Complete List of Terms and Definitions for State and Local

Terms Definitions
fragmentation multiple governmental jurisdictions, including cities, townships, school districts, and special districts, all operating in a single metro area
Voucher Arguments Pro: increases competition
Anti: public v. private school (seperation of church and state), not everyone can afford to move for their child
**public schools are funded by property taxes
Street-Level Bureaucrats Lower-level public agency employees who actually take the actions that represent law or policy.
zoning local govt ordinances that divide communities into various residential, commercial, and industrial zones, and that require landowners to use their land in conformity with the regulations for the zone in which it is located
machine politics a tightly disciplined political organization, historically centered in big cities, which traded patronage jobs, public contracts, services, and favors for votes
reasons for consolidation jurisdiction issues, efficiency issues, better communication, one agency
Merit Systems Systems in which employment and promotion in public agencies are based on qualifications and demonstrated ability, which blends very well with the organizational characteristics of bureaucracy.
Bureaucracy Public agencies and the programs and services they implement and manage.
Representative Bureaucracy The idea that public agencies reflecting the diversity of the communities they serve will be more effective.
Types of taxes Progressive, regressive, flat, sales, income, consumption
Revenue Bonds bonds issued by governments for specific projects and backed only by whatever revenues the projects generate
enterprise zones federal grants, tax incentives, and loans to communities to revitalize distressed areas
Accountability the extent to which an elected official must answer to his constituents
- The freq of appt to elected office
- The effective constituency is very small
- Limited contact with citizens
- The infrequency of electoral defeat
- The frequency of voluntary retirement from elected office
Sprawl a negative reference to the outward extension of new low-density residential and commerical development from the central city
Social Security The federal govts Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program; for all employed Americans it is a compulsory program
Collective Bargaining A process in which representatives of labor and management meet to negotiate pay and benefits, job responsibilities, and working conditions.
Seniority The length of time spent in a position.
Policy Implementation The process of taking the expressed wishes of government and translating them into action.
Consolidation County and city merge together to form one govt
Cities versus Suburbs Cities: congestion, people moving out, pollution, factory
Suburbs: people moving in, lack of jobs so people commute to city
roles of local government interact with constituents; manage precise services to communities; provide infrastructure; maintanence; provide services
BoomBurb newest form of suburb; city with more than 100,000 residents located within a metropolitan area but which is not the central city and which has maintained a double-digit growth rate in recent years.  Typically contain a more economically and racialle divere populations than suburbs
charter schools schools operated with public funds by private community groups under a charter from public school districts
referenda voting in local govt, usually voters deciding whether or not to approve a bond issue and increased taxation for a specific project
Tiebout model an economic theory that asserts that families and businesses in metropolitan areas can maximize their prefererences for services and taxes by choosing locations among multiple local govts
vouchers givent to parents to pay for their children's education at schools of their own choosing, redeemable by the schools in public funds from the state and school district
poverty rate the percentage of the population whose annual cash income falls below that which is required, according to the federal govt, to maintain a decent standard of living
Inentifying Suburban Sprawl - unlimited outward extension of new development
- low density residential and commercial settlements
- leapfrog development jumping out beyond established settlements
- fragmentation of powers over land use among many small localities
- dominance of transportation by private automobiles
- widespread development of commercial strips
- great fiscal disparities among localities
- reliance mainly on trickle down to provide housing to low income households
metropolitan area a city of 50,000 or more people together with adjacent counties with predominantly urban populations and with close ties to the central city
Net Poverty people who fall below the poverty line after costing out the value of in-kind govt benefits
school superintednent the chief exec officer of a school district; may be directly elected or appointed by the school board
Latent Poverty people who would be poor if there were no government welfare or Social Security programs
welfare magnet If a state offers to great of welfare benefits then this will encourage individuals to
move to that state in order to receive the greater benefits that state has to offer.
race to the bottom when states attempt to make sure that they do not offer better welfare benefits than other states do
reasons for conflict in Metropolitan Areas high population, small space, creates more crime
Sepearation between Church and State Govt can't sponsor a religion at any level, no interference with religion
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) The sum of all the goods and services produced in the US ina  year; a measure of the size of the US economy