Local fiscal administration should be a mechanism for providing efficient
implementation of the local government’s fiscal plans. Once agencies have
received resources for the provision of government services, the fiscal process
should not discourage the agencies from using them most efficiently.
Although it is important that resources not be diverted away from public
use, agencies should focus on providing services that have been approved
by lawmakers and not on determining exactly how resources are used.
Attention needs to be on the results of the use of resources, not on the
resources themselves. The process should encourage agencies to be efficient
in their provision of services, direct agency attention toward the services of
greatest value to the citizenry, encourage use of the best available technologicalstrategies for providing service, and foster quick response when demands
for service or provision alternatives change. Control over resources is crit-ical for fiscal discipline, but that control should not be so rigid that gov-ernment agencies are unable to respond flexibly, quickly, and efficiently in
the delivery of services to the citizenry.