Good to share? The pecuniary implications of moving to shared service production for local government services

Drew, Joseph; McQuestin, Dana; Dollery, Brian

doi:10.1111/padm.12575

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…While these findings provide support for structural reform in the São Paulo local government system, it is critical to consider the role that shared services may play in curbing municipal expenditure. It should be noted there is considerable evidence among developed nations that inter-municipal collaboration through shared service arrangements may represent a potentially fruitful avenue of reform (e.g., Tomkinson, 2007;Dollery et al, 2012) although more recent evidence suggests that shared services may result in reduced technical efficiency (Drew et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brazilian Municipal Expenditure and Scale Economies: Evidence from São Paulo

Bernardelli,

Kortt,

Dollery

2021

Public Administration Quarterly

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Advocates of municipal mergers usually claim that considerable economies of scale flow from council consolidations, which result in larger local government organizations. We examined whether scale economies are present in municipal outlays by investigating the expenditure of 644 São Paulo municipal areas using data over the period 2005 to 2017. We find evidence that considerable scale economies characterize municipal expenditure in São Paulo. However, given that population size and population density are positively correlated, it is critical to determine whether or not the influence of population on municipal expenditure arises because of disparities in density. We find that when São Paulo municipalities are decomposed into sub-categories based on different population densities, evidence in favour of scale economies persists. Thus, municipal mergers in the state of São Paulo may result in lower per capita expenditure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brazilian Municipal Expenditure and Scale Economies: Evidence from São Paulo

Bernardelli,

Kortt,

Dollery

2021

Public Administration Quarterly

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“…Tables 5 and 6 present the regressions estimating the relationship between sharing a SMT and public service efficiency and effectiveness. Following McQuestin and Drew, McQuestin, and Dollery (2019), we report estimates controlling for a linear (models 1 and 3) and a nonlinear (models 2 and 4) population-performance relationship. To estimate the nonlinear relationship, a squared version of the population variable was added to the models.…”

Section: Organizational Performance Effects Of Shared Smtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research suggests that inter‐local co‐operation has grown considerably in the United States (US) and many other countries during the past thirty years (Kwon and Feiock 2010; Bel, Mildred, and Warner 2015). In particular, empirical studies have identified a movement toward the sharing of services, such as IT, HR, and procurement, in the United States (Henderson 2014), Australia (Drew, McQuestin, and Dollery 2019), England (Dixon and Elston 2020), and Germany (Niehaves and Krause 2010). However, to date, little systematic empirical analysis has addressed the reasons for appointing a single SMT to run all of the services provided by separate local governments 2…”

Section: Antecedents Of Shared Senior Management Teamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Motivations for the Adoption of Management Innovation by Local Governments and its Performance Effects

Andrews

Bellò

Downe³

et al. 2021

Public Administration Review

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This article analyses the economic, political, and institutional antecedents and performance effects of the adoption of shared Senior Management Teams (SMTs)-a management innovation (MI) that occurs when a team of senior managers oversees two or more public organizations. Findings from statistical analysis of 201 English local governments and interviews with organizational leaders reveal that shared SMTs are adopted to develop organizational capacity in resource-challenged, politically risk-averse governments, and in response to coercive and mimetic institutional pressures. Importantly, sharing SMTs may reduce rather than enhance efficiency and effectiveness due to redundancy costs and the political transaction costs associated with diverting resources away from a highperforming partner to support their lower-performing counterpart. Evidence for Practice• To capture economies of scale and cut costs, English local governments are introducing a management innovation, shared Senior Management Teams (SMTs). • Governments that adopt shared SMTs do so when the political circumstances are favorable and coercive and mimetic institutional pressures are present. • The sharing of a SMT leads to reduced public service efficiency and effectiveness, but can help local governments build much-needed organizational capacity.P ublic organizations are increasingly called upon to design and implement innovative management practices to become more effective and efficient (Brown, Osborne, and Walker 2016;Kim and Warner 2016). However, despite the growing emphasis on management innovation (MI) in the public sector, evidence on the economic, political, and institutional factors that lie behind its adoption is only slowly emerging (Damanpour and Aravind 2011; Singla, Stritch, and Feeney 2018). More significantly, very little is known about whether MIs generate the anticipated organizational improvements (De Vries, Bekkers, and Tummers 2015; Walker, Chen, and Aravind 2015). In this article, we investigate the antecedents and performance effects of MI in public service organizations. Specifically, we examine shared Senior Management Teams (SMTs) in English local governments-a MI that occurs when two or more local governments formally agree that their service delivery will be overseen by a single group of senior managers.Broadly defined, MI involves the introduction of a new structure, process, system, program, or practice in an organization or its units which changes how managers manage (Birkinshaw, Hamel, and Mol 2008). MIs are therefore distinct from other innovation types (e.g. service, partnership) that entail material changes to what an organization provides to its external stakeholders (Damanpour and Aravind 2011). Because the adoption of MIs may result in the redesign and redevelopment of management systems and processes, it is often radical rather than incremental in orientation (Walker, Damanpour, and Devece 2011). MI may therefore be particularly challenging for public organizations, where changes to established rules and routine...

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“…Special districts are governments tasked with a specific function and have the legal ability to raise revenue to complete that function (Mullin, 2009). Having a higher number of special districts in an area offloads responsibility for public services from other local governments and reduces their financial burden (Drew et al, 2019). This assumption leads to the second hypothesis:H2 : The more special districts in a county, the less that county will utilize property tax revenue .…”

Section: Explanations For Underutilization Of Property Tax Revenuementioning

confidence: 99%

An (in)effective tax and expenditure limit (TEL): Why county governments do not utilize their maximum allotted property tax rate

Decker

2021

Public Administration

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Tax and expenditure limits (TELs) are restrictions placed on governments limiting their ability to collect and spend revenue. Residents support these TELs, as they desire lower tax burdens and more government efficiency; yet, residents still desire the same level of public services. Property tax rate limits, a specific type of TEL, are placed upon local governments to limit their ability to collect revenue and expand authority. Rate limits were implemented on the assumption that governments would tax at their highest maximum possible rate, but this is not always the case. This article studies why some local governments choose not to utilize their maximum allotted property tax rate. Using an open systems governance approach, a panel data analysis was conducted using data from 67 Florida counties from 2008 to 2017.Results of the analysis show that the use of special districts and the age of the residential population have significant effects on property tax rate decisions. | INTRODUCTIONTax and expenditure limits (TELs) are restrictions on governments that limit their ability to collect and spend revenue.Property tax TELs come in various forms, including assessment limits, levy limits, and rate limits (see Mullins & Joyce, 1996). Although each type of property tax TEL operates in different ways, all serve to limit local government revenues and expenditures and control the growth of local government authority (

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Good to share? The pecuniary implications of moving to shared service production for local government services

Cited by 14 publications

References 13 publications

Brazilian Municipal Expenditure and Scale Economies: Evidence from São Paulo

Brazilian Municipal Expenditure and Scale Economies: Evidence from São Paulo

The Motivations for the Adoption of Management Innovation by Local Governments and its Performance Effects

An (in)effective tax and expenditure limit (TEL): Why county governments do not utilize their maximum allotted property tax rate

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