This notable book on a little-studied but central aspect of American water politics addresses analytical issues important to a range of political science fields. It is, for example, of considerable relevance to scholars working in areas of American federalism and community politics, as well as to those who are interested in cross-cutting issues of public administration and policy fragmentation, public and private stakeholder participation and democracy, and multilevel governance. In Governing the Tap, Megan Mullin analyzes the institutional context and means through which local public services are provided, the governance structures that shape policy outcomes and how they are able to meet developing community goals, and the ways in which specialized structures fit into the complex political landscape of city, county, state, and federal policymaking. Because of both its broad appeal and its own qualities, this book deserves a wide readership.
More specifically, Mullin examines special districts, which are “autonomous units with substantial administrative and fiscal independence from general purpose cities and counties” (p. 3). These districts provide a variety of local services, including transit, libraries, fire protection, electricity, airports, water, and sewers, rather than making such services the responsibility of more traditional governments. However, special districts are not used for basic public welfare, and they lack the police and land-use powers of cities and counties. School districts are also typically not counted as special districts. Nevertheless, special districts have tripled in number over the past 50 years, ranging in size from small areas for mosquito abatement to large entities like the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority. There are more than 35,000 special districts in both rural and urban areas across all 50 states, making them the most common form of local governance structures in the United States. However, this particular form of governance has received only limited analytical attention. This book is an important contribution toward filling that gap.
The creation of special districts is part of a larger trend of specialization of public service provision as political systems have grown in size and complexity. Mullin sets out to examine “the consequences of specialization and fragmentation for local policymaking” (p. 1). To this end, she uses specialized water districts as empirical cases, providing a solid justification for them. There are more than 160,000 public-water systems in America, and all states except Alaska and Hawaii have at least one special district that manages water services. Some of the first special districts addressed water issues, and many more recent special districts in other areas were modeled after them. Water quality and quantity concerns are high, and often growing, on local political agendas in many parts of America as a result of combinations of population growth, contamination problems, and droughts. Over time, there has also been an important shift in the focus of water management from technical supply-side issues to contested governance issues. Water is both an essential natural resource and the subject of high politics.
Mullin identifies two major conflicting views on the character and desirability of special districts. What she calls the “conventional wisdom perspective,” drawing from metropolitan reform theory, maintains that special districts typically lack transparency and are unaccountable to the public and local governments, making them ripe for corruption and runaway spending. A contrasting view, informed by public choice theory, holds that creating special districts to sort policy issues into separate forums will increase transparency and produce cost savings through decoupling and competition. Mullin, however, believes that special districts have not been subject to enough empirical study to adequately assess their effectiveness. In response, she sets an ambitious and laudable goal: to formulate a “conditional theory of specialized governance,” taking into account problem conditions and diversity in local policymaking contexts in order to provide a more nuanced view of special districts than that offered by other perspectives.
The introductory chapter outlines the major analytical and empirical issues of the book. Chapter 2 presents the analytical framework, which contains four conditioning variables: problem severity, special district elections, special district boundary flexibility, and contiguity between special district and city or county boundaries. The author posits that these independent variables will have significant effects on two dependent variables central to the effectiveness of specialized governance: responsiveness and intergovernmental coordination. This chapter is helpful, but precisely because it is essential to the analysis, the dependent and independent variables could have been presented more succinctly, with the summarizing table (2.1) better integrated into the discussion. A more streamlined use of terms would also have been appropriate. For example, Table 2.1 uses “intergovernmental coordination,” while the chapter section is labeled “policy coordination,” raising questions of exactly how the variables were conceptualized. Furthermore, the chapter could have elaborated a bit more on how the dependent variables were selected. Nevertheless, many important points are raised.
In Chapters 3–5, Mullin uses different models and statistical analysis, relying on quantitative data from national and state surveys to test hypotheses on specific aspects of the operation of special districts (compared to general purpose governments). Chapter 3 explores the adoption of increasing block-rate pricing structures for charging customers in accordance with goals for community water use. Chapter 4 examines the use of development impact fees to fund water-system expansions as communities grow. Chapter 5 investigates whether the institutional design of special districts affects their strategies for addressing changing problems in structure. All of these chapters offer convincing arguments, even if Mullin's models rest on a multitude of critical assumptions that could be discussed further.
It is Chapter 6, however, that provides the richest analysis. It applies a qualitative case-study approach in order to examine how governance structures and boundaries shape the politics of land-use and water issues. Here, Mullin demonstrates how specialized governance can require difficult and costly cross-jurisdictional coordination, but also reveals how it may make decision-making processes more transparent and stimulate innovative policy solutions to complex problems.
Chapter 7 provides a useful review of the multifaceted aspects of special water districts, even if Table 7.1, which summarizes the main findings relating to the conditional theory of specialized governance, could have been better linked to the text. There are several key conclusions: Special districts can be more responsive to their constituents than is sometimes believed, but they should not be seen as a simple fix for local problems (p. 178); policy failures are not any more or less common among special districts than among general purpose governments (p. 183); and without direct elections providing accountability, local officials expend less effort to provide public goods and solve policy problems (p. 183). A definite strength of the chapter is the discussion of five lessons for thinking about the pros and cons of special districts, including the critical observation that “our evaluation of specialized governance ultimately depends on the values we seek to maximize” (p. 188). Many communities may benefit from more public debate about fundamental policy preferences alongside narrow cost/benefit discussions of specific policy options.
This very thoughtful, if at times somewhat dense, book highlights many important institutional design issues related to the capacity of special districts to deal with policy problems of varying severity, as it works off of the important fact that special districts and local physical and political conditions may vary greatly. The book also sets the stage for further research on local governance. The conditional theory of specialized governance, producing many valuable insights into the complexity of specialized governance, can be used as a benchmark for further theorizing about and empirically studying the operation and effectiveness of special districts. Of course, many of these issues are not only of analytical interest but also highly policy relevant. Mullin's study is directly pertinent to the practical design of governance structures, as local policymakers and communities consider how to meet current and future needs most effectively. This includes thinking carefully about choices between centralized and decentralized governance models, as well as about the use of specialized independent districts versus relying on more inclusive governments.
The book's findings suggest that the federalist aspect of American policy fragmentation and governance is worthy of more attention by scholars, policy analysts, and policymakers. Mullin explicitly recognizes that federal, state, and city laws and regulations can either support or restrict the operation and effectiveness of special districts. Private developers can also play critical roles in the formation of special districts, as a wide range of advocacy groups may engage decision makers. The book ends with a short but extremely interesting discussion about sustainability concerns and specialized governance, as the author argues that “sustainability can be achieved only with local authorities' participation, but state or federal involvement may be necessary to induce local governments to participate” (p. 191). Also, “the prospect of global climate change highlights the importance of problem severity and context when evaluating governance systems” (p. 193). Governing the Tap offers many arguments essential to the continued study of special districts and their ability to meet evolving societal needs and policy challenges in local water governance and beyond. It should be read by many.
