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jonathan-walters

Jonathan Walters

Senior Editor

Jonathan Walters -- Senior Editor. Jonathan has covered state and local government for more than 30 years, including for publications ranging from The Washington Post to USA Today. His beats include public sector management and administration, with an emphasis on results-based government. He also covers human services-related topics, and does a monthly e-newsletter on human services. He is author of three books, two on performance measurement in the public sector and one on public sector press relations. He started with GOVERNING in 1989 as a staff correspondent, and now serves as the magazine's executive editor. Walters lives in Columbia County, New York, where he serves as chairman of his local planning board. He is also a Class A interior attack qualified firefighter, and serves as president of his local volunteer fire company. 

When it comes to the growing costs of government, one thing particularly rankles Dean Rich, the finance director for O'Fallon, Illinois: two police officers claiming...
With Virginia struggling to pay for such pressing priorities as transportation and education and the legislature exhibiting its traditional lack of appetite for raising taxes,...
Texas' first foray into a high-profile streamlining of social and health services delivery paid off impressively: In 1993, the Lone Star state won an Innovations in...
In 2006, Georgia's information technology systems were a borderline mess. No one was a harsher critic than the man in charge of them. "Our business model...
Twelve years ago, Bill Clinton and the U.S. Congress ended "welfare as we know it." Gone was the idea of an open-ended entitlement for...
In the late 1990s, Hickory, North Carolina, was flunking Pothole Patching 101. "Pothole patching is a big deal to citizens," says Karen Hurley, a city budget...
If the physical condition of a neighborhood is a significant indicator of its overall health, then few cities in the country are taking the measure...
In Rich Siegel's view, there isn't a more over-rated document in state and local government than the comprehensive annual financial report -- "CAFR" in public...
With the city of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, facing a quarter of a million dollar revenue shortfall, as well as a continuing and contentious political dispute...
In the ongoing debate over which came first, government opacity or citizen apathy, there are two basic schools of thought: One side argues that citizens...