Digital Commons Network^™

Philippine Intergovernmental Grants: An Evaluation, Roy W. Bahl, Larry Schroeder

ECON Publications

As is the case in developed and developing countries throughout the world, local governments in the Philippines are dependent upon the central government for a significant share of the resources at their disposal. For example, in 1977 the 98 municipalities within the Provinces of Albay, Bulacan, Iloilo and Sorsogon obtained an average of 35.2 percent of their general fund revenue from government grants. Cities ( excluding those in Metropolitan Manila), with their more extensive tax base, had an analogous 24.2 percent reliance on grants. In light of this importance, it would seem useful to consider the possibilities for evaluating the …

Urban Finances In Developing Countries: Research And Findings, Roy W. Bahl, Johannes F. Linn

ECON Publications

No abstract provided.

Mobilizing Local Resources In Developing Countries, Roy W. Bahl, Jerry Miner, Larry Schroeder

ECON Publications

Many developing countries are putting increased pressure on local governments to mobilize resources, especially to meet the recurrent costs of operating and maintaining locally sited capital projects. Local taxes, user charges and voluntary contributions are all possible mechanisms to carry out these efforts. Yet several important issues arise whenever these mobilization instruments are contemplated and evaluated.

Several, often competing, objectives must be considered when evaluating fiscal instruments including the ability of the mechanism to raise revenues, its effect on economic efficiency, its equity implications and its administrative feasibility. After discussing each of these objectives, we show how numerous constraints, including …

The Role Of Multi-Year Forecasting In The Annual Budgeting Process For Local Governments, Roy W. Bahl, Larry Schroeder

ECON Publications

The annual budget focuses on a single twelve-month period, yet spending and reve­nue decisions made today can have long-lasting fiscal effects. New capital projects re­quire future spending on operations, maintenance, and debt-carrying charges; altered pension benefits carry long-term commitments; new fee structures will influence later years' revenues; and hiring, layoff, and salary schedule decisions have fiscal impacts well beyond the year in which they are made. Despite these very obvious long-term im­plications, surprisingly few local governments have attempted systematically to link the annual budget to a multi-year fiscal plan.

Multi-year projections of revenues and expenditures are a necessary step in …