Read the following case study:

Imagine that you are the city manager of Knightsville, and your budget director has recently brought to your attention a looming budget shortage. Unless additional revenue streams are found in the near future, Knightsville will find itself in financial trouble.

Later in the day, you are having lunch with your friend, Robert, who happens to head the Warrick County Board of Commissioners. Knightsville is located within Warrick County, and, as city manager, you have collaborated with the county in a number of different areas of the years.

Before you reveal your financial situation, Robert mentions a state block grant for which governments throughout the state are eligible. He adds that the county is interested in applying for the grant.

When you press him for information, he reveals grant-specific guidelines and parameters that convince you that Knightsville would have a much better chance of acquiring the grant than Warrick County. Additionally, the grant would more than cover your financial shortcomings, as it happens to apply to one of the areas in which Knightsville is running the highest deficit.

After you tell Robert about Knightsville’s financial woes, which was followed by an extended awkward silence, Robert brings up his recent idea to raise the service fees for the Department of Motor Vehicles in order to derive additional revenues while also reducing wait times for patrons. He runs a few quick calculations on his lunch napkin and determines that if Knightsville made similar adjustments, then just about all of the impending budget shortfall would be alleviated. Additionally, presenting a joint front with both city and county imposing the additional fees would likely be better received throughout the metropolitan area.

You leave shortly thereafter, determined to fix your budget problems by utilizing one of the courses of action discussed during lunch.

Using the information presented, address the following questions:

• What types of relationships (complementary, supplementary, adversarial) would these two choices—applying for the grant and fee-for-service increases—likely represent? Explain the quality of these relationships and how each choice relates to them and/or would likely affect them.
  
• What types of challenges would you expect to ensue from pursuing each of these options, both from Warrick County as well as from the general public in Knightsville?
  
• Which of these methods do you personally think is the better option, assuming that both would equally address the financial shortfall? Why?

The purpose of this assignment is to gauge your understanding of the content, so focus on writing original content rather than simply regurgitating the textbook or other sources, whether by paraphrasing or using direct quotes. Paraphrasing is acceptable, but try to keep paraphrasing to a minimum. A good rule of thumb is to use 80% of your own work and paraphrase 20% or less of the work of others.