Demographic Change and Local Government: Planning for Services

Contents

• About Planning for Services
• Finance
• Leisure Services
• Libraries
• Health and Human Services
• Housing
• Personnel - Work Force
• Planning
• Public Safety
• Public Works
• Schools and Education
• Transportation

About Planning for Services

It is important to consider population trends in order to plan for the impacts of population changes and increasing demands for public services.  Changes in the makeup of the communities served will affect the issues that local policy makers face in the coming years.   The items cited on this page are a mix of  ideas about needs, calls for action, and plans to address the future.  The first group of citations related to various ways state and local governments are recognizing and addressing the impacts of changing demographics. 

• General
  • Attracting and Retaining Generation Ys in Public Service – Part 1, by Janice Corbin and Janet May, MRSC HR Advisory
  • Benefits for Younger vs. Older Workers, Girard Miller, Governing Management Newsletter, February 20, 2008 - Summarizes Segal study on  Generational Differences in How Employees Gauge the Rewards of Their Work ( 309 KB), Segal Survey, Winter 2008
  • Expert Exodus, by Christopher Conte, Governing, February 2006 - As baby boomers retire, governments are trying to keep knowledge and experience from going out the door with them.
  • International Institute of Municipal Clerks, Futures Group Reports, IIMC News Digest, Part One - Part V, January, February, March, April, May 2004.   MRSC Library Loan
  • Managing in a City of Changing Demographics ( 318 KB), John E. Nowak, ICMA Presentation
  • The Maturing of America : Getting Communities on Track for an Aging Population ( 2.33 MB) - Project led by the National Association of Areas on Aging in partnership with the International City/County Management Association, National Association of Counties, National League of Cities,  and Partners for Livable Communities, funded from a grant from MetLife Foundation, 9-06
  • Mejorando Group - articles by Patrick Ibarra  -  View on Mejorando Group Web Site (free registration required) or obtain from MRSC Library Loan
    • Incorporating Succession Planning into Your Organization, by Patrick Ibarra, Public Management, January/February 2005
    • The Myths and Realities of Succession Planning, by Patrick Ibarra, Public Management, January/February 2007  
• Government Initiatives and Studies 
  • Arizona  Aging 2020  Includes Aging 2020 Plan -  Governor's Office on Aging
  • Australia - Planning for an Ageing Community, Australian Local Government Association
    • Australian Local Government Population Ageing Action Plan 2004 - 2008
  • Boston's Dynamic Workforce: Attract, Attain, Absorb ( 506 KB) - The City of Boston's 20-34 Year Old Initiative, Boston Redevelopment Authority, 10-03
  • California Strategic Plan for An Aging California Population: Getting California Ready for the “Baby Boomers" ( 1.47 MB), California Health and Human Services Agency, October 14, 2003
  • Hawai`i Summit: 2011 Project - The Executive Office on Aging
  • Minnesota -  Building Inclusive Communities, League of Minnesota Cities
  • New York - The Future of Aging in New York State,  Project 2015, New  York,  Office for the Aging

Finance

• Senior Tax Work-off Programs - A program in which low income or disabled persons can pay part of their property tax through a work program.  With the large number of retirements expected, there may be a larger number of low income seniors desiring to stay in their homes.
  • Seniors and Taxes: Work to Pay, County Research News 3-3-97
  • Washington State  - Clark County is the only county in Washington and one of a few nationwide with a Senior Citizen/Disabled Person Tax Work-Off Program. A low-income senior or disabled person can work for a County department to pay a portion of their property taxes.
    • Clark County - Assistance for Seniors and Disabled Persons See Work-off program
  • Other States
    • Colorado - Colorado Property Tax Work Off Program ( 246 KB)
      • Boulder County  Senior Tax Work-Off Program
    • Massachusetts - Senior Citizen Property Tax Work-Off Abatement ( 143 KB) - Property Tax Bureau Informational Guideline Release (IGR) No. 02-210, September 2002
      • Andover SCRPT: Senior Citizen Property Tax Work-off Program
    • Oregon Statutes Title 29 310.800 Property Tax Work-Off programs (Scroll)
    • South Carolina - Aiken County Senior Tax Workoff

Leisure Services

• Older Adults Say Yes to Yoga:  By trying yoga, older adults can put the spring back in their step, By Nanette Tummers, Ed.D. and Frank Hendrick, Ph.D, Parks and Recreation, February 2004.
• Recreating Retirement: How Will Baby Boomers Reshape Leisure in their 60's?, by Jeffrey Ziegler, Parks and Recreation, October 2002.  MRSC Library Loan 
• Providing More for Older Adults, by Geoffrey Godbey, Parks and Recreation, October 2005  MRSC Library Loan
• Multicultural Issues in Outdoor Education, ERIC Digest
• Things change (Leisure and Aging Society), Parks & Recreation,  November 2002  MRSC Library Loan

Libraries

Greatest responsibility for fostering cultural diversity will be schools and libraries.  Primary concerns for  U.S. schools include providing all students with a solid grounding in English and finding ways to recruit and reward the best teachers and weed out the least effective.  Public libraries act as sites for after-hours learning, reference facilities, sources of Net access for those who do not have it at home, and bad-weather shelters for the homeless.  From: Trends Shaping the Future: Economic, Societal, and Environmental Trends, The Futurist, January-February 2003.

• The Baby Boomer Generation - Impact on Public Libraries Theoretical and Practical Evidence, Maureen V. Kahlert, City of Swan Public Libraries, Midland Public Library, Midland, Western Australia at 66th IFLA General Conference and Council, Jerusalem, Israel, August 13-18, 2000 
• 5-Star Programming and Services for Your 55+ Library Customers, by Barbara T. Mates, American Library Association, 2003. Book Description 
• Teens are Patrons Too: Revamping  Teen Services in Public Libraries (Power Point Presentation), Lisa Heggum, Teen Services Librarian, Pickering   Canadian Library Association, 2002

Health and Human Services

• EPA’s Aging Initiative Website - Information about the Agency’s efforts to protect the environmental health of older persons.
• The Future of the Public’s Health in the 21st Century, National Academies Press, 2002
• Healthy People 2010
  • Healthy People in Healthy Communities: A Community Planning Guide Using Healthy People 2010, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office of Public Health and Science, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Facing the Future: The State of Human Services in Washington State, Washington State Department of Social and Health Services
• Active Living for Older Adults: Management Strategies for Healthy and Livable Communities, ICMA  

Housing

• Developing Active Adult Retirement Communities, (Publication blurb)  Urban Land Institute, 2001 
• Issue Papers on Demographic Trends Important to Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development,  February 2003, 154 p.
  • Issue Paper on the Impact of Immigration for Housing, by Barry Chiswick and Paul Miller;
  • Projections of U.S. Households by Race/Hispanic Origin, Age, Family Type Tenure to 2020: A Sensitivity Analysis, by George Masnick and Zhu Xiao Di; 
  • How Changes in the Nation's Age and Household Structure will Reshape Housing Demand in the 21st Century, by Martha Farnsworth Riche 
• Retirement Housing Forecast, 4 Part Series on Retirement Housing, by John Burns, HousingZone.Com

Personnel - Work Force

• Building a Workplace that Recognizes Generational Diversity, Public Management, April 2004

Planning

• Aging and Smart Growth: Building Aging-Sensitive Communities, Smart Growth Resource  Library
• Planning for Our Aging Population - Three Perspectives - Issues,  Planning Commissioners Journal, Winter 2005  MRSC Library Loan.  (Can be obtained from Planners Web)
  • The Impact of An Aging Population on Planning, by Greg Dale
  • The Future is Now: Mobility & Seniors, by Hannah Twaddell
  • Careful Attention to Older Citizens Benefits All, by Elaine Cogan
• Recruiting Retirees: What State and Local Governments Are Doing to Attract and Regain Aging Baby Boomers, by Lawrence Goldblatt and Ruth Knack, Planning, March 2004.   MRSC Library Loan.
• Senior Housing Could Offer Benefits for Many Downtowns, Downtown Idea Exchange, June 15, 2004. MRSC Library Loan

Public Safety

• Traffic Safety in the New Millennium: Strategies for Law Enforcement ( 771 KB): A Planning Guide for Law Enforcement Executives, Administrators and Managers, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Highway Safety Committee, 2001
• Police Futurists International  - An organization of law enforcement practitioners,educators, researchers, private security specialists, technology experts and other professionals dedicated to improving criminal and social justice through the professionalization of policing. Futures Research (long-range planning and forecasting) is the pivotal discipline that constitutes the philosophical underpinnings of PFI. Website provides access to newsletter and other articles.

Public Works

• The Baby Boomers Are Leaving! Planning for a Changing Workforce ( 2.41 MB), by Natalie Eddy, Small Flows Quarterly, Summer 2006

Schools/Education

• A Back to School  Special Report on the  Baby Boom Echo: Growing Pains, U.S. Department of Education, August 21, 2000
• Reinventing Schools: The Technology is Now!  by Douglas A. Ellmore, Sr., Steve E. Olson, Phillip M. Smith, National Academies Press, 2000
• 21st Century Learners: The Need for Tech-Savvy Teachers, Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3 Program)
• Illinois Intergenerational Initiative

Transportation

• Aging Americans: Stranded Without Options, Surface Transportation Policy Project, April 2004. Report shows that more than half of all non-drivers age 65 and over stay at home on a given day, many because of limited transportation options. This trend is particularly troublesome as the baby boom generation of Americans grows older.
• Getting Around in an Aging Society, by Katharine Hunter-Zaworski, Planning, May 2007 - Planners need to start thinking about parking, buses, and electric cars
• Gearing Up for an Aging Population, by Jane Stutts and Ingrid Potts, Public Roads, May/June 2006
• Stranded Seniors, By Christopher Swope, Governing, June 2005
• Transitions to Transportation Options: How They Affect Older Adults, A Partnership Project Beverly Foundation & American Public Transportation Association, January 2007
  

Traffic Safety for Older Drivers

• Older Drivers - Federal Highway Administration Safety
• Guidelines and Recommendations to Accommodate Older Drivers and Pedestrians, Federal Highway Administration, Research, Development, and Technology, Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, Publication No FHWA-RD-01-051,  May 2001
• Highway Design Guidebook for Older Drivers and Pedestrians,  Federal Highway Administration , Research, Development, and Technology Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, Publication No. FHWA-RD-01-103, May, 2001
• Senior Mobility from  Public Roads
  • The Older Driver Comes of Age, by Thomas M. Granda and Shirley Thompson, January/February 2006 , Vol. 69, No. 4
  • Road Users Can Grow Old Gracefully—With Some Help,  by Lisa Phillips, Gabriel Rousseau, and Joanne Schwartzberg, MD,  and Gearing Up for an Aging Population, by Jane Stutts and Ingrid Potts May/June 2006, Vol. 69, No. 6
  • Marking the Way To Greater Safety, by Gene Amparano and David A. Morena, Senior Mobility Series: Article 4 July/August 2006. Vol. 70, No. 1 
  • Older Drivers at a Crossroads, by David A. Morena, W. Scott Wainwright, and Fred Ranck, January/February 2007,  Vol. 70, No. 4
  • Old World Ways,  by C.G.B. "Kit" Mitchell, Senior Mobility Article No. 6  and  Better Options For Older Adults, by Helen Kerschner and Joan Harris, Senior Mobility Article No. 6, March/April 2007, Vol. 70,  No. 5