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Watch: Intergovernmental Relations and Public Administration
Let’s take a look at intergovernmental
relations and public administration. Public administration has been altered, perhaps permanently by rapid
changes in IGR. Despite recent
efforts to gain greater control of
their bureaucracies, most chief executives have failed to stem the growth of vertical functional
bureaucratic linkages. State and local
government revenues can be severely
affected by economic downturns
and lag behind private sector
economy activity in returning to fiscal
strength and stability. Adding to these
difficulties is the fact that about
one-third of states suffer from a structural
budget imbalance due to revenue
growth that’s chronically slower
than increases in the cost of services
they must provide. Although intergovernmental
aid can bail out a city here or
a suburb there. It’s still not
clear whether the cost imposed
by inflation, tax limitation
movements and rising service
needs can be met over the
long-term by aid. These controls
raise questions about public
accountability and about the ability of
chief executives to coordinate
spending activity. Other emerging patterns in contemporary IGR include some decline in
relative prominence of fiscal and grant
related issues and a corresponding rise in the importance of
intergovernmental regulatory issues. There’s also a growing
recognition that the possibility of
increased coordination among local
governments may prove to be elusive in the long run in
terms of providing solutions to some of
the challenges faced.
