Kurt Thurmaier
Biographic Data
| ID | 1632762 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kurt Thurmaier |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kurt |
| FAMILY NAME | Thurmaier |
| SIGNATURE | THURMAIER K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Iowa State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0735-7278 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 46 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Role of Social Media in Promoting Budget Transparency and Citizen Participation in Kenyan Counties
Websites and social media are digital avenues that enhance information transparency and facilitate citizen engagement in public decision‐making processes. Kenya's county governments have been adopting different digital platforms in compliance with the constitutional mandate of ensuring residents are well‐informed and involved in local decision‐making. However, empirical studies assessing the efficacy of social media, especially in the African con…
Participatory Transparency in Kenya
Research about citizen participation in public budgeting is inconclusive regarding whether citizens actually influence budgetary priorities. In Kenya, emerging citizens’ participation models spawned by a constitutional mandate are excellent laboratories for evaluating the impact of citizens on county planning and budgeting decisions. Focus groups of citizens who have participated in planning and budgeting sessions in four Kenyan counties revealed…
Political and Functional Local Government Consolidation
This analysis explores the options for a theoretical model to guide regional collaboration by local governments that is both politically feasible and consistent with core public administration values. The analysis first examines the research on the adoption, implementation and performance of political consolidation. We then examine the theory and research that underlie functional consolidation and assess both types in lieu of the values of public…
Interlocal Agreements as Collaborations
Interlocal agreements (ILAs) have long been a useful tool for municipal and county governments to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of local government services. Yet although they have a long history in practice, there is little empirical study of the impetus and success of ILAs, especially on a statewide basis. This study presents results from a statewide survey of ILAs in Iowa created in the period, 1993-2004. Results suggest that ILAs …
Advancing E‐Government
As e‐government evolves into the transactions stage, governments must grapple with how to finance the development of e‐transactions. The authors argue that the externalities effects of electronic transactions suggest they are appropriately financed by some combination of public investment and user charges. We propose a self‐financing model adhering to two basic requirements. A flexible pricing framework is the core of the self‐financing model, as…
Frame the Consolidation Debate with a Sound Argument
The most persuasive argument in favor of city–county consolidation has been—and remains—economic development through the formation of a strong and attractive regional community identity. Empirical evidence consistently demonstrates that appeals to voters based on reducing inner-city/suburban socioeconomic inequity and enhancing administrative efficiency are a recipe for failed consolidation campaigns
High‐Intensity Interlocal Collaboration in Three Iowa Cities
When Efficiency Is Unbelievable
We use a new model of city-county consolidation to analyze 12 local government consolidation attempts during the last three decades. Using a rigorously designed comparative case study, we identify the critical variables that explain why some consolidations succeed and others fail. Arguments for consolidation typically fail when they focus on the increased equity to be gained from the redistribution of revenues from the suburbs to central cities. …
Interlocal Agreements as Overlapping Social Networks
Public policies addressing complex issues require transjurisdictional solutions, challenging hierarchical modes of public–service delivery. Interlocal agreements (ILAs) are long–established service–delivery instruments for local governments, and research suggests they are plentiful, with a majority of cities and counties involved in at least one ILA. Although ILAs are an established feature of local government operations, previous research is ath…
Beyond Efficiency and Economy
The anatomy of a budget recommendation
How analysts make recommendations to the budget director and governor depends partly on the nature of the state budget office (SBO). This paper contrasts the development of a budget recommendation in an office with a strong policy orientation with recommendations fashioned in an office with a strong control orientation. One important difference is that control oriented analysts focus almost exclusively on the technical and legal facets of budget …
Who Will Pay for the Social Infrastructure
The transformation of countries in Eastern Europe involves sweeping changes in the scope and roles of national and local governments. The reallocation of economic activities between the public and private sectors and decentralization from national to local governments are complex and difficult processes. This article explores the role of local governments in privatizing the social infrastructure assets of state-owned enterprises, especially housi…
Decisive Decision Making in the Executive Budget Process
More than 50 years ago, V.O. Key (1940) asked the central question of budgetary decision making - on what basis shall we decide to allocate X funds program A instead of program B? It remains an important, if elusive, area of inquiry. Much of the contemporary budgeting literature has focused on macrobudgeting - budget process, environmental constraints, judicial intervention, and a generally top-down and systematic perspective (Rubin, 1993). This …
Budget Folkways and Folklore
Journal Article Budget Folkways and Folklore: Comments on “Strategic Misrepresentation in Budgeting” Get access Kurt Thurmaier Kurt Thurmaier University of Kansas Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Volume 2, Issue 2, April 1992, Pages 203–205, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jpart.a037122 Published: 01 April 1992
Interlocal Agreements as Collaborations
Interlocal agreements (ILAs) have long been a useful tool for municipal and county governments to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of local government services. Yet although they have a long history in practice, there is little empirical study of the impetus and success of ILAs, especially on a statewide basis. This study presents results from a statewide survey of ILAs in Iowa created in the period, 1993-2004. Results suggest that ILAs …
Political and Functional Local Government Consolidation
This analysis explores the options for a theoretical model to guide regional collaboration by local governments that is both politically feasible and consistent with core public administration values. The analysis first examines the research on the adoption, implementation and performance of political consolidation. We then examine the theory and research that underlie functional consolidation and assess both types in lieu of the values of public…
Beyond Efficiency and Economy
Who Will Pay for the Social Infrastructure
The transformation of countries in Eastern Europe involves sweeping changes in the scope and roles of national and local governments. The reallocation of economic activities between the public and private sectors and decentralization from national to local governments are complex and difficult processes. This article explores the role of local governments in privatizing the social infrastructure assets of state-owned enterprises, especially housi…
Budget Folkways and Folklore
Journal Article Budget Folkways and Folklore: Comments on “Strategic Misrepresentation in Budgeting” Get access Kurt Thurmaier Kurt Thurmaier University of Kansas Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Volume 2, Issue 2, April 1992, Pages 203–205, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jpart.a037122 Published: 01 April 1992
Decisive Decision Making in the Executive Budget Process
More than 50 years ago, V.O. Key (1940) asked the central question of budgetary decision making - on what basis shall we decide to allocate X funds program A instead of program B? It remains an important, if elusive, area of inquiry. Much of the contemporary budgeting literature has focused on macrobudgeting - budget process, environmental constraints, judicial intervention, and a generally top-down and systematic perspective (Rubin, 1993). This …
Who Will Pay for the Social Infrastructure
The transformation of countries in Eastern Europe involves sweeping changes in the scope and roles of national and local governments. The reallocation of economic activities between the public and private sectors and decentralization from national to local governments are complex and difficult processes. This article explores the role of local governments in privatizing the social infrastructure assets of state-owned enterprises, especially housi…
The anatomy of a budget recommendation
How analysts make recommendations to the budget director and governor depends partly on the nature of the state budget office (SBO). This paper contrasts the development of a budget recommendation in an office with a strong policy orientation with recommendations fashioned in an office with a strong control orientation. One important difference is that control oriented analysts focus almost exclusively on the technical and legal facets of budget …
Interlocal Agreements as Overlapping Social Networks
Public policies addressing complex issues require transjurisdictional solutions, challenging hierarchical modes of public–service delivery. Interlocal agreements (ILAs) are long–established service–delivery instruments for local governments, and research suggests they are plentiful, with a majority of cities and counties involved in at least one ILA. Although ILAs are an established feature of local government operations, previous research is ath…
Beyond Efficiency and Economy
When Efficiency Is Unbelievable
We use a new model of city-county consolidation to analyze 12 local government consolidation attempts during the last three decades. Using a rigorously designed comparative case study, we identify the critical variables that explain why some consolidations succeed and others fail. Arguments for consolidation typically fail when they focus on the increased equity to be gained from the redistribution of revenues from the suburbs to central cities. …
Frame the Consolidation Debate with a Sound Argument
The most persuasive argument in favor of city–county consolidation has been—and remains—economic development through the formation of a strong and attractive regional community identity. Empirical evidence consistently demonstrates that appeals to voters based on reducing inner-city/suburban socioeconomic inequity and enhancing administrative efficiency are a recipe for failed consolidation campaigns
High‐Intensity Interlocal Collaboration in Three Iowa Cities
Interlocal Agreements as Collaborations
Interlocal agreements (ILAs) have long been a useful tool for municipal and county governments to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of local government services. Yet although they have a long history in practice, there is little empirical study of the impetus and success of ILAs, especially on a statewide basis. This study presents results from a statewide survey of ILAs in Iowa created in the period, 1993-2004. Results suggest that ILAs …
Advancing E‐Government
As e‐government evolves into the transactions stage, governments must grapple with how to finance the development of e‐transactions. The authors argue that the externalities effects of electronic transactions suggest they are appropriately financed by some combination of public investment and user charges. We propose a self‐financing model adhering to two basic requirements. A flexible pricing framework is the core of the self‐financing model, as…
Political and Functional Local Government Consolidation
This analysis explores the options for a theoretical model to guide regional collaboration by local governments that is both politically feasible and consistent with core public administration values. The analysis first examines the research on the adoption, implementation and performance of political consolidation. We then examine the theory and research that underlie functional consolidation and assess both types in lieu of the values of public…
Participatory Transparency in Kenya
Research about citizen participation in public budgeting is inconclusive regarding whether citizens actually influence budgetary priorities. In Kenya, emerging citizens’ participation models spawned by a constitutional mandate are excellent laboratories for evaluating the impact of citizens on county planning and budgeting decisions. Focus groups of citizens who have participated in planning and budgeting sessions in four Kenyan counties revealed…
The Role of Social Media in Promoting Budget Transparency and Citizen Participation in Kenyan Counties
Websites and social media are digital avenues that enhance information transparency and facilitate citizen engagement in public decision‐making processes. Kenya's county governments have been adopting different digital platforms in compliance with the constitutional mandate of ensuring residents are well‐informed and involved in local decision‐making. However, empirical studies assessing the efficacy of social media, especially in the African con…
Political science (13 works) · Public Administration (11 works) · Law (8 works) · Local Government Finance and Decentralization (8 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (7 works) · Politics (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Computer Science (5 works)