If you are up for a thoughtful and well-crafted discussion that you could share and explore with peers and staff, read John Nalbandian’s chapter in the just-revised Managing Local Government Finance Sixth Edition.

While, the chapter was written for chief financial officers, aspiring CFOs, and students, its description of the context and challenges of managing local government finances, its clarity about two trends that affect local government professionals, and its explication of how different forces are at play are relevant to all local government professionals.

Here are some highlights:

• In comparing the old paradigm (which, for example, portrays politics and administration as a dichotomy) with a contemporary management framework, Nalbandian puts it several ways: “The proper question becomes: How do we join (not separate) what is politically acceptable (politics) with what is administratively sustainable (administration)—without corrupting the integrity of either sphere—toward the goal of building community? . . . How to produce policy that will solve a problem effectively and be backed by a political will for action.”
• In talking about community as more than physical space, Nalbandian speculates that “it may very well be that the performance measure of ‘strength of community’ is found in the number of people who desire to give something back.”
• Nalbandian’s description of a public values framework notes that “there are four fundamental political values: representation, efficiency, social equity, and individual rights. . . . all four values cannot be optimized simultaneously. And with this awareness, one can understand how negotiation and compromise traditionally have been viewed as the ‘art of politics.’”

Take a moment to check out this and the other chapters of Managing Local Government Finance Sixth Edition.