ABSTRACT
Evolving welfare reform at the national level has put pressures on local governments to bear the burden of adjustment. Community-level policy makers and leaders must initiate efforts to protect the governmental safety net, ensure access, reform financing structures, and engineer new service delivery models. Local governments will continue to face resource limitations; therefore, careful financial management requires decision-making procedures that support consistent, fair, and rational determination of resource allocation priorities. This article presents fresh methods for local governments to use in setting priorities for funding governmental services.
