John R. Bartle

A Review of State Procurement and Contracting

Are states effectively managing contracting and procurement activities? Are they striking the right balance between central administrative control and empowerment through delegation? How effective is training and monitoring? How do these practices compare to the principles of best practice? What role will information technology play in the future for procurement and contracting? As part of the Government Performance Project, budget, procurement, and contracting managers in 48 states were surveyed, providing descriptions of their procurement and contracting practices. There are numerous developments that speak to the practical details of contemporary public management. Five key findings are (1) information technology needs are challenging states, with some responding well, but others struggling, (2) in most states staff training needs to be improved, (3) restrictions prohibiting “best value” purchasing need to be removed, (4) states can learn from and improve practices by partnering with other governments and private organizations, and (5) most states use a hybrid of both centralized and decentralized management structures when it comes to contracting and procurement.

Beyond the property tax: local government revenue diversification

Local governments in the U.S. rely less on the property tax than they have historically. This long-term trend has been accompanied by important shifts in the composition of local revenues. While the property tax still serves as one primary source of local government revenue, increasingly other sources are used to pay for local government. This paper first examines that trend, the forces behind it, and its regional impact. We then explore trends in three central states - - Iowa, Nebraska, and Arkansas -- that have experienced substantial revenue shifts in recent years. A concluding section discusses the options for the future.

Local Government Revenue Structure: Trends and Challenges

This paper examines trends in local government revenues and current challenges that local governments face in raising revenue. We alsolook into the future in an effort to make recommendations to localgovernments regarding their revenue structure. Important trends that wedocument include a long-term decline in the property tax and an increase inboth state aid and user charges. Recent economic changes present seriouschallenges for local governments due to volatility of sales taxes, decreasesin property values, and threats to state aid. As local governments shape theirrevenue structure, they will need to respond to external economic,technological and demographic changes. Only user charges offer hopefulprospects as a productive revenue source.

The Fiscal Impact of Federal and State Aid to Large U.S. Cities: An Empirical Analysis of Budgetary Response

This article examines four types of aid programs to thirty-nine large U.S. cities federal revenue sharing, federal categorical aid, state general aid, and state categorical aid. The central finding is that there is significant variation in the magnitude of property tax reduction resulting from different types of state general aid. Property tax credits and exemptions are less effective approaches in reducing local property taxes than are state lump-sum aid or city use of piggybacked taxes Categorical state and federal aid mostly fund additional city spending and have small but important stimulative effects on the revenue side These results suggest that differences in the design of aid programs have important implications for their fiscal impact and their effectiveness in reducing property taxes.

The Sustainable Development of U.S. Air Transportation: The Promise and Challenge of Institutional Reform

Sustainable development is a concept that has had great influence on natural resource policy; however, to date, it has had limited influence on transportation. This article examines how well U.S. air transportation practice meets the goal of sustainability and finds current practice to be unsustainable. Forecasted trends suggest that this problem will get worse. Neither current pollution control policies nor technological progress are sufficient to solve the problem. One potential solution is reduced use of air travel, however, the goals of mobility and speed of travel would be inhibited. Taxes could reduce the external costs caused by air pollution, however, there are administrative and political barriers to this. Institutional reform seems to be the logical solution, and the process to achieve this reform is described.

BUDGETING, POLICY, AND ADMINISTRATION: PATTERNS AND DYNAMICS IN THE UNITED STATES

This article examines the relationships between policy, administration, and budgeting. I argue that the administration of government is directly and primarily influenced by changes in policy and budgeting. A conceptual framework of the interrelationship between these three factors is presented. This framework is applied to Schicks classic periodicization of twentieth century U.S. history. Three value orientations of budgeting—control, management, and planning—were evident at different times during these periods. The framework is then applied to the period since 1981, labeled a phase of limitation. This phase has been an unhealthy development in American government.

The Idea of Sustainable Development in Public Administration

This article introduces the Focus Issue on Sustainable Development by first discussing the environmental problems caused by unsustainable development and then the shortcomings caused by a piecemeal approach to policy development and implementation. The idea of sustainability appears to fit well with other core values of public administration, which is a consistent theme throughout each of the articles in this issue. Definitions of sustainability are discussed, followed by two relevant models. Finally, each article in the focus issue is introduced.

Sustainability and Transportation

This paper examines the evolution of the U.S. transportation system with a particular focus on transportation sustainability. Drawing from transportation history and emerging sustainability practice, the paper articulates new roles for public administration practitioners to enable them to promote sustainable transportation.

Budgeting, policy and administration: patterns and dynamics in the U.S

This article examines the relationships between policy, administration, and budgeting I argue that the administration of government is directly and primarily influenced by changes in policy and budgeting. A conceptual framework of the interrelationship between these three factors is presented. This framework is applied to Schicks classic periodicization of twentieth century U.S. history. Three value orientations of budgeting—control, management, and planning—were evident at different times during these periods. The framework is then applied to the period since 1981, labeled a phase of limitation. This phase has been an unhealthy development in American government.

Sustainability in the Air: The Modernization of International Air Navigation:

In a recent article in this journal, Leuenberger, Bartle, and Chen called for public administrators to take a new role, utilizing collaborative skills, to design implementable solutions to promote sustainability in transportation. We examine this call by exploring the case of an international aviation initiative. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Aviation System Block Upgrades (ASBU) policy has been developed to provide a road map to modernize global air navigation. This article explores the case of the ASBU as an example of meeting the call for the new role for public administrators to implement sustainable practices. We find that this policy improves international air transportation sustainability in several dimensions, and that this approach is a model for implementing sustainable policies.