Defining Local Government Financial Capacity in Small Towns: Challenges and Opportunities
| dc.contributor.author | Davis, Stephanie D. | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-01-16T17:38:47Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2025-01-16T17:38:47Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-11-23 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the paper is to investigate the financial condition of towns in Virginia. An article in the Municipal Finance Journal (published by the author in December 2023) examined the financial impacts of the pandemic on cities, counties, and towns in Virginia. The study found that the pandemic resulted in more significant impacts on towns as opposed to cities and counties. This paper continues research into the financial condition of towns in Virginia. This study uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods to determine the town managers' perspectives on financial capacity and to quantify financial condition for each town. The study population includes 35 of the 190 towns in Virginia. Per State Code, local governments with a population of more than 3,500 must submit an annual comprehensive financial report annually to the Auditor of Public Accounts, however, only 35 of the 190 towns meet Virginia State Code requirements for annual comprehensive financial report submissions. Organizational capacity is defined as human, financial and leadership factors. Human capacity is operationalized through the staff expertise, staff time constraints and staff experience in the performance of a local government organization. Financial capacity are the resources available to fund the government service and organization. Leadership capacity refers to the level of support from elected officials including Town council members and mayors. One goal of the study is to understand how town managers view financial capacity and the study seeks to operationalize this concept for locals governments. Operationalizing financial capacity facilitates local government manager's understanding of how revenues and expenditures should be budgeted, planned and utilized in order to achieve the goals of the organization. Next, quantitative, audited financial data will be used to understand the financial condition of the town. The use of the Comparative reports of Local Government Revenues and Expenditures published by the Auditor of Public Accounts of Virginia(APA) serves as the data collection process to evaluate financial condition using established financial ratios by the APA. Reconciliation of perceived financial capacity by managers and actual financial data will be analyzed to determine what gaps are demonstrated by the perceptions of managers on financial capacity and the actual financial condition of the local government. The results of the study will serve as recommendations on financial resiliency for towns in Virginia which may be applicable to towns throughout the United States. | en |
| dc.description.notes | Yes, full paper (Peer reviewed?) | en |
| dc.description.version | In preparation version | en |
| dc.identifier.orcid | Davis, Stephanie [0000-0003-4138-8593] | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10919/124226 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.rights | In Copyright | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | en |
| dc.title | Defining Local Government Financial Capacity in Small Towns: Challenges and Opportunities | en |
| dc.type | Conference proceeding | en |
| dc.type | Presentation | en |
| dc.type.dcmitype | Text | en |
| pubs.finish-date | 2024-11-23 | en |
| pubs.organisational-group | Virginia Tech | en |
| pubs.organisational-group | Virginia Tech/Liberal Arts and Human Sciences | en |
| pubs.organisational-group | Virginia Tech/Liberal Arts and Human Sciences/School of Public and International Affairs | en |
| pubs.start-date | 2024-11-21 | en |