient markets in permanent tradable water entitlements in NSW. The article concludes that more attention should be paid to market failures and related problems which manifest themselves in thin markets for permanent water entitlements.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Social service, social justice or a matter of faith? : the Palmerston North Methodist Social Service Centre 1963-2000 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History, Massey University

The Manawatu Methodist Social Service Centre ... was created as a means of Christian outreach by providing skilled counselling services and practical help to people in any type of need...without any regard to religious affiliation or profession. ...The aim is to give service in the community as widely as possible, therefore we seek FRIENDS from every part of the community, who will give support to the work. 'Friends of the Social Service Centre' pamphlet, MSSC. 1969 The Methodist Social Service Centre has been seeking, and making, friends in the Palmerston North area for over forty years. Its reasons for doing so, its actions and their consequences, are at the core of this study, which argues that a process of mutual benefit has resulted from the ways in which the Centre has chosen to present itself to its community of users and supporters. The Methodist Social Service Centre (MSSC) was established in 1963 as a formal extension of the pastoral and welfare work of the Methodist Church in Palmerston North, as its founders considered that government and other voluntary agencies were not meeting the demand for family-based services in the city. In following decades the MSSC has broadened its range of services to the surrounding community in response to changing societal needs and the increasingly professional basis of welfare provision. Its staff has a strong history of involvement with many other community-based agencies, and the Centre has been active in helping to establish and support other groups working in the city and region. Throughout changes of style in leadership of the Centre, changes in the programmes and social work avenues pursued and changes not of their own making in the wider community, the Centre's staff have maintained a strong sense of who they are and the values they deem important in their work. The Centre has consciously remained relatively small and has generally avoided large-scale capital developments, preferring to focus on flexibility of service to meet changing welfare needs and demands. This ethos has provided staff and management committees with not only the base to continue and develop their work, but with a platform to develop and foster community initiatives and strong links with other welfare and government agencies. Perhaps more importantly, it can be argued that it has resulted in a wide acceptance of the centre as an important part of the wider Palmerston North community

A Factor Analytic Assessment of Financial Sustainability: The Case of New South Wales Local Government

© 2016 CPA Australia Financial sustainability in local government remains a pressing problem which has seen a host of public policy interventions, including compulsory consolidation and performance monitoring through financial sustainability ratios. In September 2014, the New South Wales (NSW) Government announced a reform program centred on increasing scale in local government to make councils ‘fit for the future’. We apply factor analysis to the financial ratios informing the NSW Government's reform initiative to identify the underlying factors for observed financial performance data. We find evidence indicating that three independent underlying factors account for the adopted measures of financial sustainability. The public policy implication arising from this study suggests that the reforms imposed by the NSW Government on NSW municipalities may only meet with limited successa