 |
| DECEMBER 2007 This month marks the one-year anniversary of The Governing Management Letter. We hope you're finding it to be a useful source for news on state and local government management. But we're also seeking to improve. So let us know what features you like about the Letter, as well as the kinds of items and issues you'd like to see more of. Email us with any feedback and ideas you have. In this issue, public pension and benefits expert Girard Miller recommends better fee disclosure in defined contribution plans, explains how federal taxes on hedge fund managers could affect pension-fund investments, and looks at differences between public and private pension plans. He also is putting together a Christmas wish list, asking readers to share their best and brightest ideas in benefits management. Management consultant Ken Miller examines how government too often resembles a (bad) construction site, and what you ought to learn from reality TV. And this month's B&G Report looks at how public-sector succession planning can be improved, why better-dressed workers make more productive employees, and why you should keep "walking around numbers" in your pocket. |
 Fees in Your Face By GIRARD MILLER For The Governing Management Letter Will Congress force fee disclosures? Extreme Government Makeover By KEN MILLER For The Governing Management Letter What can we learn from the George Foreman grill, Southwest Airlines and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"? Public vs. Private Pension Plans By GIRARD MILLER For The Governing Management Letter Why the big differences between public- and private-sector benefits? Fair Taxes on Hedge Funds By GIRARD MILLER For The Governing Management Letter Lobbyists are hiding behind the skirts of public pension plans. Girard's Christmas Wish List By GIRARD MILLER For The Governing Management Letter Submit your public-benefits success stories! 
Public Officials of the Year
The winners for 2007, including videos and a podcast
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:
State & Local Sourcebook
A trove of data, contacts and more You are receiving The Governing Management Letter because you requested it via 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 |
Measuring Up 2.0: Governing's New, Improved Guide to Performance Measurement for Geniuses (and Other Public Managers) updates and builds on the lessons of the best-seller that took the mystery (and the tedium) out of using performance measurement in government. To learn more about the book, read excerpts and order copies, 
This continuing series of articles examines performance measurement and management and provides links to valuable resources for public managers. Now online: a new report on |
Katherine Barrett
& Richard Greene |
 |
|
Last month we asked you to share tips that would help others keep meetings short and productive. A number of you wrote in with some really terrific ideas. Others seemed to enjoy the opportunity to vent. One writer suggested that not everyone even wants productive meetings. "Plenty of people like the idea of having unproductive meetings," wrote Rick Barton of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "That way they can kill part of the work day and leave the meeting without any real work to do as a follow up." KEEP READING In the "many a slip between cup and lip" category: When we heard that New Jersey officials intended to press school districts and local governments to figure out ways to save money by sharing services, we applauded. Now, however, a study by the Rutgers Institute on Education and Law, conducted for the New Jersey School Boards Association, points out that there are plenty of roadblocks. KEEP READING Succession planning may be one area in which there's some truth that the private sector is way ahead of the public sector. And that's unfortunate. Absent this kind of effort, cities, counties and states frequently find themselves with very important positions open -- and no one even close to ready to fill them. KEEP READING What happens when the boss is out? That was the question posed by Plansponsor, which describes itself as the nation's largest online resource for retirement and pension issues. Admittedly, the informal poll mostly solicited reaction from the private sector, but it's our guess things aren't so much different among cities and states. And the results were pretty surprising. So we thought we'd pass them along. KEEP READING When we quoted Thomas Jefferson last month as saying that "information is the currency of democracy," we didn't anticipate any rebuttals. But we're grateful to Robert Carroll, the chief staffing services representative with the New York State Department of Civil Service, for surprising us. KEEP READING You don't see the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley (father of the current Windy City mayor) quoted about information very often. But here's one of his comments that seems appropriate in context of questions about information as "feel-good" currency. It's sometimes used as an example of the mayor's regular wrangles with the English language. But we think that if you just take it at face value, it can take on a whole new meaning: "We shall reach greater and greater platitudes of achievement." KEEP READING It's always a little alarming when we come across performance measures that are fundamentally based on the cost of providing a service. The amount of money a city or state spends on a particular function is a matter of policy and politics. The performance measures should also focus on how effectively each of the dollars is being spent. KEEP READING Having spent much of our professional lives ranking, rating and otherwise evaluating cities, counties and states, it feels a little disingenuous for us to even comment on U.S. News and World Report's annual ranking of the nation's colleges and universities. But seeing our daughter and her friends -- all high school seniors -- flipping through the U.S. News lists on a regular basis, we've got a few things on our minds that pertain to this exercise, and performance measurement in general. KEEP READING Watch it. During all the years that the price of houses seemed to trend ever higher, taxpayers frequently suffered sticker shock when their property was reassessed and their property taxes rose accordingly. Now the shoe is on the other foot. With the subprime mortgage mess, a dramatic number of taxpayers are going to be pressing for downward reassessments. Actual foreclosures will have the same effect. That'll mean less property tax money for municipalities and a push for service cuts. KEEP READING The National Association of Uniform Manufacturers and Distributors (NAUMD) has named the Washington State Patrol the Best Dressed State Law Enforcement Agency for 2007. If you think we're mentioning this just as a throw-away, you're wrong. KEEP READING The full B&G Report | Who are Barrett and Greene? | |
 | |