Special assessments are a way local governments can fund projects that will add value to homeowners’ property. When used to fund regular maintenance, though, they’re self-serving, irresponsible and unfairly target the poorest members of the community. It’s time to demand better.
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The financial struggles of Houston and the cities of the Silicon Valley area—as well as tens of thousands of others across North America—have the same underlying cause.
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Houston’s fiscal problems are less critical than other major cities with large budget shortfalls—yet, their mayor is correct when he said his city is broke, that the financial approach of the city is clearly not working. Here’s why.
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Eric Goldwyn, a leading urban scholar and program director at the Marron Institute of Urban Management, joins us to talk about the importance of both transit and local government.
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“Is this a good project, or will it set up my city for financial insolvency??” Here’s how to find out.
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If we’re not paying attention, it can be hard to tell whether a city is using debt to simply to smooth out cashflows, or if it’s just covering up insolvency. Here are four telltale signs of the latter scenario.
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You’ve just been sworn into your first elected office, and you’re committed to improving your city’s transportation network… But not so fast: not all money is free.
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Conventional thought would tell us that the new commercial developments in a city should be the most productive compared to the older buildings downtown, but that’s not necessarily the case.
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Many of the problems in our cities come down to a shortage in the budget—but the solution to this problem is staring us in the face.
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In Baltimore, some of the city’s least wealthy individuals may be overpaying on their property taxes by nearly $300 a year, whereas some of the richest could be underpaying by $14,000 or more.
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Detroit’s mayor is endorsing a land value tax plan that could lead to 97% of the city’s homeowners getting a 30% reduction in their taxes.
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A 2020 study revealed that areas around streets named after Martin Luther King Jr. are more segregated and poorer than the United States average. Now, data shows property values in these areas are affected, as well.
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In today’s cities, governments sink millions of dollars into public investments before securing any taxable private wealth to fund said investments. This is a financial risk we can’t afford to continue taking on.
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I was asked how much the typical suburban development is costing this Tennessee city. Here’s what I found.
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For local governments, it’s often easier to let the tangled web of debt at the heart of the budget go unexplored. In cities reliant on sales tax, these problems are only magnified.
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The Just Accounting for Health coalition has been researching and reporting on property tax inequities for the past 18 months. But the real work is just getting started—and it starts with you.
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Dating back to the 1800s, researchers in the U.S. have challenged the property tax system. So why, to this day, do the richest continue getting a "discount" on their taxes, while the poorest are overcharged?
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The Family Dollar system operates more stores than McDonald’s, Starbucks, Target, and Walmart combined. And that’s not good news for your community.
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Plenty of debate swirls around the question of whether or not government services like transit should be "free" to the end user. Here's what's missing from that debate.
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When a housing complex in Milwaukee's downtown was set aside in favor of building storage units, instead, this local wasn't just disappointed: he's alleging the plans shouldn't have been approved, in the first place.
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