Each year during budget season, a familiar refrain surfaces: local officials are told to “tighten their belts” and “balance the budget—just like any household.” At town halls and budget hearings, this analogy often sets the tone. But for those who actually craft and manage public budgets, the comparison quickly breaks down.

At this year’s conference of the Association of Local Government Auditors, we hosted a powerful session on police auditing and oversight. I frequently speak at conferences and moderate panels, but I’ve rarely held a session such as this. It offered an incredibly sobering look at the complexity of the problem while also instilling a renewed sense of hope.

With extreme weather and volatile energy markets testing aging infrastructure, local leaders can’t afford passive reliance on utilities. Explore five approaches—including public power models—to build energy systems that put communities first.

A structurally balanced budget is the single most important vital sign for a municipality’s fiscal (and overall) health. The disconcerting truth is that most jurisdictions fall short on that metric. There are key principles localities should follow to sidestep the fiscal quicksand.

In every city there exists a bad faith machine—a kind of informal network of self-appointed critics, journalistic pundits, political opponents—who think their job is to tear city leaders down.

America’s housing crisis stems from the simple fact that the nation has a housing shortage that could be as large as 15 to 20 million units. The Southern California fires are a stark reminder of how natural disasters can compound housing challenges, especially in regions where the market is already under immense pressure. It’s the latest poignant wake-up call for local governments to prioritize housing as a top agenda item, crafting solutions that not only expand supply but also emphasize resilience and affordability.

If you thought the pandemic was a pressure test for local government finances, the fiscal storm clouds gathering on the horizon will make it pale in comparison.

To perform its fundamental functions, government must pay closer attention to the interdependence of efficiency, effectiveness, and equity. Equity means ensuring that all individuals and communities have fair and equal…

The federal Financial Data Transparency Act is poised to reshape how local governments handle financial data by prioritizing machine-readable, searchable, standardized formats. However, as implementation rules for the FDTA continue…

In a 1957 speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower shared a lesson he’d learned in the Army that he said applied just as well to the whole of government. “Plans are worthless,”…