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What Do We Really Know about Municipal Finance?
Author(s) -
Neuby Barbara L.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
politics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.259
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 1555-5623
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.2005.tb00211.x
Subject(s) - revenue , pace , inflation (cosmology) , census , data collection , finance , economics , business , public economics , geography , population , statistics , physics , demography , mathematics , geodesy , sociology , theoretical physics
Despite claims that cities have experienced fiscal stress, data from other sources show that cities have endured jinancial challenges by finding new revenue sources and techniques. An analysis of census data from 1967–2000 indicates that the pattern of municipal revenues has changed from reliance on property tares to greater reliance on charges. While revenues have outpaced expenditures, both revenues and expenditures have grown far more than would have been necessary to keep pace with inflation and indicate a worrisome trend toward borrowing. However, limitations of current data collection raise questions of validity. Data collection and reporting must improve if appropriate policy decisions are to follow.