1) How local government may be defined? 

  2) Has local government general jurisdiction?

  3) When does local government seem to expand  the number of functions?

  4) What do expand simultaneously with programs on housing, redevelopment, etc.?

  5) Is it important to note that the role of the municipal executive has grown greatly in the present century?

Find the English equivalent s of the following Russian

Phrases in the text.

  1)  Органы местного самоуправления;  

  2) значительный определяющий фактор; 

    3) органы центрального государственного управления;   

    4) муниципальные районы;   

  5) развитие областных учреждений.

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Fill in the gaps with the words from the box.

Each word can be used only once.

  1) Local __________ is at the bottom of a pyramid of governmental institutions, with the national government at the top and intermediate governments occupying the middle __________.

   2) The expansion occurs __________ with a narrowing of __________ between the central government and the municipality.

3) Although the __________ of a central government to control tends to dwindle with distance, the growth of rapid __________ tends to undercut this source of independence.

4) It is __________ to note that the role of the municipal executive has grown greatly in the present __________.

5) The diversity and diffusion of modern life also __________ to lead to a __________ executive since, especially in larger cities.

Circle the Odd Word Out.

1) Association‚ growth‚ organization;

2) determined, has‚ is;

3) capacity, municipality, negatively;

4) doubt, local‚ significant;  

5) can, may‚ tend.

Translate the sentences into Russian

using the Future Perfect Tense.

  1) Urban planners will have completed their work by the end of the week.

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2) Local government will not have developed similar plan by next assembly.

3) Mr. Brown won’t have finished his description of the territory by 4 o’clock today because he is very busy now.

 4) I think‚ they will have discussed these problems by the end of the quarter.

5) Will the urban growth have increased by 2015?

Text

Treasury

The Treasury has its antecedents far back in time as all governments   have   faced   the  need   to  secure   revenues.  But  the

recognizably modern Treasury has its principal roots in the late 17th and early 18th cents. Its emergence as a major organ of state was precipitated by a fairly sudden and large increase in government spending. Prior to the 20th century such an increase was invariably the result of military involvement. The increase in expenditure produced a proliferation of stratagems to pay for it. One means was, of course, new taxation, which was imposed on salt, stamps, hackney coaches, and, especially, on land. The latter was a form of embryonic income tax in that it levied a fixed quota on each county from their landed ratepayers. New customs and excise duties were introduced and there were increases in those already in operation. Such an expansion in taxation required a bureaucracy to organize the operation of the revenue system and this, in turn, needed to be managed. This became the task of the Treasury. The Exchequer and Audit Department Act of 1866 established the practice of consolidating the annual tax proposals into a single Finance Bill. This created the first effective machinery for a retrospective annual audit of government spending, and effectively established the Treasury as custodian of financial propriety. It did not exercise control at that time because hostility to centralization was widespread. But it meant that the role of the Treasury was ‘cast in a narrow mould – essentially negative, harnessed to a defective concept of economy and a static concept of government. They meant adjudication, not inspiration; parsimony not efficiency; conservation, not growth.’  This  perception was reinforced

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by two major concerns of 19th-century policy, elimination of the

national debt and the preservation of free trade, both of which required tight fiscal control.
        As government involvement in economic affairs increased in the 20th century together with the massive increase in the ratio of public spending to national income, so the role and influence of the Treasury became extremely important. Indeed, the most obvious manifestations of financial probity, including the control of public expenditure, maintenance of the exchange rate, and a tight fiscal and monetary stance to combat inflation have been persistently at the heart of the economic management strategy of the Treasury, which has always strongly favored stabilization over growth. Very often, incumbent administrations  have   adopted   the  Treasury view  and

followed policies consistent with its aims. Its close links with the city and its control over the city bank have secured the primacy of financial considerations in economic policy.

Exercises