Ward, James D. creator text xu| 2001 continuing ng p.565-71 The early 1980s represented an era where fiscal stress, cutback management and retrenchment strategies captured the attention of public administration scholars and practitioners. Yet, lessons learned from that era should not be forgotten. This research note, containing information from a 1990s survey of Louisiana local governments, supports the position that rural governments suffer hardest in bad economic times and that precautionary measures should thus be taken to lessen the budgetary shortfalls which often result in either the cutback or the total elimination of services. - Reproduced Local government International Journal of Public Administration 180718