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| MAY 2007 This month, Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene interview a noted management consultant, delve into EMS safety issues and ponder the meaning of "mayor" in Portland. Columnist Girard Miller explores pension-spiking and the mysterious 401(x). And Zach Patton reports on two Arkansas agencies that are getting a divorce. |
 Bring on 401(x)! By GIRARD MILLER For The Governing Management Letter The various, redundant retirement savings laws should be streamlined into a single statutory plan. Knowing When to Split By ZACH PATTON For The Governing Management Letter After only a two-year marriage, two Arkansas agencies are getting a divorce. Stop Spiking the Pension Punch By GIRARD MILLER For The Governing Management Letter It's time to curb overtime, bonus and sick leave abuse. 
 June 15 is the deadline for nominations for the 2007 Public Official of the Year awards. You can nominate someone online. You can also read profiles of all the previous winners or
watch videos of last year's honorees at Governing's awards gala.In MANAGEMENT INSIGHTS, some of America's top experts share their perspectives on getting the most out of government. The online-only column, a collaboration between Governing.com and Harvard University's Government Innovators Network, is updated every Wednesday. This week's topic: the legislatures/management oxymoron.  Links to past editions of the Government Performance Project, including the most recent Grading the States issue. Click here  Excerpts from books published by Governing, including "We Don't Make Widgets" by management expert Ken Miller. Plus, order books from Governing online. Click herePLUS: Full content from Governing searchable and free You are receiving The Governing Management Letter because you requested it via either Governing.com or the online print subscription process. Have colleagues who would benefit? Forward this edition to them -- they can subscribe by clicking here. To unsubscribe from The Governing Management Letter, click here. Governing Magazine/Governing.com |
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Katherine Barrett
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- Exclusive - Want to get employees to sign up for a "voluntary" HR effort? Here's a clever -- if somewhat manipulative -- tactic, which we came across in a piece by Swarthmore College Professor Barry Schwartz in the New York Times: A "study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics found that when employers switch procedures for voluntary 401(k) contributions from 'opt in' (you sign a form to take part) to 'opt out' (you sign a form not to), rates of participation go up by as much as 30 percentage points." With the world at large seemingly star-struck by the potential of broadband deployment to help with everything from emergency preparedness to education, it's alarming that there's a minimum of information about which neighborhoods and families actually have broadband access. Fortunately, Washington State appears to be taking "a significant step in closing that information gap by requiring its state Utilities and Transportation Commission to survey broadband access in the state," according to the Progressive States Network. KEEP READING And while we're thinking broadly about broadband, have you noticed that it seems like the expansion of networks has been moving somewhat more slowly than anticipated? We just came across a piece from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel which says, "Frustrated aldermen agreed...to double the time they're giving a local company to hook up the first neighborhood in Milwaukee's planned citywide wireless Internet network." An alderman quoted in the piece said he wasn't sure whether the delays were the company's fault or "bureaucratic foot-dragging." KEEP READING Fire and police departments are each in the business of getting places very quickly. And many have had great success in recent years at figuring out ways to make sure that they don't hurt their own employees -- or others -- while speeding from place to place with sirens blaring. We've spent a fair amount of time thinking about user fees since writing an item about them some months ago. In part thanks to a good conversation with the University of Tennessee's Bill Fox — one of the smartest tax experts we've ever met -- our thinking has changed somewhat, and we're now convinced that they can provide good revenue streams for all levels of government in a way that can be equitable, particularly thanks to new technology. The two caveats: They need to be priced sensibly and placed on services that users can opt out of. We were fascinated by a piece in State Tax Notes that suggests that states and localities declare "some days of the year to be double tax days or DTD, for short." The piece was written by Mike Pagano, a good friend and director of the Graduate Program in Public Administration at the University of Illinois in Chicago. As Pagano asks, "What if demand [for a product] was so tremendous that no matter what price was asked, the consumer would gladly buy it?" We owe a great debt to Charlie Peters, founding editor of the Washington Monthly. As we were first trying to come up with a format for the B&G Report, our minds immediately went to his wonderful "Tilting at Windmills" column. If ever we achieve the grace, style and wit he has over the years, we'll consider ourselves successful. The full B&G Report | Who are Barrett and Greene? |
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