Financial Foundations for Thriving Communities

The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has been advancing a new formula for how local governments can maintain their financial health and thereby contribute to a thriving community. This new formula is based on a Nobel-prize winning body of work about how communities can make better decisions about shared resources, such as a public budget. It builds on the concepts of long-term financial planning and financial policies. It also raises new concepts that are vital to financial health. In this session, GFOA Senior Manager of Research Shayne Kavanagh will discuss these financial foundations.

Kavanagh has been a leader in developing the practice and technique of long-term financial planning and policies for local government. He started GFOA's long-term financial planning and policy consulting offering in 2002 and has been working with governments on financial planning and policies ever since. Shayne has worked with many governments of different sizes and types on financial planning and policies across the United States and Canada, and is the author of a number of influential publications on financial planning. Prior to joining GFOA, Shayne was the Assistant Village Manager for the Village of Palos Park, Illinois, where he was responsible for managing all aspects of financial management operations, including budgeting, utility billing, payroll, and accounting. He received his MPA degree from Northern Illinois University.

For more information, contact Hao Huang at hhuang48@iit.edu.