Pacific \ Local government finance
Resourcing local government remains a central challenge to effective decentralisation. This section has content relating to different models of fiscal decentralisation, options for identifying new sources of local revenue, such as local property tax; and strategies for improving collection and deployment of own-source revenue. It also offers information about improving the borrowing potential of local government, innovative financing models such as municipal bonds, shared services, and public private partnerships.
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Giving local governments the reboot: Improving the financial sustainability of local governments ∗
In the two decades from 1995 to 2015, Australian local governments experienced a fourfold increase in expenditure. Even more striking though, is that during this same period many local governments were stripped of their water and sewerage functions – so these figures actually underrepresent the real picture. This report proposes a range of suggestions to address the financial sustainability of local government.
Author: Roberta Ryan and Joseph Drew Publisher: The McKell Institute Publication year: 2016
Planning for the Public Benefit in the Entrepreneurial City: Public Land Speculation and Financialized Regulation
The redevelopment of Barangaroo, Sydney’s last vacant central city waterfront site, raised high expectations for the public benefits developers would provide in return. The story highlights the ways in which the entrepreneurial State’s conflict of interest in the redevelopment eroded the quality of the public benefits negotiated in return for a valuable public asset. In contrast to the previous redevelopment projects, the State used public land and its newly centralized regulatory powers to maximize public revenues from Barangaroo, prioritizing these over both the public’s interests and, on occasion, those of private developers.
Author: Heather MacDonald Publisher: Journal of Planning Education and Research Publication year: 2019
The impact of smart technologies in the municipal budget: increased revenue and Reduced expenses for better services
This document is the result of the discussions held during the 2016 Uraía Workshop which took place in Nicosia, Cyprus on April 19 and 20th, 2016. It is a working paper made in collaboration with the participants who attended the workshop including representatives of local governments, city networks, service and technology providers, civil society, international organizations and research institutes from all around the world. It gathers general recommendations on the use of SMART technologies to improve municipal finances and it is based on the participants’ experiences.
Author: Mariana Nascimento Collin Publisher: UraĆa Platform Publication year: 2017
New Century Local Government: Commonwealth Perspectives
Democratic decentralisation through ‘conventional’ institutions of local government is facing increasing challenges, whether from financial pressures, questions of representativeness, difficult central-local relations and from a perhaps growing belief that local government has failed to realise its potential and there may be better ways of achieving societal goals. It is clear there is need to contemplate quite radical change to ensure local government becomes or remains ‘fit for purpose’. This collection of papers illustrates the way in which the role of local government is evolving in different parts of the Commonwealth and provides practical examples of new local government at work. It showcases emerging practice, and highlights success stories from new ways of working and challenges confronting local government in both developed and developing countries. New Century Local Government makes a very valuable contribution to helping understand the changing role of local government, and will ensure that practitioners are up-to-date with the most innovative initiatives in local government planning and administration.
Author: Graham Sansom and Peter McKinley Publisher: Commonwealth Secretariat Publication year: 2016
Resource guide on decentralisation and local government
This resource guide provides practical guidance for designing, implementing and evaluating decentralisation reforms and local government practices to ensure they are as effective as possible. It also synthesises and presents current debates on the impact of decentralisation and local government on poverty reduction, service delivery and conflict as well as providing links to cutting-edge research and recent case studies.
Author: Zoe Scott and Munawwar Alam Publisher: Commonwealth Secretariat Publication year: 2011