Administrative decentralization of municipal services: Assessing the New York City experience

Abstract

New York City's Office of Neighborhood Government was created in 1971 to coordinate renewed attempts at decentralizing municipal operations. The decentralization was primarily of an administrative nature, with emphasis on expanding district (neighborhood) management. This study examined decision-making at the district level. The major focus of inquiry was the nature of decision-making responsibilities in five municipal agencies, and the degree to which district officers acted as autonomous managers before and after administrative decentralization had occurred. The results showed that major shifts in responsibilities occurred only in one management function, inter-agency communication. For other functions, such as budget and personnel allocations, priority setting, and information gathering, central headquarters retained major decision-making responsibility. The study thus casts doubt on administrative decentralization as a feasible alternative for reorganizing municipal services to increase service responsiveness to neighborhoods.