Understanding Municipal Fiscal Health

Understanding Municipal Fiscal Health
Title Understanding Municipal Fiscal Health PDF eBook
Author Craig S. Maher
Publisher Taylor & Francis
Pages 284
Release 2023-02-01
Genre Political Science
ISBN 1000845133

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Understanding Municipal Fiscal Health provides an in-depth assessment of the fiscal health of cities throughout the United States. The book examines the tools currently available to cities for designing a revenue structure, measuring fiscal conditions and measuring fiscal health. It explains how artificial policies such as tax and expenditure limitations influence fiscal policies, and how communities can overcome socioeconomic and state-policy barriers to produce strong fiscal conditions. The authors go beyond simple theory to analyze patterns of fiscal health using actual financial, demographic and TEL data from an accurate data source, the Government Financial Officers Association survey. The book offers a solid basis of empirical evidence including quantitative case studies—complete with discussion questions—to help practitioners better understand the environment in which they are functioning and the policy tools they need to help advocate for change. This book teaches the reader the science and art of municipal financial analysis, and will be invaluable for local and state officials, analysts, and students and researchers.

China’s Grand Strategy

China’s Grand Strategy
Title China’s Grand Strategy PDF eBook
Author Andrew Scobell
Publisher Rand Corporation
Pages 155
Release 2020-07-27
Genre History
ISBN 1977404200

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To explore what extended competition between the United States and China might entail out to 2050, the authors of this report identified and characterized China’s grand strategy, analyzed its component national strategies (diplomacy, economics, science and technology, and military affairs), and assessed how successful China might be at implementing these over the next three decades.

Improving Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for Economic Development

Improving Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for Economic Development
Title Improving Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for Economic Development PDF eBook
Author David Merriman
Publisher
Pages 0
Release 2018-09-05
Genre Economic development
ISBN 9781558443778

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Economist David Merriman of the University of Illinois at Chicago reviews more than 30 individual studies in the most comprehensive assessment of tax increment financing (TIF) with practical recommendations for policy makers and practitioners. The report finds that while TIF has the potential to draw investment into neglected places, it has not accomplished the goal of promoting economic development in most cases. First implemented in the 1950s, TIF funds economic development within a defined district by earmarking increases in future property tax revenues that result from increases in real estate values in the district. The tax revenue can be used for public infrastructure or to compensate private developers for their investments, but TIF is prone to several pitfalls: it often captures some revenues that would have been generated through normal appreciation in property values, it can be exploited by cities to obtain revenues that would otherwise go to overlying government entities such as school districts, and it can make cities' financial decisions less transparent by separating them from the normal budget process. The report recommends several ways that state and local policy makers can reform TIF practices going forward.

An Introduction to Community Development

An Introduction to Community Development
Title An Introduction to Community Development PDF eBook
Author Rhonda Phillips
Publisher Routledge
Pages 682
Release 2014-11-26
Genre Architecture
ISBN 1134482329

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Beginning with the foundations of community development, An Introduction to Community Development offers a comprehensive and practical approach to planning for communities. Road-tested in the authors’ own teaching, and through the training they provide for practicing planners, it enables students to begin making connections between academic study and practical know-how from both private and public sector contexts. An Introduction to Community Development shows how planners can utilize local economic interests and integrate finance and marketing considerations into their strategy. Most importantly, the book is strongly focused on outcomes, encouraging students to ask: what is best practice when it comes to planning for communities, and how do we accurately measure the results of planning practice? This newly revised and updated edition includes: increased coverage of sustainability issues, discussion of localism and its relation to community development, quality of life, community well-being and public health considerations, and content on local food systems. Each chapter provides a range of reading materials for the student, supplemented with text boxes, a chapter outline, keywords, and reference lists, and new skills based exercises at the end of each chapter to help students turn their learning into action, making this the most user-friendly text for community development now available.

The Pig Book

The Pig Book
Title The Pig Book PDF eBook
Author Citizens Against Government Waste
Publisher St. Martin's Griffin
Pages 212
Release 2013-09-17
Genre Political Science
ISBN 146685314X

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The federal government wastes your tax dollars worse than a drunken sailor on shore leave. The 1984 Grace Commission uncovered that the Department of Defense spent $640 for a toilet seat and $436 for a hammer. Twenty years later things weren't much better. In 2004, Congress spent a record-breaking $22.9 billion dollars of your money on 10,656 of their pork-barrel projects. The war on terror has a lot to do with the record $413 billion in deficit spending, but it's also the result of pork over the last 18 years the likes of: - $50 million for an indoor rain forest in Iowa - $102 million to study screwworms which were long ago eradicated from American soil - $273,000 to combat goth culture in Missouri - $2.2 million to renovate the North Pole (Lucky for Santa!) - $50,000 for a tattoo removal program in California - $1 million for ornamental fish research Funny in some instances and jaw-droppingly stupid and wasteful in others, The Pig Book proves one thing about Capitol Hill: pork is king!

Planning Local Economic Development

Planning Local Economic Development
Title Planning Local Economic Development PDF eBook
Author Edward J. Blakely
Publisher SAGE
Pages 417
Release 2002-05-22
Genre Business & Economics
ISBN 0761924582

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Exploring the theories of local economic development that are relevant to dilemmas facing communities today, this third edition expands on issues such as the planning process, analytical techniques and high-technology strategies.

The Equity Planner

The Equity Planner
Title The Equity Planner PDF eBook
Author Jason King
Publisher Taylor & Francis
Pages 251
Release 2023-11-30
Genre Architecture
ISBN 1000993442

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Economic development is intended to benefit everyone in a community; however, in many cases, increased public and private investment can result in the pricing out and displacement of existing residents and businesses. How do we achieve more equitable outcomes? The Equity Planner provides a toolkit of practical solutions for planners and all those involved in placemaking to promote thoughtful, inclusive planning. Each chapter of The Equity Planner examines one particular aspect of inequity in the urban planning sphere, covering issues such as identity retention, affordability, and the protection and enhancement of local assets. While each chapter offers practicable solutions to these issues, the "Notes from the Field" sections describe how these same tools have been used (either successfully or unsuccessfully) in projects the author has been involved in, with a particular focus on the local resistance each project encountered. These real-world case studies are used to suggest methods to overcome such resistance, which the reader can then apply to their present initiatives. This book is written for urban planners, local activists, social scientists, policymakers, and anyone with an interest in equity planning. This book will be of use to both practicing and training urban planners and architects who seek to add equity planning to their professional repertoire.