IBM conducted a study interviewing California state officials to see what that group had learned managing their state's complicated budget shortfall. The resulting report examined what happened to local California government revenues during this period, which services have been adjusted, how employee benefits have been treated, and what innovations have been introduced.
The authors were able to pull out three key recommendations based on the subjects' real-world experiences.
- Identify and address structural deficits in a finely grained manner, leaving no major budget category unexamined.
- Foster citizen engagement to encourage widespread dissemination of fiscal information in order to enhance the legitimacy of public policy choices.
- Improve the state/local relationship to reduce episodic, convulsive impacts on local public finance.
