The government services that normally become the responsibility of local governments are services that are close to the people:primary and secondary education,local transport,protective services,local cultural and recreational facilities, housing and utilities, water and sewerage, waste management, and the like. The citizenry are immediately influenced by the services provided, and there is little need for sophisticated measurement instruments to judge the success of the services. The citizens receive the services and can reach easy conclusions about their quality and reasonableness. They can police the results of the government agencies ’actions without any survey or reporting lags. Communication of evaluations is also easy. Local lawmakers and administrators are easier for citizens to contact than are comparable officials of regional or national governments. Except for the governments of the largest localities,there is no distant chain of command between the field and the administration. Problems and results can be communicated simply and quickly, making for high responsiveness. This is critical for establishing citizen-oriented public governance. Because citizen monitoring of results is relatively easy at the local level,it is reasonable for citizen participation to be a regular component of the local budget process. This is important for the formulation of budget programs as well as for the monitoring of program execution and for the evaluation of program results.