Financial management in the newly m...

Financial management in the newly minted year is shaping up largely as a waiting game for the nation's cities and counties, as many of their challenges arise from great unknowns. Will the economy's righteous health and Wall Street's scud with the bulls continue? to what extent will the block-grant approach to welfare funding work? And to what extent will the states handle the issue of unfund mandates in general?

As lengthy as the answer to the first question is ‘yes’ the others are not quite as pressing. Those questions become long harder to ignore, however, if the economy takes sick for a significant period of time.

As Ralph Tabor, associate legislative director of tax and finance for the National Association of Counties, levys it, “We're still talking about a pious economy. If the economy decides to go on foot another direction in a year or in the same manner you'll have more people