Alter, Theodore R.

English

Research Papers in Economics

LOCAL GOVERNMENT  FINANCE  IN
PENNSYLVANIA:  POLICY AND  MANAGEMENT
EDUCATION
Theodore R. Alter
The Pennsylvania State University
Local  government  revenue  and  expenditure  policy  and  financial
management are important issues for local  government officials.  Most
other citizens  also view local  finance  policy  as  important,  and many
recognize the public policy significance  of financial  management.
Public policy  educators in Penn State's Department  of Agricultural
Economics  and  Rural  Sociology,  working through  the  Pennsylvania
Cooperative  Extension  Service,  are  actively  involved  in  conducting
educational  programs on  local  government revenue  and  expenditure
structure,  tax reform proposals, real property  assessment and admin-
istration,  financial  management  techniques,  community  service  in-
novations,  and  other  issues.  The  audience,  teaching  objectives,  and
basic principles  common  to  all Pennsylvania  Cooperative  Extension
local  government  finance programs  are  outlined below.  In  addition,
program  development,  delivery,  and evaluation  methods  and educa-
tional materials used in these programs  are discussed.
Institutional Setting
Pennsylvania's  local  government  system  is  a  complex  mosaic  of
structure,  function,  and authority  comprised  (as of 1982) of 67  coun-
ties;  2571  cities,  boroughs,  and  townships;  1 incorporated  town;  501
school districts; and 2376 special purpose municipal authorities.  These
local governments vary considerably in population, rurality, economic
vitality, and other socioeconomic characteristics. Their responsibilities
for  providing public services  and facilities also vary by local  govern-
ment type.
Pennsylvania  local  governments  garner  revenues  from  numerous
local  tax and nontax and intergovernmental  sources. Local taxing au-
thority is broad and includes general  and special purpose real property
taxes  and nearly  a dozen  non-real  property taxes.  Use of this taxing
authority  and legal  tax  rate  limits vary  greatly  among  and within
local  government  types.  Real property  and non-real  property  tax re-
161form is a perennial public  policy issue  as is real property  assessment
reform.
While  there  are  generally  similar  budgeting,  auditing,  and  other
financial  management  requirements  for  all Pennsylvania  local  gov-
ernments, there is also considerable variation in specific requirements
and  allowable  practices  by  local  government  type.  Further,  there  is
considerable  variation  in  financial management  expertise  and  expe-
rience  among local  government officials.
Policy  and Management  Education
Regular  local  government  finance  educational  offerings  fit  in two
broad  categories:  policy  and  financial  management.  The  policy  cate-
gory includes programs on revenue and expenditure structure and tax
reform. Financial management programs emphasize topics such as au-
diting,  annual  and  multi-year  budgeting,  financial  statements,  and
cash  flow  analysis.  Programs  on real  property  tax  assessment  and
administration and community service  provision alternatives have  both
policy and management  components.
Audience, specific teaching objectives, program development and de-
livery approaches,  educational  materials,  and evaluation  methods  vary
from  one  program  to  another.  Across  programs,  however,  there are
important commonalities.  A discussion of these  follows.
Audience. The audience for Pennsylvania's local government finance
extension  programs  includes local  elected and appointed  officials,  cit-
izens  not serving  as government  officials,  state legislative  and  exec-
utive branch  officials,  and extension  agents and faculty.  The relative
importance of these groups varies by program, but overall local elected
and appointed  officials are the most important audience.  Citizens not
serving  as  officials  are  second  in importance,  with extension  agents
and  faculty  a close  third.  State  officials,  to  date, have received  little
direct attention.  Pennsylvania's  programs  have  primarily  a local-  or
community- as  opposed to a state-level  focus.
Teaching Objectives.  While  detailed  teaching  objectives  differ  for
each specific  local finance policy and financial  management program,
two general  teaching  objectives  are  common  to  all  programs.  These
two  objectives  are to provide  unbiased  information and  to teach tools
and skills  useful  in  analyzing  local  government  finance  policy  and
managing  local revenues  and expenditures.
Basic Principles. Several principles form the basis of Pennsylvania
Extension's  local  government  finance programming.  First, both  local
financial management issues and local finance policy have public pol-
icy  significance  and  are  viewed  as  relevant  public  policy  education
topics.  Financial  management  education  becomes  public  policy  edu-
cation because financial management techniques have implications for
the distribution  of authority  and  power  among  a local  government's
162elected  and  appointed  officials  and  between these  officials  and their
constituents.
Second,  program  focus  is defined and constantly redefined through
an ongoing process  of melding  audience  and extension  staff perspec-
tives. Audience ideas provide focus on important current problems and
issues.  Extension staff refine the definition of these current problems
and issues and incorporate emerging issues and long-term perspectives
into program offerings.
A  third basic  principle  involves  building program participant  and
extension  staff knowledge  and analytical  and management  capacity.
Participants  and staff must learn and  apply  decision  making frame-
works,  analytical  concepts,  and  specific  management  tools  so  they
themselves  can  analyze  policy  and  manage  local  revenues  and  ex-
penditures.  For extension  staff,  such an educational and experiential
base  fosters better  access  to local  government  officials  through  com-
mon  understandings.  It also  helps make staff better  analysts  of edu-
cational needs as well as more informed educators.
Fourth, individual  or government specific  technical assistance  pro-
gramming is de-emphasized.  Such assistance  is provided  only when it
affords an opportunity to teach analytical  and management skills, and
when it  is likely to foster work with larger, more  diverse  audiences.
The fundamental principle is that local government officials, extension
staff, and others should learn to "do-it-themselves."
Program  Development and Delivery Procedures. Several important
general operating procedures govern  local government  finance  exten-
sion program development  and delivery.
A first  important  operating  procedure  involves  identifying a niche
in the network  of public and private  sector providers of local  finance
policy and financial management technical assistance  and education.
This process is ongoing and requires constant redefinition of that niche
as the political-legal  and socioeconomic  context  of local  finance  and
financial management  evolves  and the provider  network changes.  Over
time,  three  key  factors  have  combined  to help  define  Pennsylvania
Cooperative  Extension's niche:  (1) provision of informal  adult  educa-
tion on important technical  issues;  (2)  ability  and willingness  to  de-
velop  and deliver programs  addressed to the  needs  of municipalities
and communities lacking  resources to hire full-time managers or out-
side  technical  assistance  and lacking  easy  access  to other education
providers  in the state; and  (3)  interest  and experience  in focusing  on
farm  and rural  nonfarm  interests  in  policy  research  and  education.
For effective public policy education, emphasis on farm and rural non-
farm  interests  must be  balanced  with  emphasis  on  the  interests  of
others in a public policy issue.
Another important operating procedure  is gaining and maintaining
visibility. Visibility  is important  for developing  interest in,  and  sup-
163port  for  all,  extension  programming.  Gaining  and  maintaining  visi-
bility,  like  defining  a  programming  niche,  is  an  ongoing  process.
Pennsylvania  Cooperative  Extension  staff generate  visibility  by:  (1)
providing  accurate,  timely, and unbiased information  and analysis in
meetings,  workshops, publications,  and individual contacts and through
other outlets;  (2)  carrying out an active, annual  schedule  of teaching
and publishing responsive  to audience  needs;  and (3)  interacting reg-
ularly with important audiences in their communities and at local and
state local government  association  conventions.
Program  delivery involves two key operating procedures.  Programs
are delivered using a variety of standard methods, the most important
being  a sequence of several two-  to  three-hour workshops involving
presentation,  discussion,  and problem solving exercises.  Adequate  in-
structional  time  is necessary  to  teach  and  to  provide  experience  in
applying the concepts  and tools useful in policy analysis and financial
management.  Not every  program  is taught  using this  approach,  but
most are.
Program  delivery has been coordinated  almost exclusively through
county agents and regional community development agents, primarily
the  latter.  This  regional community  development agent support has
been  an  important  element  in Pennsylvania's  program  delivery  ap-
proach.  Local  government  finance  extension  programming  in Penn-
sylvania would be  considerably  different in scope,  content,  audience,
and delivery without regional agent support.
Two other general operating procedures  are important. Inservice ed-
ucation keyed to program offerings is regularly provided to extension
staff.  Inservice  education  is a  mechanism  for  fostering staff interest
in programs,  helping staff feel more  comfortable  with  subject matter
that is often technical,  and helping staff become better educators and
analysts of educational  needs.
Strong  research  support is important for most extension programs.
Research  support  for Pennsylvania  local  government  finance  exten-
sion programs  comes primarily from an ongoing applied research  effort
keyed  to state issues carried  out by Penn State Cooperative Extension
public policy educators. Research results from other sources within and
external  to Penn  State are also  drawn upon.
Educational Materials. Numerous  educational  materials are  avail-
able  to support  local  government  finance  policy  and  financial  man-
agement teaching by Pennsylvania Cooperative Extension staff. These
materials  include  workshop  notebooks  containing  program  outlines,
definitions  of terms,  descriptions  of procedures,  and  problem  solving
exercises; publications in the Community Affairs series; extension bul-
letins; and visuals including transparencies  and  slide sets.  Continual
effort  is made to update,  improve,  and expand  the array  of available
educational  materials.
164Evaluation Methods. Three purposes  are emphasized  in evaluation
of Pennsylvania  Extension's local government finance  programs: pro-
gram improvement  and development,  knowledge  gain,  and  financial
management  practice  change.  Program  improvement  and  develop-
ment information is gathered  informally through discussion with pro-
gram participants as well as through simple participant surveys filled
out at each meeting or workshop.
Knowledge of key concepts  and tools  is measured  using a modified
pre- post-workshop  evaluation  design.  Immediately  after  each  work-
shop, participants rate their knowledge  of specified concepts  and tools
before  and after the workshop  experience.  The  percentage  of partici-
pants  who  express  an increase  of one  or more  points  on  a five  point
scale  is  used  as  a  measure  of program  effectiveness  with respect  to
knowledge gain.
Practice  change  is evaluated  by  assessing  present  financial  man-
agement  techniques  and  tracking  adoption  of new,  improved  tech-
niques  and  their  impacts  over  time.  This  evaluation  is  carried  out
using mail  surveys  and "elite" interviewing techniques  to determine
where  and why practices  changed or did not change  and the impacts
of change,  it if occurred.
Program  evaluation is very important  for internal  as well as exter-
nal  accountability,  but it  can  be disruptive  to the teaching  process.
For local finance policy and financial management extension programs
in Pennsylvania, a balance is struck between teaching and evaluation
efforts by keeping evaluation simple  and minimizing program partic-
ipant time involvement.  Particular  attention  is paid, however,  to not
unduly sacrificing scientific rigor in evaluation;  otherwise, credibility
regarding  program  effectiveness  is sacrificed.
Conclusion
Local  government  revenue  and  expenditure  policy  and  financial
management  are important  issues  for local government  officials  and
many other  citizens.  These  issues  offer  interesting  and  challenging
opportunities  for cooperative extension public policy educators:  oppor-
tunities for developing  and delivering educational programs that help
officials and citizens deal more effectively  with their policy  and man-
agement concerns and opportunities for building cooperative extension
service support.
165

LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE IN PENNSYLVANIA: POLICY AND MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Research Papers in Economics