ABSTRACT
In this paper the spatial and locational pattern of local government expenditures in urban areas is analyzed with the use of suitable criteria of urbanization. Conclusions are drawn concerning local decision-making procedures as they are reflected in the expenditure patterns of the Cleveland area and several New York State urban areas. Existing analyses have emphasized per capita measures; this paper supplements them by using measures of expenditures per square mile which are directly comparable to quantitative measures of urbanization. While the initial utilization of the per square mile expenditures measure is restricted to nonschool expenditures, the results indicate that there are clear-cut spatial relations and that these measures may in fact explain to some degree the variations in per capita expenditures. The areal measures used also suggest that it is possible to distinguish urban and nonurban levels of expenditures which are indistinguishable when they are expressed in per capita terms. The results are thus tentative and restricted to those classes of expenditures most closely related to urbanization. Further, expenditures which involve special responsibility, such as welfare hospitals, and utilities, are excluded from the first stage of analysis.
