Northside Neighborhood in NC Reduced Property Tax Values by $7 Million

Neighbors in Chapel Hill, NC, mobilized to raise awareness of property tax inequities within their community…and ultimately brought about a $7-million reduction in home assessed values.

#DotheMath, Finance, Sheppard, Top Story, News, Transparent AccountingSeairra SheppardNovember 29, 2022local finance, property tax, Just Accounting for Health, Transparent Local Accounting, homeowners, Homeownership, homeownership, North Carolina, #DoTheMath

Your City May Be Illegally Assessing You for Routine Infrastructure Maintenance

Part 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.

#DotheMath, Infrastructure, Marohn, Finance, Top Story, Transparent AccountingCharles MarohnNovember 28, 2022Transparent Local Accounting, local finance, public finance, maintenance, Maintenance, Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure cost, infrastructure maintenance, financial solvency, #DoTheMath

McGilchrist Still Isn’t an Improvement, but Here’s the Math

We've said it'll take 39 years for Salem, OR, to recoup the money they're spending on the McGilchrist Street “Improvement” Project, and you've asked us to provide more proof for this assertion. So, let's do the math.

#DotheMath, #NoNewRoads, Marohn, Transportation, Top Story, Safe & Productive StreetsCharles MarohnNovember 2, 2022#DoTheMath, Safe and Productive Streets, Oregon, transportation, transportation spending, traffic engineering, projections, local finance, #NoNewRoads

Can Your City Afford a Natural Disaster?

If a natural disaster hit your city, would your tax revenue pay for the damage, or would you be underwater—literally and figuratively?

#DotheMath, Finance, Urban3, Top Story, Transparent AccountingTaylor SchenkerOctober 4, 2022Urban3, Transparent Local Accounting, tax base, tax revenue, flooding, natural disasters, finance, local finance, #DoTheMath

Battle of the Business Titans

A small, local, mixed-use business versus a new Amazon warehouse. Let’s put these two business proposals before the Shark Tank (Winnipeg edition).

Main Street vs. Big Box Stores: A Western North Carolina Analysis

Property 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.

Mansion Blight: How the Most Expensive Homes Drain Community Wealth

Mansions on large lots, not rundown properties in low-socioeconomic-status neighborhoods, are the real blight on a community’s financial health.

Mall Money, More Problems

Yet another failed mall (this time in Milwaukee, WI) proves to be a drag on—and an active harm to—its surroundings.

#DotheMath, Quednau, Top Story, Safe & Productive Streets, Transparent AccountingRachel QuednauSeptember 1, 2022malls, financial solvency, #DoTheMath, finance, Value Per Acre, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, milwaukee, shopping malls, public investment

Can America’s Unfair Property Tax System Ever Be Fixed?

Strong 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.

Flying Blind: Why Public Leaders Need an Investment Grade Analysis

Portland and Oregon leaders shouldn’t commit to a $5-billion project without an investment grade analysis (IGA) of toll revenues.

#DotheMath, #InfrastructureCrisis, Infrastructure, City Observatory, Top StoryJoe CortrightJune 17, 2022Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure cost, infrastructure spending, Oregon, Washington, DOT, #DoTheMath, City Observatory

Your City’s Accounting Is Unnecessarily Obscure. It’s Time To Pull Back the Veil.

We 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.

Membership, #DotheMath, Finance, Top StoryLinda TwillmanJune 8, 2022memweek strategic plan series, finance, financial solvency, local finance, municipal finance, public finance, local government, #DoTheMath, Transparent Local Accounting

Fixing the Potholes Requires Digging Deeper

When it comes to our places’ roads, we need to start asking: “How much is this gonna cost us?”

#DotheMath, #InfrastructureCrisis, Infrastructure, Member Post, Top StoryMichel Durand-WoodJune 2, 2022Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure maintenance, infrastructure cost, infrastructure spending, #DoTheMath, Winnipeg, canada, Canada, member story

The Brent Spence Boondoggle

Local leaders in Ohio and Kentucky are gearing up to make a multi-billion dollar mistake on this bridge equivalent of a highway-widening project.

#DotheMath, Infrastructure, Transportation, Top StoryRyan CraneApril 18, 2022Cincinnati, freeway widening, induced demand, highways, highway spending, transportation spending, Ohio, kentucky, Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure cult, infrastructure spending, #DoTheMath

Corner Liquor Stores vs. Fancy Shopping Malls

Let’s #DoTheMath on some public infrastructure in Providence, RI.

#DotheMath, Top StorySeth ZerenMarch 2, 2022Value Per Acre, #DoTheMath, suburban experiment, Infrastructure, infrastructure, public finance

The Galesburg Papers, Part 2: The Cure

In this follow-up to last week’s piece about Galesburg, IL, we’ll look at what the town needs in order to recover and thrive.

#DotheMath, #InfrastructureCrisis, Infrastructure, Member Post, Top StoryJoe HicksJanuary 28, 2022#DoTheMath, Small Towns, small towns, Illinois, property tax, tax revenue, infrastructure cost, municipal finance, Municipal Debt

The Galesburg Papers, Part 1: The Diagnosis

Citizens of Galesburg, IL, are trying to save their public indoor pool and create a new activity complex. City council is sympathetic, but there's just one problem: money.

#DotheMath, #InfrastructureCrisis, Infrastructure, Member Post, Top StoryJoe HicksJanuary 21, 2022#DoTheMath, Small Towns, small towns, Illinois, property tax, tax revenue, infrastructure cost, municipal finance, Municipal Debt

How Big Is an Incremental Step? Let's #DoTheMath

For our real-estate markets to allow incremental development to be economically viable, there are some challenges we need to confront.

#DotheMath, Incrementalism, Small Scale Developers, Top StorySeth ZerenJanuary 20, 2022incremental development, incrementalism, incremental growth, incremental, next increment, real estate, housing, Housing, housing cost, developers, #DoTheMath

The Bell Tolls for Thee, Maine...

Many local jurisdictions put off paying the bills for big capital projects. But this month, the bell tolls for Maine.

#DotheMath, #InfrastructureCrisis, Infrastructure, Stange, Transportation, Top StoryJay StangeJanuary 11, 2022highways, highway spending, toll roads, Infrastructure, infrastructure, transportation spending, transportation, #DoTheMath

The Bottom-Up Revolution is... Getting Real About the Cost—and Value—of Farming

Farmer and author, Beth Hoffman, does the math on U.S. agriculture in her new book.

Podcast, The Bottom-Up Revolution, Success Story, Local Food, #DotheMath, Top StoryStrong TownsDecember 2, 2021The Bottom-Up Revolution, local conversations, taking action, local food, Farming

Holy Leaping Dollars, Batman!

Unless 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.

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