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.
Read MoreFrom arbitrary restrictions to overly harsh penalties, many homeowners associations (HOAs) do little to endear themselves to their neighborhoods. But your city may have more responsibility for these conditions than you realize.
Read MoreDating 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?
Read MoreData from North Carolina points to a nationwide problem: that services may be going unfunded in your community because of flawed processes, sloppy math, and lack of respect for the law in the property tax system.
Read MoreThe proposed annual budget for Winnipeg, MB, reveals the true cost of the Suburban Experiment, and the vibrancy that the city (and so many others like it) has sacrificed in many of its neighborhoods.
Read MorePart of having transparent local accounting is ensuring that the people living in a community know and understand the public costs associated with their homes and businesses. Right now, that isn’t the case in most places.
Read MoreProperty taxes represent the largest source of revenue for most local governments, and data shows that even unglamorous downtown areas offer more value as taxable properties than big box stores.
Read MoreMansions on large lots, not rundown properties in low-socioeconomic-status neighborhoods, are the real blight on a community’s financial health.
Read MoreStrong Towns interviews Dr. Christopher Berry, of the University of Chicago, on how we can begin making meaningful changes to the U.S.’s broken property tax system.
Read MoreThere are some obvious anomalies that are being overlooked in the property tax assessment system. Joe Minicozzi of Urban3 pulls back the curtain in this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast.
Read MoreAs an ad hoc committee recently discovered, owners of higher-valued properties are more likely to receive a tax break…simply because of bad data.
Read MoreStreets can be about many things, but unless they are building wealth for the community, they won’t survive. Period.
Read MoreWe expect city budgets and financial reports to inform citizens and community leaders alike, but in reality, local government accounting is unnecessarily complicated, confusing, and illogical.
Read MoreWhat is the real reason behind our striking property tax disparities?
Read MoreLet’s #DoTheMath on some public infrastructure in Providence, RI.
Read MoreCitizens can’t make informed decisions if they don’t know the financial condition of their government. This nonpartisan nonprofit is making those numbers both available and transparent.
Read MoreUnless we start making better accounting choices today, we’ll be facing service cuts and tax increases every year going forward. …That is, until the day we can’t anymore.
Read MoreIf your city is struggling to balance its budget, it’s not enough to just cut costs and not seek to increase revenues. That’s like a cyclist who tries to improve their performance only by losing weight.
Read MoreThe desperate need to fill pension shortfalls may be wreaking havoc on the financial system.
Read MoreThere are many ways for state and local governments to run hidden deficits, one of which is deferred maintenance. But it turns out there is a way to measure the extent to which local governments kick the maintenance can down the road.
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