We had a fantastic session of Members' Office Hours this week! Edward Erfurt, Chief Technical Officer for Strong Towns, fielded questions on a wide array of topics.
Resources Referenced During the Episode
Question 1:
There is a large development coming to our downtown small town, that will increase property taxes of about $140,000 per year, but at what cost? I have asked local officials to determine the financial long-term cost before assuming this is the answer to our budget deficits. Is there a way to calculate this?
There are several ways to do some quick, back of the napkin return on investment. Without knowing all of the specifics of this project, here are some things to ask to help do this math:
- Is the community being asked to invest public dollars into this project? This might include paying or building new infrastructure, waving fees, or providing tax abatements.
- Are there any other obligations that the city will have with this project? This might be a commitment to provide additional services that other developments are required to pay or a need to expand capacity at a water or sewer plant.
- What infrastructure or liabilities will the community be required to accept? This would include streets or pipes that the developer constructs and then hands over to the town to maintain.
- What will be the estimated appraised value for the tax rolls for this property? Remember that millage is based on a percentage of actual appraised value and of that only taxable uses will contribute to these revenues. $140,000 in property tax is a lot considering that this is a very small percentage of the actual cost to develop this project.
1-3 would contribute to the town's long term liabilities. We would need to compare that against number 4.
Question 2:
I am about to be sworn in as a city councilman in Annapolis, MD and would like to champion some policy in line with the Strong Towns movement. To start, I'm especially interested in the Transparent Local Accounting. I read through some of the case studies. But do you have suggestions of legislation I could introduce to help the city's accounting be more transparent?
Evaluating municipal finances from a Strong Towns perspective Evaluating municipal finances from a Strong Towns perspective involves looking at the long-term sustainability of a city's financial practices. Look at your city's balance sheet. The balance sheet or an audited financial statement will be in your annual budget document. 1. Is your community taking on a lot of debt? Is this debt intended to finance new infrastructure projects? If so, are these projects likely to generate enough wealth to pay off that debt, or are they just creating future liabilities? 2. Consider your community’s land use patterns. Is your community encouraging productive, mixed-use development, or are they subsidizing unproductive, single-use sprawl? The former can generate a lot of wealth for a city, while the latter can be a financial drain in the long run. 3. What is your community’s approach to maintenance. Are they setting aside enough money to maintain their existing infrastructure and buildings, or are they neglecting or deferring these obligations in favor of new projects? Deferred maintenance can be a ticking time bomb for a city's finances. 4. What is your community’s approach to growth. Are they pursuing a strategy of incremental development, gradually adding value to their existing assets, or are they chasing after big, transformative projects? The former is generally more financially sustainable than the latter. Remember, a Strong Towns perspective is all about long-term financial sustainability. It's not about quick fixes or flashy projects, but about building a solid financial foundation for the future.
Greg Sund, Trinidad, CO
"Capital project accounting is different from the annual budget because when bids are let, it establishes the budget and the budget period is controlled by how long it takes to complete the project. Hence if a project takes three years to complete, the capital project has a three year budget. Capital Project funding typically requires the establishment of a separate fund for the project. Capital Project Funding is not used for waters and sewer projects in most cases because these a usually considered utilities which are accounted for through enterprise funds, which are managed as businesses within the City."
Question 3:
We are gearing up to re-introduce the Strong Towns book at our local library "in the weeds" book club where we discuss one book for 4 months and relate findings to our city of Sheboygan Wisconsin. Start in December. Can ST support us by sending the notice out to their Sheboygan members. Any other guidance would be appreciated. This book club started with the Strong Towns book over 2 years ago and about 40 people showed up. The club now has usually about 8-10 people most of whom where not around when we discussed strong towns. How can we launch this and keep it sustained? We don't need to always have 40 people, but it would be good to bring more people into our community building endeavors. Hoping we can discuss at 1 pm today.
Key Quotes from the Book for group discussions
Question 4:
Do you have any recommended books or podcasts that discuss the history and policy between U.S. water and wastewater infrastructure? Looking to learn more about this policy area for work.
https://www.ipwea.org/resourcesnew/bookshop/iimm
Greg Sund, Trinidad, CO
"The biggest challenge to maintaining water and sewer infrastructure and treatment is hiring people licensed to operate them. Most of the people with these licenses are or have recently retired. In many cases, the most efficient alternative to city managed water and sewer infrastructure operations is to contract it with one of the companies that specializes in operating these utilities."
Chuck's article on the way that stormwater can be integrated into the landscape instead of diverting it out of sight is really good: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2009/12/22/celebrate-stormwater.html
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/9/3/wastewater-engineering-in-extremistan
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/8/30/32-billion-to-fix-tampas-aging-pipes-from-where
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2021/10/26/maine-sewer-article
Question 5:
I was asked to sit on a strategic budget committee. Our city is switching to a "priority-based" budget. I am not very familiar with the model but basically budget amounts are set in accordance with community "priorities" rather than "needs." Are you familiar with this budgeting system? How can I help steer this from being a gimmick to something that will meaningfully shift the budget toward more resilience?
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/1/5/the-cost-of-an-extra-foot
Question 6:
This morning I got word that our local on-demand transit is going to double fares over the next 2 years, cutting ridership by 30%-50% and the county commission seems fine with that. I'm going to be digging hard to come up with data, persuasions, etc to present to the public transit commission and the county commissioners at about 5 meetings in the next 3 weeks. Any hints, tips, resources toward this are greatly appreciated.
Greg Sund, Trinidad, CO
"Transit is an easy target in budgeting because it almost never pays for itself without subsidy. Hence, when elected officials have a desire to require all services to pay for themselves does not work for transit. Consider the comparison of saying public safety should also pay for itself. I seriously doubt that the public or elected officials want police to be on a profit motive."
A collection of transit articles
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/tag/transit
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2015/2/10/yes-this-is-transit
This is pretty specific to 2020 and the pandemic's impact on transit ridership but it's got enduring things to say
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/10/4/suburban-comma-transit
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/10/4/suburban-comma-transit
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/3/21/the-folly-of-go-big-or-go-home-transit
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/7/5/the-fourth-virtue-of-public-transit
Different city context but here's something on what it takes to advocate: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2024/6/27/danny-pearlstein-bottom-up
🚆Take a Ride on the Strong Towns Local-Motive Tour 🧑🏽💻📌
Get the tools you need to take action and make your community more economically resilient. From changing outdated parking laws to getting kids to school more safely—each of the tour stops provides participants with the tools and inspiration they need to get started building strong towns right now!
Each online stop features:
- An engaging presentation on a specific topic, led by a Strong Towns team member, including concrete ideas and advice for making your town stronger.
- An in-depth conversation with a special guest who has extensive experience taking action in this field.
- A printable “Action Guide” and other resources you can use right now in your community.
- Lifetime access to the session, so you can revisit it whenever you want!
Purchase a round-trip ticket to access every stop on the tour, or just select the sessions you're most interested in.
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.