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This paper explores the political implications of the use of public enterprises at the municipal level, using survey data from Illinois cities. The dependent variables include the number of enterprises cities have, the dependence of cities on income from enterprises, and the choice of which enterprises to provide. The paper explores why some cities have enterprises to handle parking, garbage, and economic development. Conclusions are that cities experiencing fiscal stress avoid enterprises, and more-reformed cities use enterprises more frequently. Particular enterprises have their own political and financial characteristics and are more likely to be used by cities with matching political characteristics. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on the annual budgeting by local governments in the U.S. It explores how the budget process is carried out in small local governments. The authors in this article examines the practices of 12 rural governments-- eight municipalities and four counties-- located in two states, California and Illinois, as studied in field research conducted in 1981-82. The focus is on roles and tasks-- who does what in annual budgeting. The 12 small and rural local governments that comprises the research sample are evenly divided between the two states, with four cities and two counties apiece in California and Illinois. All are located in non-metropolitan areas. Without strong chief executives in these 12 rural local governments, the budgets presented to the city councils and county boards were each the work of several persons in various positions. In 11 of the 12 jurisdictions, budget preparation was largely in the hands of separately elected administrators. They were city clerks in most of the municipalities, the treasurer in one California municipality, auditors in both California counties, and the clerk in one Illinois county and the state's attorney in the other.

Cooperative ventures such as the one between the Illinois City Management Association (IllCMA) and Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois are a bit like elephants mating. There is a good deal of wild trumpeting in the underbrush with a good deal of energy expended, but nobody knows for quite some time if anything of significance really happened. Now that the project is complete one will know in the time to come if a permanent close relationship has emerged. Authors think it has. The IllCMA, founded in 1954, is a group of city managers dedicated to the purposes of improving municipal management and strengthening Illinois local government. It now comprises some 93 managers and 52 assistants, about three quarters of who are in the suburban part of the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area. According to authors, pressures on individual managers today are more numerous and more complex. Career education and training, as a form of continuing education, could be an important service that universities could provide.