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Browsing Centers and Institutes by Author "Armstron, Andrew"
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Item Baltimore Case Study(Center for State and Local Government Leadership, George Mason University, 2013-09-30) Lawson, MichaelEvidence suggests that a number of factors have contributed to Baltimore’s fiscal resiliency. These include the primary role that counties play in the structure of local government in Maryland, the state assumption of the financing and operation of key functions and the equalizing impact of state aid. Local institutions also play a major role—in particular, the responsibility and authority granted to the Board of Estimate by the city charter. Lastly, the confluence of professionalism in budgeting and financial administration combined with a political culture where the advice and guidance of those professionals is heeded by elected officials contributes to Baltimore’s fiscal resiliency.Item GMU Fiscal Study Preliminary Research(Center for State and Local Government Leadership, George Mason University, 2012) Shafroth, FrankIn its recent report, the State Budget Crisis Task Force noted one theme arising out of the Great Recession: fiscal stress runs downhill. Local governments are confronting the greatest fiscal challenges in at least a century, struggling to balance their budgets in the wake of the greatest economic downturn since the 1930s. Despite the pressures facing local governments, providing for the continuity of essential services matters. Indeed, what distinguishes Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy from other kinds of corporate bankruptcy in federal law is the provision to ensure continuity in the provision of essential services. When a corporation faces default, it can simply take the “keys” and hand them over to a federal bankruptcy court—which can sell the remainder assets and distribute the proceeds to the debtors and shareholders. But when a municipality faces default, that is not an option. For the child whose chance for success rests upon learning—access to schooling, to health care, to safety are uniquely local challenges—whether the local government has disparate levels of poverty, crime, inadequate fiscal resources or legal authority; the essential responsibility may not be abjured. Yet, despite the dire predictions from commentators, the numbers of Chapter 9 bankruptcy filings or municipal bond defaults have not risen through the Great Recession. In fact, considering the extraordinary pressures they face, remarkably few local governments have opted to seek Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy protection or have fallen into state receivership. Where are the risks greatest to the most critical and essential services? What are the options for our system of federalism, especially at the state-local level, for local governments that are at risk? This study will examine the challenges facing local governments flowing from the great recession. The following literature review will place the George Mason University Local Government Fiscal Sustainability Project in the context of the existing literature that answers these questions.Item Pittsburgh Case Study(Center for State and Local Government Leadership, George Mason University, 2013-09-01) Emmans, SarahFacing decades of structural budget gaps and unsustainable legacy costs, the City of Pittsburgh entered two forms of state oversight in 2004. In the nearly ten years since, the city has turned structural deficits into annual positive fund balances, restructured its crushing debt load, streamlined an outsized government, and earned a triple-notch bond rating upgrade this summer. Still, with a $380 million pension liability, many doubt that Pittsburgh is ready to graduate from state oversight – especially given the extra relief from restrictive state laws that Act 47 provides to city officials. Meanwhile, a task force comprised of high-level state and local officials, labor leaders, and other stakeholders has convened to develop reforms to the laws -- including Act 47 – that affect communities’ fiscal sustainability.Item Providence Case Study(Center for State and Local Government Leadership, George Mason University, 2013-09-01) Emmans, SarahIn March of 2011, just a few months after taking office, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras declared that the city was experiencing a “Category 5” fiscal hurricane. Less than a year later, he announced that the city was on the brink of bankruptcy. Taveras and city officials addressed a two-year, $180 million budget gap through layoffs and attrition, school closures, other service cuts, a modest tax increase, major concessions from the city’s unions, and extracting voluntary payments in lieu of taxes from the major nonprofits in Providence. These actions came against the backdrop of state takeover and, ultimately, the Chapter 9 bankruptcy of tiny Central Falls. The impoverished city of 19,000 was the first rescue attempt under the Rhode Island Fiscal Stability Act of 2010, with two more communities following shortly thereafter, and several more currently teetering on the edge.Item San Bernardino Case Study(Center for State and Local Government Leadership, George Mason University, 2013-09-01) Lawson, Michael; Shafroth, FrankBy most accounts, four key factors have contributed to San Bernardino’s fiscal situation: the charter, political culture, state actions (or inactions) and economic shocks. The last two factors caused have caused many cities across the U.S. to stumble in recent years or even in recent decades, but the vast majority of them have been able to regain their footing. A weak charter combined with a negative political culture made overcoming the economic shocks and state actions too steep a hill for San Bernardino to climb. Most likely, it will be several years—as the city works its way through the bankruptcy process— before we know the extent to which San Bernardino stabilizes and regains its fiscal footing.