Most articles in the October issue of PM magazine have one thing in common: a focus on coping. Coping with financial issues, transitions, decisions related to local government management positions, innovation, open data, and more.

The cover story “Embracing the ‘Decade of Local Government': How to Face Challenges and Seize Opportunities,” by Jon Johnson and Chris Fabian, cofounders, Center for Priority Based Budgeting, Denver, Colorado, and Cheryl Hilvert, director of ICMA’s Center for Management Strategies, advises that with a clear understanding of what local governments “do” and what they are in business “to do,” it is easier to prioritize services and determine those that are highly important to the community and what are of lesser importance.

They compiled this list that can help managers outline what local governments are able to do to fiscally survive and also take advantage of future opportunities:

• Provide a clear, transparent, and easily understood single picture of your community’s financial position.
• Develop a multi-year financial forecast that demonstrates clearly a projected financial position for the next five to 10 years.
• Be intentional about differentiating between one-time and ongoing revenues and expenditures.
• Ensure spending is within your community’s means by first asking the question “How much do we have?” rather than “How much do we need?”
• Devote more time to revenue analysis and understanding what factors truly drive individual revenue streams.
• Ensure projected budget amounts are more aligned with actual anticipated revenues and expenditures.
• Analyze and explain all budget-to-actual variances, eliminating those variances that continue to reoccur year after year.
• Prepare and maintain a comprehensive program inventory that lists everything the organization provides and indicates the estimated cost associated with those programs or services.
• Maintain fund balance reserves even when times are tight.
• Prioritize programs and services to identify which ones offer the highest relevance to the results the community expects to achieve and which are of lesser importance to the community.

For complete issue details, read the October PM.