The virtue of planning.

• Author: Christensen, Peter
• Position: From the editor - Brief Article - Editorial

GFOA's 98th annual conference in Milwaukee this June bears an appropriate theme: "Financing the Future of Government." With governments at all levels still confronting significant fiscal pressure, this year's conference offers a great opportunity for finance officers to share their ideas on how to not only weather the immediate storm, but also to prepare for the future.

One of the most important lessons to be learned from the fiscal crisis of the last few years--any fiscal crisis, for that matter--is the need for effective long-term financial planning. While financial planning is no guarantee that your government will escape the pain of an economic downturn or some other unforeseen event, it can ease the pain and speed up recovery.

In this issue of Government Finance Review, two of the feature articles make reference to the elixir of long-term financial planning. Pall Gudgeirsson writes about how the recession of the early 1990s led the City of San Clemente to develop a long-term financial plan, and how that document prepared the city for the most recent recession. The article offers timely advice on how to put together...