Portals and Interoperability in Local Government

2011 ◽  
pp. 769-775
Author(s):  
Peter Shackleton ◽  
Rick Molony
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Electronic Government ◽  
Access To Services ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Government Sector ◽  
Delivery Of Services

While the popularity of electronic government is evident in most countries, the true benefits to communities can only be obtained if there is access to services across all levels of government. Sadly, the multilevel nature of government often means that citizens are frustrated when accessing services that span many bureaucracies. Interoperability, which is the breaking down of barriers between the different layers of government to support the seamless delivery of services, is enhanced by the use of portals. This article looks at the limited use of portals in the local government sector in Australia, and how they have been used to assist staff within councils, and to support communities and businesses. It also examines the problems faced by local governments in implementing portals. The article concludes with a discussion of interoperability in the local Australian government sector, and how it can be used to support portal development.

Information Technology Among U.S. Local Governments

2008 ◽  
pp. 132-144
Author(s):  
Donald F. Norris
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Electronic Government ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Do So

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the adoption, uses, and impacts of information technology (IT), including electronic government, among local governments in the United States1. In the 1950s, these governments began to adopt IT for a variety of purposes and functions, and they continue to do so today. Since at least the mid 1970s, a small, but prolific group of scholars has conducted a large body of research on various aspects of IT and local government.2 It is from that research and my own studies into this subject that I have based this chapter (regarding e-government, see also, Norris, 2006). Given the constraint of space, this chapter can only highlight aspects of this important topic. Readers who wish to delve more deeply into the subject of information technology and local government may wish to avail themselves of the works found in the bibliography as well as references from other, related works which can be found through those works.

scholarly journals Can International Local Government Partnerships Make a Difference? Lessons from the Australia – Papua New Guinea Good Practice Scheme

2009 ◽  
pp. 68-91
Author(s):  
Donovan Storey
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Delivery Of Services ◽  
Successes And Failures

This article explores the contribution that local government to local government partnerships can make in bringing about more effective and sustained decentralisation through developing the capacity of local governments to deliver improved services to the communities they serve. After almost 15 years of decentralization many of Papua New Guinea’s local governments struggle to maintain essential functions. Building on existing relationships, the Commonwealth Local Government Good Practice Scheme seeks to utilize the resources and knowledge of Australian local councils in partnership with those in Papua New Guinea to build capacity and improve the management and delivery of services to communities. This article examines the program to date, outlining both the successes and failures, but also the potential role such partnerships can play in the deepening of democratic governance at the local level.

Leading-Edge Information Technologies and American Local Governments

2003 ◽  
pp. 139-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald F. Norris
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Electronic Government ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Edge Information ◽  
Form Of Government ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Us Cities

In this study, I examine the adoption, penetration and impacts of the adoption of leading-edge information technologies in American local governments. I also discuss future trends with respect to these technologies. Data for this study come from three nationwide surveys of information technology in local governments and a series of case studies in US cities about the adoption of leading-edge information technologies. My principal findings are that American local governments have adopted a range of these technologies and can be expected to do so in coming years. This is especially true of the adoption of electronic government. Local government characteristics associated with adoption include principally local government size as measured by population. Other characteristics include type and form of government, region of the country, and metropolitan status. Additionally, local governments adopt leading-edge information technologies for both general reasons (e.g., to improve efficiency and effectiveness) and to solve specific problems (e.g., the adoption of automated fingerprint identification systems to solve crimes).

scholarly journals Overcoming challenges faced by local governments in creating a resilient built environment in cities

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 628-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chamindi Malalgoda ◽  
Dilanthi Amaratunga ◽  
Richard Haigh
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Indian Ocean Tsunami ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Government Sector

Purpose Although, a number of initiatives have been taken after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami to institutionalise disaster risk reduction (DRR), gaps still exist in the Sri Lankan local government sector. Even after ten years, local governments are still struggling to overcome a number of challenges in relation to making resilience in the built environment. DRR has not yet been properly integrated into the local government system and, as a result, poses a significant challenge. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to discover the hindrances for local governments in creating disaster resilient built environment within cities and to propose ways of overcoming the identified limitations. Design/methodology/approach In total, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted among experts from Sri Lanka who are involved in disaster management, local governments and built environment fields of study. The interviews were conducted with the intention of gaining expert knowledge pertaining to this field of study. The interviews were mainly designed to capture the current practices for instigating DRR initiatives within Sri Lanka, the role of local governments in creating a disaster resilient built environment and the associated challenges, and ways of overcoming such challenges to ensure an effective contribution to city resilience. Findings Primary data discovered 36 challenges along with some associated sub-challenges. The challenges were categorised under eight main themes: legal framework; lack of adequate tools, techniques and guidelines; human resource constraints; funding constraints; weaknesses in the internal systems and processes; weaknesses in the external systems; community engagement; and other challenges. The paper analyses these challenges in detail and proposes a set of recommendations to overcome the challenges in order to create disaster resilient built environments within cities. Research limitations/implications The paper provides a descriptive analysis of how the Sri Lankan local government sector could overcome the underpinning challenges of contributing to disaster resilience in the built environment and no comparative studies were conducted with in other tsunami affected regions. Furthermore, the paper analyses partial findings of a broader research, which was aimed at developing a framework to empower local governments in creating a disaster resilient built environment. Originality/value The paper provides an extensive analysis of the challenges faced by local governments in contributing to the resilience of their built environment and proposes how these challenges could be overcome while making a worthwhile contribution to both theory and practice. Accordingly, the paper recommends major changes in policy and practice with respect to bringing local governments into DRR.

Stress Tests as a Tool to Assess the Risk of Public Expenditure on Debt Servicing Increasing at Local Government Entities

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-224
Author(s):  
Marta Postuła ◽  
Miroslaw Czekaj ◽  
Jaroslaw Klepacki
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Expenditure ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Stress Tests ◽  
Government Sector ◽  
Development Expenditure ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Eu

National and local government's public debt is of special interest to economic sciences. With interest rates in the EU countries now at historically low levels, there is risk of a trend change causing development expenditure to be crowded out from budgets in favour of debt servicing costs. The analysis (stress test) of the sensitivity of debt servicing costs in the local government sector in Poland to an unexpected growth of market interest rates above the values forecasted by the MoF confirms that local governments are exposed to interest rate growth risk, and consequently to the risk of their budgets incurring unplanned expenditure.

scholarly journals Implementation of Development Charge by Local Government of Malaysia: Implementation and challenges

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 459
Author(s):  
Nor Azalina Yusnita Abdul Rahman ◽  
Mudirah Shaharudin ◽  
Nurulhuda Ali ◽  
Siti Fairuz Che Pin
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
State Level ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Property Development ◽  
Public Facilities ◽  
Government Sector ◽  
Interview Session

Local government plays a major role in property development in Malaysia. Local government in Malaysia is enacted under the Local Government Act 1976 to provide public facilities and amenities to local people as well as to control property development at the state level. At the current practice, development charges have been imposed on property project carried out in accordance with the provisions of Section 32 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 (Act 172). The main purpose of the development charges is to provide and improve infrastructures, public facilities, and amenities as well as the wellbeing of the development areas. The charges would be levied to developers once the project approved specifically for the conversion of land use, the increment of plot ratios and density, which would increase the land value. The purpose of this research is to identify the issues and challenges in the imposition of development charges to improvise the current methods practiced. This exploratory research aims to come out with the best practices on development charge. A qualitative semi-structured technique will be used that focus on six (6) states in Malaysia which consists of 26 local governments that are currently implementing the development charges. All the primary data were gathered from respondents will be analyzed by using content analysis through interview session. There were four (4) main issues reveals from this research whereby lack of awareness among developers top the chart. Meanwhile, amongst the challenges faced by the local government pertaining to the development charges implementation are to strengthen the implementation procedures of development charges as well as and to increase the understanding of the importance of development charges. The findings, therefore, will come out with full understanding towards the practice of development charges in Malaysia among government sector, developers and other relevant parties.Keywords:development charge;local government; market value; developerISSN: 2398-4287© 2017. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.

IT Innovation in Local Government

2011 ◽  
pp. 186-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles C. Hinnant ◽  
John A. O’Looney
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Electronic Government ◽  
It Services ◽  
Stakeholder Support ◽  
The Social ◽  
It Innovation ◽  
Technical Factors

We examine the adoption of information technology within local governments in the United States. The social and technical factors that impact the process of technological innovation are discussed in reference to the adoption of advanced electronic government (e-government) technologies in local government. In particular, we discuss how the adoption of IT, and e-government, is influenced by the local government’s motivations to innovate, technology characteristics, available resources, and stakeholder support. We then discuss several strategies that may address these factors. We argue that local governments should seek to formally assess the need to adopt e-government technologies, develop new funding strategies, and develop a mix of in-house and contracted IT services. While local governments have aggregately adopted advanced transaction-based forms of e-government at a lower rate than state and federal governments, it is our contention that local governments are merely reacting to innovation factors within their social and technical environments.

Sustainability of Local Government Sector Debt. Evidence from Monte-Carlo Simulations

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Kluza
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Interest Rate ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Investment Policies ◽  
Government Sector ◽  
Systemic Problems ◽  
The Impact

The financial standing of local governments across the European Union was strongly affected by the economic crisis. The local government sector conducted vast investment policies reaching 10.2% of all investments in the EU countries in 2010. However, at the same time its indebtedness expanded significantly. The current low interest rate environment makes the sector vulnerable to future interest rate increases. The presented research analyses the impact of several scenarios of interest rate changes in Poland on the local governments’ ability to service their current debt burdens. Simulations are conducted with the Monte Carlo method. Some scenarios indicate a high vulnerability of local governments to adverse changes in market interest rates, but only if they are combined with a reduction of sector’s operating surplus. Such an economic setup may give rise to systemic problems for the whole public sector.

Is the conflict container full? Problems of fiscal sustainability at the local government level in Hungary

2010 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Vigvári
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Fiscal Federalism ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Fiscal Sustainability ◽  
Fiscal Discipline ◽  
System A ◽  
Government Sector ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Local Government Level

The paper discusses the reasons and possible resolutions of the contradictions in the Hungarian local government system, and proposes methods to resolve them. The nature of the Hungarian system cannot be described by classical normative theories of fiscal federalism. The operation of Hungarian local governments is determined rather by the decentralisation of conflicts stemming from the reduction of state responsibilities, and the resulting municipal behaviour. The second generation theory of fiscal federalism pays particular attention to the institutional guarantees of fiscal discipline shown by the lower levels of government sector. Actors in the Hungarian system, a system that functions as a ‘conflict container’, try to offset the financial pressures, weighing heavily on them by borrowing and by contingent liabilities. While central government has transferred new duties to local governments from year to year, it has reduced the amount of fiscal subsidies. Until a long-term comprehensive reform is implemented, consequent risks must be treated in the short run, as well.

scholarly journals Framing the challenge of climate change adaptation for Victorian local governments

2013 ◽  
Vol 125 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Hartmut Fünfgeld
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Climatic Trends ◽  
Government Sector ◽  
Management Perspective ◽  
Response Measures

Climate change adaptation, although dependent on our understanding of current and future climatic trends, is predominantly a social and institutional process. This becomes evident when studying how organisations actually respond to and prepare for climate change impacts. This paper explores the notion of framing climate change adaptation as a process of organisational development and change in the local government sector. Local governments, as the tier of government closest to the community, provide a raft of services to residents and businesses, many of which may be affected by the impacts of a changing climate. Local governments in Victoria and elsewhere have been at the forefront of assessing climatic risks and opportunities, as well as devising strategies and response measures to address these risks. The growing evidence of adaptation planning in the local government sector suggests that adaptation can be framed in many different ways, although a risk management perspective is frequently applied. Increasingly, adaptation to climate change is conceptualised as an ongoing, flexible process that needs to be fully embedded in the local and organisational context. This paper discusses the conceptual and organisational framing of climate change adaptation, illustrated by examples of the diversity of adaptation approaches taken by local governments in Victoria.

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