J. Edwin Benton

County Government Structure and County Revenue Policy: What's the Connection?

OVER THE LAST several decades,county government officials have found themselves in an untenable budgetary dilemma. Simply stated, they have found that it has become much more difficult to raise sufficient revenue to fund county resident demands for the expansion of older traditional services such as roads, welfare, health, police, and courts and the start-up of newer municipal-type services (e.g., fire, utilities, protective inspections, libraries) and regional services (parks and recreation, sewage and solid waste disposal, resource conservation, urban renewal and redevelopment, transit). Although this dilemma has been much more acute in counties experiencing economic decline or a decrease in population, it is also prevalent among economically stable and rapidly growing counties. Contributing to the difficulty of raising enough revenue has been the uncertainty over the continuation of federal aid, adverse economic forces such as inflation and recession, and the erosion of the local property tax base. A particularly vexing problem has been constraints on counties’ revenue-raising capability by state constitutions and statutes. County as well as municipal officials in the United States have long complained about the revenue-raising limitations imposed on County Government Structure and County Revenue Policy: What’s the Connection?

Contracting and Franchising County Services in Florida

This study examines the privatization behavior of county governments and treats contracting and franchising as separate decision-making activities. Contracting decisions are influenced primarily by the desire to reduce production costs. Growth pressures and a political culture that favors professional administration over private-regarding politics also are determinants. Franchising decisions are influenced heavily by growth pressures, political impediments to altering the traditional public production arrangements, a political culture that insulates administration from politics, and a desire to keep tax rates down. In other words, franchising decisions are predicated extensively on efforts to limit the scope of government and operate county government according to businesslike principles.

Intergovernmental relations and public policy

Unlike other works in the field, Intergovernmental Relations and Public Policy deals with all levels of intergovernmental relations in the United States. Following an introductory section on the intergovernmental setting of public-policy, the book explores federal-state, state-local, and federal-state-local relations. There are discussions of health and safety, natural resources and environmental regulatory policy, federal aid programs, state small community development programs, and many other areas of current concern. Each of the fifteen chapters examines a significant development in contemporary intergovernmental relations, and the authors attempt to focus on the interactions of governmental units, which have a direct effect on the making, implementation, and impact of public policy.

Going It Alone New Survey Data on Economic Recovery Strategies in Local Government

To set the tone for the Special Issue, this article focuses on understanding the total impact of the Great Recession on local governments, predicting whether these impacts will be permanent, and providing explanations for the changes that these governments have made and prescriptions of how to address them and whether it constitutes a “New Normal.” This opening article first reviews the articles in the Special Issue that examine various facets of the “New Normal.” To add substance to this context, data from a recent survey of county and cities are presented and provide timely and useful information on these government’s recovery strategies, patterns of behavior, and responses to the their changed situation brought on by the recession. Finally, this article closes with a consideration of the data against the framework and a call for further research while looking at what these strategies imply about research on new governance arrangements for local governments.

Patterns of Metropolitan Service Dominance Central City and Central County Service Roles Compared

This study found that large central city service roles were dependent on state laws providing for greater functional responsibility, easy annexation procedures, and less restrictive property tax limitations and receipt of substantial state aid. When such factors were not present, a large central city service role was more likely where its population was socially and racially similar to its suburb(s) and the city contained an adequate supply of managerial and professional talent. On the other hand, large central county service roles were associated with substantial state and federal aid, less restrictive property tax limitations, greater county functional responsibility, and large urban populations.

Local Government Collaboration Considerations, Issues, and Prospects

The purpose of this article is to lay a foundation for a better understanding of the nature of local government collaboration, the rationale for and pros and cons of entering into them, the considerations and issues that accompany these kinds of arrangements, and their prospects for success. Taking a closer look at local governments collaborative is particularly timely and relevant, given the lingering anguish associated with the great recession and the prospect for local governments having to adapt to the exigencies and challenges of providing services in what many in academia and government are projecting to be the new normal. While the five articles that follow will address many of the topics highlighted previously and hopefully provide more informed answers than lingering questions, additional, follow-up research and the development of best case scenarios will be both welcomed and warranted.

Service Challenges and Governance Issues Confronting American Counties in the 21st Century: An Overview

The American county?long consid ered to be the bedrock of local gov ernment in the United States?has grown in importance since the middle of the 20th century. Between 1962 and 2002, the county government share of county and municipal revenues grew from 39.3 to 47.3 percent, and expenditures grew from 33.7 to 46.5 percent. As a consequence of this substantial growth in county financial activity, there has been a con comitant and stunning increase in the types and level of county government services. Re latedly, the county workforce has increased dramatically, more than tripling in size from around 700,000 full-time equivalent employ ees in 1962 to 2.3 million in 2002. In 2002, county employees accounted for 48.6 per cent of the county and municipal workforce compared with 35.7 percent in 1962. Today, counties employ almost as many people as do municipalities. Coincident with this growth, American counties face a number of challenges as ser vice-delivery agents and instruments of gov ernance in the early 21st century. Viewed from a global perspective, perhaps the most daunting challenge is whether or not coun ties can meet the myriad and far-flung expec tations that accompany the service roles coun ties are expected to play. A growing number of county governments must simultaneously function as traditional, local, and regional governments (see Benton 2002a). As tradi tional governments, counties serve as ad ministrative or political arms of their state governments and thus perform a number of state functions (many of them mandated) and services to all county residents.1 When counties function as local governments, they provide municipal-type services to residents of unincorporated areas.2 In addition, densely populated counties often serve as regional governments when they provide urban-type services to residents of both unincorporated and incorporated areas.3 This enlargement of the service role and prominence of counties and the wholly new approach to daily operations that is required means that county governments must deal with several governance issues. Indeed, these issues are part and parcel of the very essence of counties as they strive to provide tradi tional as well as municipaland urban-type services and meet the heightened expecta tions of democratic governance. As function ing full-service governments, three questions in particular are salient. First, what is the most suitable form of county government in terms of responsiveness to escalating service expectations and ability to negotiate with

County impact fee adoptions as policy innovations: a search for theory

This study documents the importance of employing an integrated model to explain innovative policy making among county governments in Florida. Specifically, it suggests that both internal determinants and regional diffusion factors influence the adoption of county impact fees. While rapid growth and impending county commission elections appear to be factors motivating adoption, the tendency to adopt can be offset by a substantial low-income population. Nevertheless, obstacles to adoption can be overcome where cities within the county have previously adopted an impact fee.

The Paradox of Citizen Service Evaluations and Tax/Fee Preferences: the Case of Two Small Cities

This study of two small cities in Florida helps us understand the paradox of local government citizens holding inconsistent views of service evaluations and tax/fee preferences. The analysis suggests that this inconsistency results from citizen attitudes being predicated on different considerations. Whereas service evaluations appear to be based on general attitudes toward city government and the community, tax/fee preferences are influenced more by self-interest factors. Moreover, self-interest indicators seem to be better predictors of tax/fee views for services that are associated with specific groups of city residents (e.g., parks and recreation).

Voter Attitudinal Factors and Metropolitan Consolidation: A Re-evaluation

There has been an enormous outpouring of literature on the nation’s metropolitan areas, much of it designed to offer solutions to the problem of governing such areas. In spite of apparent extensive interest in reform, however, few structural changes have occurred when a vote was required. In fact, the record of consolidation referenda in the past decade shows two defeats for every victory (Marando and Whitley, 1972). Yet, for some, city-county consolidation is still a viable answer to the problems associated with fragmented government. This is evidenced by the fact that irr 1976 alone, forty proposed charters were pending.