Small town government: The conflict of adminstrative styles

Sokolow, Alvin D.

doi:10.1002/ncr.4100710903

Cited by 4 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This is especially true for town boards that have been long described as being particularistic in their decisionmaking. [28] That is, personal relationships among town board members and their constituents are important to the policies that a board considers and pursues. [29] Disagreement or dissatisfaction is likely to lead to less consensus among board members and, thus, less opportunity for an illusionary effect.…”

Section: Electoral Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing for Fiscal Illusion in Wisconsin Towns

Maher

Johnson

2008

International Journal of Public Administration

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fiscal illusion, a theory of the impact of government revenue structures on voter decision-making, has been studied extensively by economists and political scientists; however, empirical verification has been limited. This study builds on Lowery's (1987a) work by examining the relationship between suggested illusionary revenues and measures of electoral stress. Here, electoral stress is measured as constituent contacting-one possible measure of voter influence-for local government officials up for re-election. Using a combination of survey data from over 1,000 Wisconsin town board members, audited fiscal data and U.S. Census data, we were able to test for fiscal illusion. Our findings show that when looking at five revenue types (conditional grants, unconditional grants, property taxes, user fees and charges, and debt service) there is some evidence suggesting officials seeking another term in office will tend to support fees and charges as a revenue structure over other structures. Overall, there is little consistent evidence suggesting that elected officials are manipulating revenue structures for electoral gain. Revenue structures are mostly influenced by social and economic factors, such as median household income, population changes, and per capita property valuation.

show abstract

Section: Electoral Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing for Fiscal Illusion in Wisconsin Towns

Maher

Johnson

2008

International Journal of Public Administration

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Small towns are important to examine because local government in those communities tends to be different from what is found in larger settings. In small towns the governing processes are informal, personal, simple, more accessible to citizens, and less bureaucratic (Sokolow 1982).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This relationship exists because of the competition to receive some of the benefits of government, such as jobs and the location of public facilities, which are more easily divisible among portions of the population (Peterson 1981;Wong 1988). Because politics in small towns is personal and more accessible to individual citizens (Sokolow 1982), organized racial interest groups may not be active or even exist in many small communities. Rather, minority group members may be organized around a church or social organization.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bureaucracies tend to play a dominant role in making allocational policy in larger cities, frequently using rules involving technical criteria for their decisions (Wong 1988). Because small towns are less bureaucratized (Sokolow 1982), service delivery decisions would be more under the control of the chief executive. Professional administrators, because of their technical training, would probably be more concerned with the efficiency and adequacy of the "housekeeping" services provided to the citizens than elected mayors who are not likely to have had the same administrative background.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is expected that professional administrators tend to support redistributive programs more than elected mayors because the training and norms of the administrators are more likely to make them sympathetic to welfare programs (Sokolow 1982). Also, elected mayors may be hesitant to back programs which are seen as detrimental to the local economy (Peterson 1981).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Economics, Politics, and Policy Making in Small Towns

Kanervo

1994

Southeastern Political Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Peterson, in City Limits, argues that economic conditions in cities limit the policy choices which are available to government decision makers. Because of the desire to increase the tax base, municipal policy makers pursue developmental policies, but generally avoid redistributive policies because of the drain on the local economy. Critics of Peterson's model of policy making claim that political factors are more important determinants of urban policy than he recognizes. This study examines policy making in small towns and finds that economic capacity is related to developmental, allocational, and redistributive policy. In stable and growing communities, political factors are also found to be related to the adoption of these three types of policy. The fiscal capacity provided by a growing tax base provides small town policy makers with the opportunity to pursue program improvements that are not possible in communities with limited resources.

show abstract

Steps toward a theory of place effects on drug use: Risk, marginality, and opportunity in small and remote California towns

Showalter

2020

International Journal of Drug Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Small town government: The conflict of adminstrative styles

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Testing for Fiscal Illusion in Wisconsin Towns

Testing for Fiscal Illusion in Wisconsin Towns

Economics, Politics, and Policy Making in Small Towns

Steps toward a theory of place effects on drug use: Risk, marginality, and opportunity in small and remote California towns

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About