ABSTRACT
This chapter sets the tone for and purpose of this book to examine the revenue side of local government budgets to determine revenue dependency patterns and variations in them over time (1962–2017) that may exist between counties, municipalities, townships, special districts, and school districts and identify plausible causes/explanations for both patterns and changes in them. Initially, a context is developed to conduct the analysis of local government revenues by explaining what public budgets are and the need for governments, in general, and local governments, in specific, to engage in budgeting. From there, attention turns to a discussion of six reasons for this book focusing solely on local governments. The chapter ends by laying out the organization of the remaining nine chapters of this book.
