The “Perfect Economic Storm”
REALITY
There is no silver lining or magic fix on the horizon. Real damage has been done that has resulted in an angry public, demoralized employees, declining services, and continuous “cutting.”
IMPACT
Households, businesses, and governments confront the same structural problem: limited or even shrinking financial resources but higher costs passed from the top down.
FORCES
A prolonged economic downturn and upheaval have created severe consequences: stagnation, chronic unemployment, declining home values, falling real incomes, and eroding personal wealth.
BOTTOM LINE?
"States have limited capacity to absorb further fiscal and economic pressures.... State policy makers have exhausted short-term fixes...and are also being squeezed by funding pressures at the local level."
Source: PEW Center on the States. November 2012.
This trend is not likely to reverse itself soon...
and certainly not without structural change.
Source: PEW Center on the States. November 2012.
This trend is not likely to reverse itself soon...
and certainly not without structural change.
A PERSISTENT PROBLEM AND POLITICAL PREDICAMENT
Public resistance to providing new revenue tools to government has increased. At the same time, taxpayers are demanding that government, like families and businesses, learn to live within its means. Likewise, community-based, special interest constituencies are resisting calls for cuts to their parochial programs and services.
These pressures are real and will persist. This is the new reality—and it will not change. Government must accept both a changed and ever-changing environment.
The challenge today is serious but not without options.
These pressures are real and will persist. This is the new reality—and it will not change. Government must accept both a changed and ever-changing environment.
The challenge today is serious but not without options.
REAL SOLUTIONS
Consolidation, collaboration, and organizational reform are concepts that can provide attractive alternatives to operate in this new environment. They provide strategies and flexible tools that offer a measure of control over the present and future.
Existing services can be restructured to meet the demand through evaluation processes such as collaborative capacity reviews. These techniques focus on the viability of strategies such as reorganization and repurposing of financial resources and other assets at the direct service level.
Existing services can be restructured to meet the demand through evaluation processes such as collaborative capacity reviews. These techniques focus on the viability of strategies such as reorganization and repurposing of financial resources and other assets at the direct service level.
