Bankruptcies are expensive, time-consuming,, and seldom produce the hoped-for results.

I’m always partial to Public Management (PM) magazine articles, but I have to write here that the September issue is one of those that represents what the magazine was designed to do from its first issue: feature information for managers who are out there doing their best for local governments every day. With public safety budgeting always a critical and debatable issue, the cover stories examine operational changes that might need to be made for fiscal reasons. One example is how changes were made to the firefighters’ shift structure in Delaware, Ohio.

Here are some suggestions on what you can do to help prevent funding from being cut.