CMO Public Policy & Administration 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which doctrine holds that when state law and local ordinance conflict on the same subject, state law prevails?
- Home rule supremacy
- Federal preemption
- State preemption (Correct answer)
- Concurrent jurisdiction
Correct answer: State preemption
State preemption holds that state statutes supersede conflicting local ordinances on the same subject matter.
Question 2: A neighborhood group formally organized to provide input on a proposed highway project is an example of:
- Regulatory negotiation
- Citizen advisory committee (Correct answer)
- Ombudsman office
- Public-private partnership
Correct answer: Citizen advisory committee
Citizen advisory committees give organized community input into government decisions, helping administrators understand public preferences.
Question 3: Which concept describes the phenomenon where public agencies tend to expand their budgets and staff beyond what is necessary to achieve their mission?
- Principal-agent problem
- Bureaucratic pathology / Parkinson's Law (Correct answer)
- Adverse selection
- Moral hazard
Correct answer: Bureaucratic pathology / Parkinson's Law
Parkinson's Law (a form of bureaucratic pathology) holds that work expands to fill available time and resources, leading agencies to grow beyond efficiency.
Question 4: A municipality seeking to fund a major infrastructure project without a general tax increase could use which financing mechanism backed by future project-related revenues?
- General obligation bond
- Revenue bond (Correct answer)
- Tax anticipation note
- Internal service fund transfer
Correct answer: Revenue bond
Revenue bonds are repaid from the specific revenues generated by the financed project (e.g., toll fees, utility charges) rather than general tax revenues.
Question 5: Which administrative process allows citizens who believe they have been harmed by a government decision to seek formal review and remedy?
- Legislative audit
- Administrative appeal / quasi-judicial hearing (Correct answer)
- Executive veto
- Referendum
Correct answer: Administrative appeal / quasi-judicial hearing
Administrative appeals and quasi-judicial hearings provide affected parties a formal process to challenge agency decisions and seek remedies.
Question 6: When a municipality benchmarks its service delivery costs against peer cities, the primary goal is to:
- Comply with state audit requirements
- Identify best practices and measure relative efficiency (Correct answer)
- Negotiate collective bargaining agreements
- Determine grant eligibility
Correct answer: Identify best practices and measure relative efficiency
Benchmarking compares performance metrics against peer organizations to identify gaps, learn best practices, and drive efficiency improvements.
Question 7: The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) recommends that municipalities maintain a general fund reserve equal to at minimum:
- 5% of annual expenditures
- Two months (approximately 17%) of annual expenditures (Correct answer)
- 50% of annual expenditures
- One full year of annual expenditures
Correct answer: Two months (approximately 17%) of annual expenditures
GFOA recommends maintaining an unrestricted general fund balance of at least two months (approximately 17%) of regular general fund operating revenues or expenditures.
CMO Public Policy & Administration 5
Which doctrine holds that when state law and local ordinance conflict on the same subject, state law prevails?