Staffing
and Financing State and Local Governments
•Public employees: essential to government
•A. Merit systems
•1. Almost all states use the merit system to
choose their public
servants, rather than patronage
•2. Merit systems are administered by a state
personnel office that handles
exams, provides lists of job openings, establishes job classifications, and determines salary schedules
•3. Merit systems should emphasize ability and
minimize political favoritism,
but they may discourage able people from
seeking public-sector jobs and they can
deprive officials of
authority over subordinates
•4. The Hatch Act promoted
the merit principle.