Constructing public management futures during fiscal stress

Introduction Prospective management requires objective thinking about the future. Strategic planning integrated with extended budgetary outlooks can help to make this happen. One consequence of such integration, “fiscal sustainability, " expands from conceptualization as a measure of a government’s ability to meet its financial obligations on an annual basis toward one reflecting long-term commitments and including four overlapping dimensions: solvency, growth, stability, and fairness (Schick 2005). Fiscal stress challenges each dimension, and persistent lingering effects of the Great Recession (2008-2010) remain, forcing most North American public administrators in local government to redefine their core services and their visions for their communities (Greenblatt 2010; International City/County Management Association 2011). For these reasons, cutback management remains the dominant local government strategy across much of the United States and Canada. How well have local governments and their leaders, especially those recognized for practicing strategic planning and management prior to the deep recession, fared in developing sustainable budgets to regain and maintain solvency, promote economic growth, stabilize resources and tax burdens, and foster fair policies over the long run?.