Warren Buffett Doesn’t Like Spending on Streetcars (but Has No Problem With Crazy Highway Spending)

Warren Buffet has broken his practice of “staying out of local politics" to criticize a streetcar project in his home city of Omaha, NE…but why does he have nothing to say on the city’s ridiculous and reckless highway projects?

End Highway Expansion, Finance, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnJanuary 30, 2023End Highway Expansion, public transit, public transportation, Streetcars, finance, local finance, investing, public investment, highways, Nebraska

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

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

What Will Housing Prices Be a Year From Now?

If one thing’s clear about the housing market, it’s that it’s currently more sensitive to factors outside of your community—outside of your control—than anything within.

Finance, Housing, Marohn, Top Story, Incremental HousingCharles MarohnSeptember 26, 2022housing, housing cost, housing affordability, housing market, Housing, housing policy, housing finance, Incremental Housing, homeowners, Homeownership, homeownership, finance

The Pillaging of Detroit

Stunning new data analysis on the homes lost to tax forfeiture in Detroit shows that, in just a three-year span, $300 million in real estate transferred from homeowners living in Detroit to outside owners.

Finance, Housing, Sheppard, Top Story, Transparent AccountingSeairra SheppardSeptember 20, 2022Detroit, Michigan, property tax, homeowners, Homeownership, homeownership, poverty, Poverty, local government, Transparent Local Accounting, Just Accounting for Health

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.

Financial Fragility Is To Blame for Jackson’s Water Crisis

The Suburban Experiment is a bad business model, and nothing demonstrates that more clearly than Jackson, Mississippi’s, ongoing water crisis.

Finance, Infrastructure, Marohn, Transparent AccountingCharles MarohnSeptember 12, 2022Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure maintenance, fragility, mississippi, development pattern, Growth Ponzi Scheme, infrastructure cost, finance, local finance, suburban experiment

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.

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.

“Bias Writ Large” in the Property Tax Assessment System

There 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.

"Should I Protest My Property Taxes?"

The process for appealing your property taxes can be obscure, even when the appeal is merited (and more often than not, it is). This simple guide will help prepare you for when your property is next assessed.

In Buncombe County, NC, Billions of Dollars of Home Value Go Untaxed

As an ad hoc committee recently discovered, owners of higher-valued properties are more likely to receive a tax break…simply because of bad data.

Why You Should Care About Property Taxes as a Renter

If you don’t own a home, and don’t have plans to own one anytime soon, you might think property taxes don’t concern you. But, what if we told you that they definitely do?

Finance, Sheppard, Top Story, Transparent AccountingSeairra SheppardJune 28, 2022Just Accounting for Health, tax revenue, tax base, Tax Base, property tax, homeowners, Homeownership, homeownership, rent, renters, finance, local finance, Transparent Local Accounting

We Don’t Like These Curves: What Is the J-Curve and What Is It Costing You?

These curves are costing Americans a lot, both financially and physically.

Finance, Sheppard, Top Story, Transparent AccountingSeairra SheppardJune 21, 2022Just Accounting for Health, homeowners, Homeownership, property tax, tax revenue, finance

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

Philadelphia Is Launching the First Public Bank Owned by a City

Is this an amazing idea that could have transformative benefits for people…or a horrible idea ripe for corruption and mismanagement?

Upzoned, Podcast, Top Story, FinanceStrong TownsMay 18, 2022Podcast, podcast, Upzoned, banks, finance, local finance, Philadelphia

A Minnesota Judge Throws the Book at Immoral Tax Assessments

This case shows why local governments need to do a better job accounting for maintenance costs.

Finance, Infrastructure, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnMay 9, 2022maintenance, finance, local finance, municipal finance, Assessments, local government, infrastructure maintenance, Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure cost, Minnesota, Law

It Isn’t Just Us, the Entire Nation Is Burdened With Property Tax Inequities

Recently, the North Carolina Ad Hoc Appraisals Committee was challenged to face their own biases and fix their broken property tax assessment system. Here’s what happened.