Where Is the Money?

Local governments principally depend on taxes and user fees for the funding of public services. There is also considerable expectation among the citizen-consumer-taxpayer population that its local cities, towns and counties will provide a vast array of municipal-type public services. As economic restructuring of the economy takes place, there has been continual decline in real terms of intergovernmental state and federal assistance dollars to many communities and counties. In addition, the Great Recession’s housing bubble and the rising administration cost of municipal public service delivery made it imperative for local public officials to seek other nonproperty revenue sources to offset potential budgetary shortfalls.