Few empirical studies have examined the cybersecurity policies of cities in the United States. Issues that have yet to be addressed in the literature include whether cities (of various sizes) maintain cybersecurity plans and policies that are sufficient to protect their citizens’ data, a general lack of knowledge regarding cybersecurity policies, and practices on the part of cities that place at risk the security of public services and citizens’ privacy. Our research explored these issues by administering a survey to public officials working in U.S. cities. The survey instrument included questions pertaining to (1) the existence of a formal cybersecurity strategic plan and the utilisation of internet-based technologies in cities, (2) the support received by cities for their cybersecurity planning, (3) the types of cybersecurity policies being implemented in cities, and (4) the resources needed to conduct cybersecurity planning. We collected surveys from 168 officials employed in cities across the U.S. Our analysis of the results indicates that municipalities have formal cybersecurity policies but that they need to increase the integration of cybersecurity practices into their daily management processes by tracking their data, consulting outside security auditors, and increasing management training related to data security.

Municipal reformers often call for more public participation in the budget process. However, few studies have surveyed the viewpoints of budget practitioners on the efficacy of public involvement in municipal budgeting. In this paper, we report a survey administered by e-mail to budget directors in cities that won the Government Finance Officers Association's (GFOA) distinguished budget presentation award in 2011. The survey is based upon the research of Berner (2004) and the theoretical framework developed by Ebdon and Franklin (2006). We find that budget directors in the sampled cities view traditional participation methods, such as the public hearing, as the most effective, compared to more interactive and participatory methods. This viewpoint stands in contrast to the scholarly literature's normative arguments and empirical evidence that meaningful public input must be solicited early in the budgeting process through interactive methods.

In the United States, local economic development is increasingly being managed by nonprofit organizations. However, the institutional arrangement of local economic development is an understudied topic in the scholarly literature on nonprofit management and leadership. This paper examines why communities select nonprofits to manage economic development and the effect this institutional arrangement has on local development policy. We hypothesize that the form of local government and the population size of a community are variables affecting the likelihood that a community will select a nonprofit organization for economic development. Additionally, we argue that nonprofit organizations manage economic development differently than agencies directly controlled by local governments. Thus, organizational types influence economic development policy outcomes. To examine the paper’s hypotheses, we use data from the International City/County Management Association’s (ICMA) 2014 economic development survey. The paper’s analysis provides evidence that smaller cities, compared with larger communities, are more likely to select nonprofit organizations to manage economic development, and it appears the selection of a nonprofit to manage economic development influences the type of development tools used by communities.