Budgeting for Scope

Understanding what city government is, what it is capable of doing, and what it is incapable of doing provides a starting point for municipal officials to decide when and how to exercise local authority. A clear standard of purpose—i.e., to protect individual decision-making—addresses the needs of residents and delimits the organization’s scope. Such a decision-making standard subordinates the use of group force to the regard for residents’ decision-making autonomy. This autonomy enables residents to pursue their individual values in the community. By properly regarding what government is, using a decision-making standard for engaging the organization that is consistent with the residents’ individual needs, and considering all effects of the organization’s actions—municipalities have a new framework with which to move forward to undertake the proper scope of the organization’s activity. When I watched municipal officials approve new programs on behalf of the organization, their response to doubters was: “If it doesn’t work, we can always change it.” Municipalities need to make good on this promise, starting with the decision-making approach that gave rise to the proliferation of its activities and that distanced the organization from its residents. As the agent of the local monopoly on force, the truly successful and sustainable municipal organization ensures that it is doing only the things that it should be doing.