Transparent Local Accounting - Top Content

"It's Time To Rethink How We Measure Cities. We Can't Afford Not To." (Video)

We are huge fans of Urban3 and the work they do uncover municipal finances, helping cities become resilient and prosperous. We headed to Asheville to learn more about Value Per Acre and found a deeper story than we anticipated. Asheville has a beautiful story of reclaiming its downtown- not only creating a financially resilient and productive place to live, but finding a system that works and can be replicated by other cities willing to do the math and commit to making incremental changes. 

"The Real Reason Your City has No Money"

Want to understand why our cities are going broke? This essay and accompanying graphic showing value per acre in the city of Lafayette, Louisiana, tells the whole story.

"You're Ready to #DoTheMath in Your Own Town. These 6 Resources Will Help."

What kind of returns will your city actually get from its infrastructure and other public investment spending? These six resources will help you uncover the truth.

"The Foolproof City"

This essay was one of the first Strong Towns posts to clearly lay out why humbling ourselves and learning from how our ancestors built is a pragmatic, rational response to the uncertainty and complexity we face in trying to build productive places.

"The More We Grow, the Poorer We Become"

Nearly every local government in the United States is currently defaulting on their obligations to their taxpayers... But of course, no local government would ever say that.  This article explains what's going on.

"4 Ways a City Can Hide Its Insolvency Using Accounting"

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.

"From Boring to Brilliant: Making Municipal Finance Fun With Michel Durand-Wood"

In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck discusses municipal finance with Michel Durand-Wood, a longtime Strong Towns contributor and local budget aficionado.

"Value Per Acre Analysis: A How-To For Beginners"

This step-by-step guide shows you how to investigate the tax value per acre of developments in your city.

"Playing 'Moneyball' with Your City—An Appeal to Fellow City Managers (and Other Strong Citizens)"

The movie Moneyball offers surprising and helpful lessons for town finance. One Strong Towns member explains why.

"This Isn't an Annexation. It's a Bailout."

Annexation is a common practice in many cities, but few are doing the real math on what that costs over the long term. This story out of Mankato, Minnesota, illustrates the problem.

"Why Cities are Flying Blind When It Comes to Their Own Debt"

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.

"We Measure Car Value Based on Miles per Gallon, Not Miles per Tank. Why Don't We Do the Same for Our Cities' Developments?"

What's "value per acre" and why does it matter for your city's future? This article succinctly explains why.

Value Per Acre Spot Analysis Tutorial (Video)

It's remarkable to see the results of a spot analysis of the places where enduring prosperity in our communities really lies whereas much of what we, caught in the "illusion of wealth", mistake as prosperity when it is actually a looming liability. 

"Rethinking Property Taxes"

Property taxes are the most important local source of revenue for local governments. It is stable, transparent, and highly visible. Plus, the tax base is immobile. Yet it is also an unpopular tax. Rehabilitating the property tax can be done with two broad strategies that center the interest of taxpayers:

• Provide accurate and fair valuation of tax liability. 
• Provide stable, predictable costs to taxpayers.

This report shows how local governments can accomplish these two strategies.